"What are you going to Franklin for," said the leader of the party.
"Why, our command is there," I answered, in an off hand manner.
"What are you doing here, in this State," he demanded.
"We are on special service for Col. Thomas."
"What is the nature of your service," he asked.
"O, we are making preparations to move the Indians all over the mountains, into South Carolina; they are about to starve to death up there in Qualla town. We are compelled to do something to keep them from suffering."
"Well, if you are soldiers, and going back to your command, we don't want to stop you, but really we can't let you take the horses," they replied.
It was such a common occurrence for Rebel soldiers to steal horses, that nothing was ever thought of it, so after recovering the animals, this party was satisfied to start back. We could have whipped out the squad, for they were unsuspicious, and gave us every advantage; but we knew very well that if we did even kill every one of them, it would do us no good, for the whole country behind us was now alarmed, and before night it would be aroused far ahead of us.
As soon as this affair was settled, we took the big road, until out of their sight, and then turned into the woods. We then took every precaution to break our trail; wading mile after mile in swamps, and up creeks, picking our way on rocks and hard ground; but all to no purpose; for it was only a couple of hours until we heard the deep mouthed bay of the blood hound, running on our track. When we heard the dogs, we were laying down to rest, and had taken off some of our clothing to wring the water out of them. Hastily putting on our clothes, and accouterments, we sprang off through the woods, at our highest speed, practicing every art known to woodsmen, to break our trail; but we were unsuccessful; the dogs were unerring. At one time the hounds would be within distinct hearing of us; and then we would run our very best, until we came to water, and then wading through, or up, or down it, we would break the trail so badly that we would balk the hounds for some time; but occasionally we had to stop to take breath, and then in a brief time we would hear them coming again. Once we made a large circle through the woods and doubled on the trail; and this time we started them to running a back track, and thought we were rid of them entirely; and as it was late in the afternoon, and we hoped to escape in the darkness, we rested a few minutes, and then traveled till nearly dark; when, being tired and hungry, we concluded that it could not make the matter much worse to stop at a house and get some supper; but just as we approached one, we heard the dogs close behind us. We sprang over the fence, and across a plowed field, and for a while succeeded in baffling our pursuers. We then crossed two fields, and gained a dry swamp, the brush and timber being very thick and dense, so that it was with difficulty that we could make our way through it; and it was not long till the dogs struck the right trail, and quickly we heard them crashing through the bush, close behind us; and we were compelled to make a stand at once, and fight with dog, or man, or anything that approached us. On came the hounds, through the thick undergrowth, making the deep forest echo with their savage baying, until, with a sudden bound, their leader was upon us, his eyes glaring, and his mouth foaming. For an instant he paused, as he saw us through the gloom, and the next made a spring directly at Gray's face. He was large, and snow white, and this made him the better target; and as he sprang at my companion, I turned upon him, and fired, and he fell dead in an instant. But at that moment the whole pack rushed upon us, more like demons, than even dogs; and it was with difficulty that we could see their dusky forms amid the gloom, but their glaring eyes served as guides for an almost unerring aim; and when we had discharged nine shots, we had killed one dog and wounded four more. The flash of the pistols kept the dogs at bay, wonderfully, but did not drive them off; and scarcely had we fired the last shot, when the men came up, forcing their horses through the bushes, cursing and swearing like madmen. When they got within about a hundred yards of us, we halted them, saying that if they did not stop, we would fire on them.