CHAPTER XXIII. 



HOW WE CONQUERED HALLECK TUSTENUGGEE. 



" 'but,' quoth he, 



' It was a famous victory.' " 



The winter had passed away and spring had come, opening the 

 pyramid of silver tulip-flowers of the palmetto royal (the yucca 

 gloriosa of the naturalist), while we were watching a chance to 

 leave Tampa Bay. One day the commanding officer detailed a 

 company of men to cross over the peninsula to the forts on the 

 easterly side for the purpose of keeping open the communication, 

 and learning the situation of the enemy, as well as of the troops 

 operating in the interior. 



We accepted the chance, and the next day found us with our 

 packs slung on a mule, two canoes for ferrying across rivers, and a 

 company of about forty men winding through the pine lands that 

 lie east of the bay. There had been an old trail cut through, 

 marked by blazes on the trees in the open woods and here and 

 there a log felled bridge-like across the creeks that intersected the 

 swamps ; but the trail was only useful as a guide, although it is 

 marked on the charts of that day as a military road. 



The dear-bought experience of the American troops had not 

 been profitless, and the company was as well organised as it was 

 possible to be. The men were frontiersmen, quick in the use of 

 the rifle, unterrified by the sights and sounds of Indian warfare 

 and — what was of vital importance — accustomed to the country, 

 and skilled in woodcraft. They could support themselves, if need 

 be, in a swamp, or build a town there without foreign assistance. 

 The rules adopted for crossing the country were as follows : No 

 more baggage to each man than was absolutely necessary, and this 

 baggage to consist only of food and ammunition; each man to 



