112
	       A Night in a Saw-pit.
ged the animal�s back, rubbed him down with
hay and put on his blanket.     Hall and I then
retired to our saw-pit for the night.     It was
a longitudinal shallow hole, and we lay between
two huge wheels or other machinery, a beam cros-
sing above us, the saw-dust below, on which I
had spread my blankets, india-rubber and
other.    Farther on slept Nevins and another,
hidden from us by the iron-work.  Overhead, 
at some ten feet distance were planks resting
on the beams of the saw-mill; and above all
the pyramidal roof.        It was a bitter cold
night, but the sharp wind swept over us as we
lay, comparatively snug in our saw pit; at inter-
vals, whenever I awoke I heard my poor horse�s
teeth chattering.    We could not turn over except
together.   Further on a sentinel stood on guard;
and so the night passed.
  10.  Thursday.   A light snow was falling
as we arose, like a lay version of the Resurrection.
It was a dreary, muddy morning.        I got to horse
and with Hall on foot we set off in chase of a
breakfast, down the Yorktown road.       At a
quarter of a mile�s distance we found a small
house and applied to the owner thereof, a com-
mon, down-looking Virginian named Green, for
a meal.    But he said that he had seven chil-
dren, that the soldiers had taken his food, &c,