He discharged this duty very faithfully; and before he reached his objective point he was confident he could draw a map of the region, with what information he had obtained before, which would meet the requirements of Captain Breaker.
"What's that ?" demanded Graines, suddenly placing his hand on the arm of his companion, and stopping short, as they were approaching the crown of the elevation.
A fire was burning on the ground in a depression of the surface, which doubtless concealed its light from persons in the vicinity of the fort, if there were any there.

Around it could be seen four men, as the two officers looked over the crest of the hill, who appeared to be engaged in eating and drinking; and they were doing more of the latter than of the former, for the bottle passed very frequently from one to another.
"It looks like a bivouac on the part of those fellows," said Christy in a low tone.
"But who and what are they ?" asked Graines.
"They may be deserters from Fort Morgan, though if they were they would hardly bivouac so near it," replied Christy, who did not seem to his companion to be at all disturbed by the discovery of the men.

"They are more likely to be sailors from some intending blockade-runner at anchor off the point, who have come on shore to make a night of it; and they appear to have made considerable progress in the debauch." "They are not soldiers, for you can see by the light of the fire that they are not dressed in uniform," added the engineer.
"This is the third year of the war, and uniforms for the soldiers are not particularly abundant in the Confederacy." "We can't see the waters of the bay till we reach the top of the knoll yonder, and we don't know whether there are any vessels at anchor there or not.

But we can easily avoid these fellows by keeping behind the ridge till we get where they cannot see us." "I don't know that we want to avoid them, for I should like very much to know who and what they are.

They must be tipsy to a greater or less degree by this time, for they do twice as much drinking as eating," answered Christy, as he advanced a little way farther up the hill.