I told him that I was going after forage. He said, "I am ordered to take command of all forage parties to-day. You and your men fall in with me." The men, supposing it was all right, fell in, except one. I knew well enough that he had lied. He wore shoulder-straps and I wore none. I was vexed. I sat on my horse and watched his movements. He rode on to the head of his command, with more assuming dignity than a Major-General with a command of a hundred thousand men. He paid no attention to his men, and they strung out behind long enough for a good sized regiment. I told the man that had remained with me to go on, and tell the men of my detail that I wanted them to run with me, and to drop back behind till I came up. This they did, without being missed by the Lieutenant. I got them all back but one man. The Lieutenant filed to the left at the first left-hand road; I went on to the second left-hand road, and then filed left. I calculated to let the Lieutenant have the outside track, and I would forage inside his operations. After turning to the left, we went a mile, and then took a track that led to the right, down through a field, and then into a piece of woods, until we came to a creek, with a steep bank on the side that we were on that was four feet down to the water. We could only get our animals down the bank by pushing them. In this we succeeded. The opposite bank we ascended without difficulty. We were then about five miles from where the Lieutenant and I parted. Going on a few yards further, I heard the sound of voices, and motioned to the boys to stop. We listened, and could distinctly hear loud talking, and occasionally such expressions as "thar," "you all," and "gwine," which led us to conclude that we were coming upon a party of rebs. I knew that Carson's cavalry was somewhere not far distant, and readily enough suspected that the talking we heard was from his men. To retrace our steps was impossible, owing to the nature of the opposite bank of the stream. To remain long where we were was dangerous. "Boys," said I, "we must do one of two things--either fight these rebs or go to Andersonville. Which will you do?" "Try 'em a whack, Bunker." "Well, then, tie your horses, and get into a line of skirmishers, and I'll ride cautiously forward and see what's there." I went so near that I saw two Confederate soldiers and a nigger, clad in Confederate uniform. This confirmed my suspicions that we had run into Carson's cavalry. I concluded that our only hope lay in the trial of strategy. From the voices that I heard, the party, whoever they were, greatly outnumbered mine.