“Every box was found to contain canisters of gunpowder instead of soap. The whole lot was seized, and after that no goods were allowed to go forward without a careful inspection. If the shipper had labeled the stuff 'whisky' instead of 'soap,' nobody would have been suspicious, as whisky is a staple article of commerce and consumption in that region.”
Jack admitted the force of the argument about soap, but insisted that a tooth-brush would not be suspicious or betray their real character.
“Don't be so sure of that,” replied Harry. “One of these Union men from the very region we're going through said the other day that he thought the colonel of the Illinois regiment was a very nice man, until he saw him come out in front of his tent one morning with a glass of water in one hand and a little stick with some bristles on it in the other.
“'He came out there,' said the man, 'and stood round for five or ten minutes pushing that little stick round in his mouth and hawking and spitting and sloshing that 'er water among his teeth till it made me feel sick. I don't think he's much of a nice man after that.'”
Jack laughed, and agreed that the tooth-brush must be left behind, as well as the soap, and thus it happened that they started with neither of those adjuncts of a civilized toilet.
They took the road leading in a southeasterly direction from Rolla, starting one morning before daybreak, so as to be well on their way before anybody in the village was stirring. The sergeant of the picket on the road they were to travel had been notified to let them go on without question, and he did so on their presentation of a pass duly signed by the commandant of the post. By sunrise they were a good three miles out of town, and had met nobody.
The first man they met was a Union refugee, who was making his way to the post to escape persecution of his secession neighbors; at least that was what the youths inferred, though he was too cautious to say so until he had reached the protection of the Stars and Stripes. He asked if he was on the right road for Rolla, and on being assured that he was he appeared greatly relieved.
“I don't know where you-'uns are going,” said he, “but you 'll find lively times if you get down into Arkansas.”
“How so?” one of the boys asked.
“Why,” was the reply, “everybody's going to the army, and they don't talk about nothing else. They say they'll be up here soon and drive the Yanks out of Rolla and everywhere else.”