He could not expect any sympathetic farmers to help him or show him the way.

More likely as he advanced toward Jackson he would find the country swarming with the friends of the Confederacy, and to pass through them would demand the last resource of skill and courage.

Perhaps it would have been wiser had he put on citizens clothes and taken his chances as a spy! He did not know that Colonel Winchester would have ordered the disguise had the one who rode on this most perilous mission been any other than he.
The realization brought with it extreme caution.

Growing up in a country which was still mainly in forest, not differing much from its primitive condition, save for the absence of Indians and big game, he had learned to be at home in the woods, and now he turned from the path, riding among the trees.
He kept a course some distance from the road, where he was sheltered by the deep foliage and could yet see what was passing along the main artery of travel.

The ground at times was spongy, making traveling hard, and twice his horse swam deep creeks.