The Cumberland Mountains 
my object was, where I was going, and whether 
it would be worth while to rob me. They all 
were mounted on rather scrawny horses, and all 
wore long hair hanging down on their shoulders. 
Evidently they belonged to the most irreclaim- 
able of the guerrilla bands who, long accus- 
tomed to plunder, deplored the coming of peace. 
I was not followed, however, probably because 
the plants projecting from my plant press made 
.. them believe that I was a poor herb doctor, a 
common occupation‘in these mountain regions. 
About dark I discovered, a little off the road, 
another house, inhabited by negroes, where I 
succeeded in obtaining a much needed meal 
of string beans, buttermilk, and corn bread. At 
the table I was seated in a bottomless chair, 
and as I became sore and heavy, I sank deeper 
and deeper, pressing my knees against my 
breast, and my mouth settled to the level of my 
plate. But wild hunger cares for none of these 
things, and my curiously compressed position 
prevented the too free indulgence of boisterous 
appetite. Of course, I was compelled to sleep 
[ 29 ] 
