134 Sallie Russell 



without food. Then his strength began to fail. His 

 will-power was strong, but what can determination 

 do when one is faint from hunger and exhausted 

 from fatigue ? It began to seem to him that life in 

 a Southern prison was better than starvation alone 

 in the woods ; and for the first time he felt the 

 creeping of despair. 



The forage train to which Sallie belonged was 

 hurrying away from a battlefield. It had been a 

 disastrous field for the Southern cause, and the poor 

 animals were being urged to the limit of their speed. 

 The road lay through a thick wood, with sharp turns 

 at every few rods, and deep gullies into which the 

 wheels sunk almost to the hubs. The wagon-master 

 who was driving Sallie had in some way secured a 

 large flask of liquor, and its effect was to intensify 

 his brutality. But in spite of all his whipping and 

 cursings, his wagon had steadily lagged behind until 

 it was now the last one in the train. The other 

 teams could be seen ahead at each straight stretch 

 of road, but at every turn they were shut off from 

 view. Toward sundown they came to a fork in the 

 road. The driver was too dazed to distinguish be- 



