n sight of the deserted plantation. Lolling on
the grass, in the shade of the windowless mansion, we found the
Confederate officials. They rose as we approached; and one of us said to
the Judge,--a courteous, middle-aged gentleman, in a Panama hat, and a
suit of spotless white drillings,--

"We are late, but it's your fault. Your people fired at us down the
river, and we had to turn back and come overland."

"You don't suppose they saw your flag?"

"No. It was hidden by the trees; but a shot came uncomfortably near us.
It struck the water, and ricochetted not three yards off. A little
nearer, and it would have shortened me by a head, and the Colonel by two
feet."

"That would have been a sad thing for you; but a miss, you know, is as
good as a mile," said the Judge, evidently enjoying the "joke."

"We hear Grant was in the boat that followed yours, and was struck while
at dinner," remarked Captain Hatch, the Judge's Adjutant,--a gentleman,
and about the best-looking man in the Confederacy.

"Indeed! Do you believe it?"

"I don't know, of course"; and his looks asked for an answer. We gave
none, for all such information is contraband. We might have told him
that Grant, Butler, and Foster examined their position from Mrs.
Grover's house,--about four hundred yards distant,--two hours after the
Rebel cannon-ball danced a break-down on the Lieutenant-General's
dinner-table.

We were then introduced to the other officials,--Major Henniken of the
War Department, a young man formerly of New York, but now scorning the
imputation of being a Yankee, and Mr. Charles Javins, of the
Provost-Guard of Richmond. This latter individual was our shadow in
Dixie. He was of medium height, stoutly built, with a short, thick neck,
and arms and shoulders denoting great strength. He looked a natural-born
jailer, and much such a character as a timid man would not care to
encounter, except at long range of a rifle warranted to five twenty
shots a minute, and to hit every time.

To give us a _moonlight view_ of the Richmond fortifications, the Judge
proposed to start after sundown; and as it wanted some hours of that
time, we seated ourselves on the ground, and entered into conversation.
The treatment of our prisoners, the _status_ of black troops, and
non-combatants, and all the questions which have led to the suspension
of exchanges, had been good-naturedly discussed, when the Captain,
looking up from one of the Northern papers we had