excitement over the great event, so near at hand, Harry forgot all about
Shepard and his doubts. He bade a regretful farewell to Charleston,
which had taken him to its heart, and turned his face to this new place,
much smaller, and, as yet, without fame.

Harry, Arthur, and their older friends began the momentous journey
across the land of King Cotton, passing through the very heart of the
lower South, as they went from Charleston to Montgomery. Davis and
Stephens would be inaugurated on the 17th of that month, which was
February. But the Palmetto Guards would arrive at Montgomery before
Davis himself, who had left his home and who would cross Mississippi,
Alabama, and a corner of Georgia before he reached the new capital to
receive the chief honor.

Trains were slow and halting, and Harry had ample opportunity to see
the land and the people who crowded to the stations to bring news or to
hear it. He crossed a low, rolling country with many rivers, great and
small. He saw large houses, with white-pillared porticos, sitting back
among the trees, and swarms of negro cabins. Much of the region was yet
dead and brown from the touch of winter, but in the valleys the green
was appearing. Spring was in the air, and the spirits of the Palmetto
Guards, nearly all of whom were very young, were rising with it.

The train drew into Montgomery, the little city that stood on the high
banks of the Alabama River. Here they were in the very heart of the
new Confederacy, and Harry and Arthur were eager to see the many famous
Southern men who were gathered there to welcome the new President.
Jefferson Davis was expected on the morrow, and would be inaugurated on
the day following. They heard that his coming was already a triumphal
progress. Vast crowds held his train at many points, merely to see him