ound some twenty Secesh, who had strayed from their command,
and were playing sick and wounded to anybody who came along. They had
guards out watching, and, as I suspected they were playing sharp, I
bethought me of trying "diamond cut diamond;" so I dismounted, and
having on a Kentucky-jeans coat, I ventured a "HOW-DE, BOYS?"

They eyed us pretty severely, and ventured the remark that they needed
food, and would like some coffee or sugar for the wounded boys. I went
inside the log-house, telling them I would send some down; that we
were farming close by there; "Dry-fork" was the place; we would send
them bread. After we had gained their confidence, they wanted to know
how they could get out of the State without being captured; said they
had not been taken yet, although several of the Yanks had been there;
but the "d--d fools" thought they were already paroled.

We told them that as soon as they got well we would pilot them safely
out. They said they had already been promised citizens' clothing by
Mrs. Thompson and some other rebel ladies. They then openly confessed
that there was only one of them wounded, and that they had used his
bloody rags for arm-bandages and head-bandages only for the brief
period when they were visited by _suspicious_-looking persons; but,
as we were all right, they had no hesitancy in telling us they were
part of Hardee's corps, and were left there by accident when the rebel
forces marched.

By a strange _accident_ they were all taken prisoners that afternoon
by a dozen Federal prowlers, who kindly took them in out of the wet.

SKEERED! THAT AINT NO NAME FOR IT.

About a mile and a half to the rear of the field of battle there
stands, in a large, open field, a solitary log-house containing two
rooms. The house is surrounded by a fence inclosing a small patch of
ground. The chimney had been partly torn away by a cannon-ball. A
shell had struck the roof of the building, ripping open quite a gutter
in the rafters. A dead horse lay in the little yard directly in front
of the house, actually blocking up the doorway, while shot and shell
were scattered in every direction about the field in front and rear of
this solitary homestead. I dismounted, determined to see who or what
was in the house--

"Darkness there, and nothing more."

A board had been taken from the floor, exhibiting a large hole between
two solid beams or logs. An empty bedstead, a wooden cupboard, and
three chairs were all t