we did not want help, as our surgeons were a pack of
ignoramuses. I told them, in reply, that they had done
no other execution with their guns than wounding a dog, (which was the case,) and as they and their surgeons were of the same species of animals, I supposed the poor wounded dog would account it a particular favour to have some of his own kind to assist him. While we were carrying on this very polite conversation, I observed at a house on the Island, in a different direction from the horsemen, a large number of men,—but as they appeared to be a motley group, I did not pay them much attention. Just as I was finishing the last sentence of my conversation with the horsemen, happening to cast my eyes toward the house (and very providentially too) I saw the flash of a gun; I instinctively dropped, as quick as a loon could dive, when the ball passed directly over me and lodged in the tree under which my comrades were standing. They saw the upper part of my gun drop as I fell, and said, "They have killed him;" but they were mistaken. The people at the house set up a shouting, thinking they had done the job for one poor Yankee, but they were mistaken too, for I immediately rose up, and slapping my backsides to them, slowly moved off. I do not know that I ever ran a greater risk for my life while I was in the army, indeed, I could not, for I verily believe that if I had not "dove at the flash," the ball would have gone directly through my body, but "a miss is as good as a mile," says the proverb. I kept a bright look out for them as I walked off. They sent another shot after me, and I again dropped, but that did not come so near me as the other, nor did they huzza
again. These shots must have come from a rifle, as the
distance was more than a quarter of a mile. It is poor business to stand thus a single mark.
This afternoon I had like to have picked up another of their shots. I was standing with another of our men in a narrow gateway talking; a man from the redoubt had crept down behind an old battery near us and fired at us; the ball passed between our noses which were not more than a foot apart. The fellow walked off and we sent him something to quicken his pace, but our shots did as little execution as his had done.
The horseman that I mentioned having seen early in
