Part 16 (1/2)

Mattox. It was well he did. That night a party of thirty soldiers raided the Martin plantation on a hot trail, and searched thoroughly for Toombs.

During his travels General Toombs did not wear a disguise of any sort.

Dressed in a checked suit, and riding his gray mare, he was a prominent object, and to most of the people was well known. One day he wore green goggles, but soon threw them away in disgust. The nearness of troops forced General Toombs to abandon his plan of going home for his family before leaving the country. He dispatched Lieutenant Irvin to Was.h.i.+ngton with letters to his wife, telling her that he would not see her again until he had gone abroad, when he would send for her to join him. He himself pa.s.sed through Centreville, twelve miles from his home, and directed his young guide where to meet him in middle Georgia. This Lieutenant Irvin found it very hard to do. General Toombs was very discreet as to whom he took into his confidence. Once or twice he cautioned his companion against certain parties, to the surprise of the young man. Toombs, however, read human nature pretty well, and, later, when the real character of these persons developed, Irvin understood the counsels of his older friend. So carefully did General Toombs cover his tracks that Lieutenant Irvin, after his detour to Was.h.i.+ngton, was a long time in overtaking him. Traveling straight to Sparta, Lieutenant Irvin called on Judge Linton Stephens and asked about the general. This shrewd Georgian came to the door and flatly denied knowing anything about Toombs.

”He questioned me closely,” said Lieutenant Irvin, ”and finding that I was really who I pretended to be, finally agreed to take me to Toombs.

Riding down to Old-Town, in Jefferson County, we failed to find Toombs, but receiving a clew that he had pa.s.sed through the David d.i.c.kson plantation in Hanc.o.c.k County, I accosted Mr. Worthen, the manager. 'Has an old man riding a gray horse pa.s.sed this way,' Worthen was asked. He promptly answered, 'No.' Believing that he was deceiving me, I questioned him more closely.”

Worthen tried to persuade the young man to get down and take some plums.

He was evidently anxious to detain him. Finally he eyed the stranger more closely, and, convinced that he was the companion whom Toombs expected, he confessed that General Toombs had been at his place and was then at the home of Major Gonder in Was.h.i.+ngton County.

Lieutenant Irvin had ridden over two hundred miles in this search and lost two or three days out of his way. Toombs covered his trail so carefully that it was difficult even for his friends to find him. Small wonder that he was not captured by the enemy.

Lieutenant Irvin was not yet ”out of the woods.” Reaching the home of Major Gonder late in the evening, he rode up to the front fence, fifty yards from the dwelling. Mrs. Gonder and her daughter were sitting on the piazza. Lieutenant Irvin asked the usual question about the old man and the gray horse. The lady replied that she knew nothing about them.

Lieutenant Irvin said: ”But I was directed to this place.”

Mrs. Gonder: ”I should like to know who sent you.”

Lieutenant Irvin: ”But has no one pa.s.sed or stopped here, answering my description?”

Both ladies were now considerably worked up; the younger scarcely suppressed her amus.e.m.e.nt.

”Come, ladies,” said Lieutenant Irvin, ”I see you both know more than you will confess.”

”If I do, I will die before I tell it,” navely replied the elder.

”Now I know you know where General Toombs is.”

”Then get it out of me if you can.”

Finally the young man persuaded her that he was the friend of Toombs, and Mrs. Gonder reluctantly directed him to Colonel Jack Smith's over on the Oconee River.

Riding up to Colonel Smith's, his valiant pursuer spied General Toombs through the window. The head of the house, however, denied that Toombs was there at all.

”But that looks very much like him through the window,” said Lieutenant Irvin.

”Young man,” retorted Colonel Smith, ”what is your name?”

Of course this disclosure led to the reunion of the fugitive and his friend.

Toombs realized that he was in almost as much danger from his own friends as from the enemy. He was careful to whom he disclosed his ident.i.ty or his plans, for fear that they might indiscreetly comment on his presence or embarra.s.s him even by their willingness to befriend him.

So it was that he proceeded secretly, picking his way by stealth, and actually doing much of his travel by night.

At the home of Colonel Jack Smith, the two men remained a week to rest their horses and take their bearings. General Toombs spent much time on the Oconee trolling for trout, while bodies of Union cavalry were watching the ferries and guarding the fords, seining for bigger fish.

Pa.s.sing into Wilkinson County, General Toombs stopped at the home of Mr.

Joseph Deas. When Lieutenant Irvin asked if the pair could come in, Deas replied, ”Yes, if you can put up with the fare of a man who subsists in Sherman's track.”

A maiden sister of Deas lived in the house. With a woman's sensitive ear, she recognized General Toombs' voice, having heard him speak at Toombsboro seventeen years before. This discovery, she did not communicate to her brother until after the guests had retired. Deas had been discussing politics with Toombs, and his sister asked him if he knew to whom he had been talking all night? Deas said he did not.