two o'clock
The two o'clock express from Redlands to Forestville , Georgia , had been proceeding with the languid placidity of the river whose banks it skirted for more than two hours . But , unlike the river , it had stopped frequently ; sometimes at recognized stations and villages , sometimes at the apparition of straw-hatted and linen-coated natives in the solitude of pine woods , where , after a decent interval of cheery conversation with the conductor and engineer , it either took the stranger on board , or relieved him of his parcel , letter , basket , or even the verbal message with which he was charged . Much of the way lay through pine-barren and swampy woods which had never been cleared or cultivated ; much through decayed settlements and ruined villages that had remained unchanged since the War of the Rebellion , now three years past . There were vestiges of the severity of a former military occupation ; the blackened timbers of railway bridges still unrepaired ; and along the line of a certain memorable march , sections of iron rails taken from the torn-up track , roasted in bonfires and bent while red-hot around the trunks of trees , were still to be seen .