Titus, who had temporarily abandoned their thankless duties in the
Commissariat Department in order to seek death or glory in the
skirmish-line. They wanted to know where I was going, and when I
explained, they declared that when Coamo surrendered they also were
going to be among those present.

So we slipped away from the main body and rode off as an independent
organization. But from the bald ridge, where the artillery was still
hammering the town, the three correspondents and Captain Alfred
Paget, Her Majesty's naval attache, observed our attempt to steal a
march on General Wilson's forces, and pursued us and soon overtook
us.

We now were seven, or to be exact, eight, for with Mr. Millard was
"Jimmy," who in times of peace sells papers in Herald Square, and in
times of war carries Mr. Millard's copy to the press post. We were
much nearer the ford than the bridge, so we waded the "drift" and
started on a gallop along the mile of military road that lay between
us and Coamo. The firing from the Sixteenth Pennsylvania had
slackened, but as we advanced it became sharper, more insistent, and
seemed to urge us to greater speed. Across the road were dug rough
rifle-pits which had the look of having been but that moment
abandoned. What had been intended for the breakfast of the enemy was
burning in pots over tiny fires, little heaps of cartridges lay in
readiness upon the edges of each pit, and an arm-chair, in which a
sentry had kept a comfortable lookout, lay sprawling in the middle of
the road. The huts that faced it were empty. The only living things
we saw were the chickens and pigs in the kitchen-gardens. On either
hand was every evidence of hasty and panic-stricken flight. We
rejoiced at these evidences of the fact that the Wisconsin Volunteers