I then went to Captain Taylor, who had charge of the Government horses in the city, whom I found sitting on his horse at his stables. I told him that a rebel mail was going out through the lines, and that I wanted his horse long enough to ride out to the picket line, on the Hernando road, and stop it. He lent me his horse, and I soon found myself at the picket line. I found a Lieutenant in command of the pickets. I told him that there would be a rebel mail attempt to pass his lines, and that it would be in a one-horse buggy, driven by a very gentlemanly-looking man, and that the buggy that contained the mail would contain a demijohn and a side of bacon. I told him to be thorough, and search the man's person and his buggy and the cushions, and every thing else about the buggy and to do it in such a way as not to lead the man to suspect that any information had been given him. I then took another road and returned to the city. I had not been gone more than an hour, when the man described drove up to the pickets, halted, and handed out his pass for examination. The Lieutenant, having examined it, told him that he presumed he was all right, but attempts had been made to carry contraband articles through the lines, and his instructions were such that he was under the necessity of making a thorough search before passing him. The man assured the Lieutenant that he had no objections to being searched, and that nothing could be found about himself or buggy not mentioned in the pass. The man's person was searched and then the buggy and finally the cushions of the buggy were examined, and in them, neatly quilted in, was found the mail. It is needless to add that the gentlemanly personage was furnished accommodations in the Irving Block, and the mail was turned over to the Provost-marshal General. I never learned what became of the man afterward. A few days after the arrest of the rebel mail-carrier, I invited several of my new acquaintances down to my boarding-house, to have a little jollification. They all accepted the invitation, and, at the appointed time, made their appearance. When I went to Mrs. W----s's to board, I took with me a yellow boy that had been in my Captain's employ nearly a year. I had trained him so that he understood me perfectly, and, being naturally of a smart, ready turn of mind, and quick to comprehend my meaning, was of great assistance, when I was visited by rebel friends, in helping me to carry out my assumed character. On this occasion, he represented to perfection the character of a negro waiter. I called him "Spence." Whenever his name was called, he would promptly enter the room, with his hat under his arm, and approach me with as much manifestation of profound respect as if I had been a king, receive my orders with marked attention and execute them with wonderful agility, and then immediately retire from the room.