about noon
Their scanty oxen had been converted into army beef , and those of them who owned a horse or a mule had been compelled to surrender the animal for military use , receiving in return only Confederate treasury notes , now worth no more than so much of waste paper . Nevertheless Guilford Duncan perfectly understood that he must look to the impoverished people of the high mountains for a food supply in this his sore extremity . Therefore , instead of crossing the range by way of any of the main-traveled passes , he pushed his grass-refreshed steed straight up Mount Pleasant to its topmost heights . There , about noon , he came upon a lonely cabin whose owner had reached home from the war only a day or two earlier . There was an air of desolation and decay about the place , but knowing the ways of the mountaineers the young man did not despair of securing some food there . For even when the mountaineer is most prosperous his fences are apt to be down , his roof out of repair , and all his surroundings to wear the look of abandonment in despair . Duncan began by asking for dinner for himself and his horse , and the response was what he expected in that land of poverty-stricken but always generous hospitality .