Now, of all parties concerned in the
expedition the one whose safety I valued next to my own was Falcon. I
had been loth to trust him, so far, to a rider about whose
qualifications I knew nothing--except that it was very unlikely he would
have good "hands." I had no notion of risking the good horse, without
me, on an indefinitely long journey, where he might be indifferently
cared for. I wrote at once to stop any such movement; and with this I
was forced to be content.
Late on the Monday evening, the expected summons reached me--sent
specially by train. The next morning I started for Frederick, whence I
intended to drive through Middletown to Boonesborough, near which was
the place of meeting. The first thing I saw in the morning paper, when I
began to read it in the cars, was a fresh general order, suggestive of
most unpleasant misgivings. General Kelly had just succeeded to the
command of Maryland Heights, and of the division specially selected for
picket duty on the river. This--his first order--enjoined the seizure of
all boats of every description between Monocacy creek and St. John's
(comprising the whole of the Upper Potomac); no passenger or merchandise
could be conveyed from Maryland into Virginia without a proper pass, and
then only at the two specified places--Harper's Ferry and Point of
Rocks; any one transgressing this edict was liable to arrest and trial
by martial law.
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