86 CHICEAMAUGA. 



body of water, — a sink-hole, — which I 

 knew at once could be nothing but Bloody 

 Pond. At the time of the fight it contained 

 the only water to be had for a long distance. 

 It was fiercely contended for, therefore, and 

 men and horses drank from it greedily, 

 while other men and horses lay dead in it, 

 having dropped while drinking. Now a 

 fence runs through it, leaving an outer seg- 

 ment of it open to the road for the conven- 

 ience of passing teams ; and when I came in 

 sight of the spot, two boys were fishing 

 round the further edge. Not far beyond 

 was an unfinished granite tower, on which 

 no one was at work, though a derrick still 

 protruded from the top. It offered the best 

 of shade, — the shadow of a great rock, — 

 in the comfort of which I sat awhile, think- 

 ing of the past, and watching the peaceful 

 labors of two or three men who were culti- 

 vating a broad ploughed field directly before 

 me, crossing and recrossing it in the sun. 

 Then I took the road again; but by this 

 time I had relinquished all thought of walk- 

 ing to Crawfish Springs, and so did nothing 

 but idle along. Once, I remember, I turned 

 aside to explore a lane running up to a hill- 



