As soon as possible, skirmishers were thrown out through the woods to the farther edge of the bluff, while a party searched the houses, finding the usual large supply of furniture and pictures,--brought up for safety from below,--but no soldiers.

Captain Trowbridge then got the John Adams beside the row of piles, and went to work for their removal.
Again I had the exciting sensation of being within the hostile lines,--the eager explorations, the doubts, the watchfulness, the listening for every sound of coming hoofs.

Presently a horse's tread was heard in earnest, but it was a squad of our own men bringing in two captured cavalry soldiers.

One of these, a sturdy fellow, submitted quietly to his lot, only begging that, whenever we should evacuate the bluff, a note should be left behind stating that he was a prisoner.

The other, a very young man, and a member of the "Rebel Troop," a sort of Cadet corps among the Charleston youths, came to me in great wrath, complaining that the corporal of our squad had kicked him after he had surrendered.