Once they were hailed by a Southern sentinel, but Colonel Winchester replied promptly that they belonged to Buckner's Kentuckians and had been sent out to examine the Union camp.
He passed it off with such boldness and decision that they were gone before the picket had time to express a doubt.
But as they came toward the center of the line, and drew nearer to the fort itself, they met another picket, who was either more watchful or more acute.

He hailed them at a range of forty or fifty yards, and when Colonel Winchester made the same reply he ordered them to halt and give the countersign.

When no answer came he fired instantly at the tall figure of Colonel Winchester and uttered a loud cry of, "Yankees!" Luckily the dim light was tricky and his bullet merely clipped the colonel's hair.

But there was nothing for the four to do now save to run with all their undignified might for their own camp.
"Come on, lads!" shouted Colonel Winchester.

"Our scouting is over for the time!" The region behind them contained patches of scrub oaks and bushes, and with their aid and that of the darkness, it was not difficult to escape; but Dick, while running just behind the others, stepped in a hole and fell.