"What are you doing in our country?" they inquired.
"We are here by order of our General," was the response.
"How many are there of you?" they next wanted to know.
"No; we are not the sort of men to take to trees," we informed them.
"No," said I, and then whispering to Gray, we moved out toward them, some distance from the dead animal; then hailing the men, I said:
"There are but two of us, but we are well armed, and can do you a great deal of damage, if you drive us to it. We know that you have a strong force after us, for we have seen you two or three times to-day; we know that resistance on our part would only result in useless bloodshed; still it is our privilege to sell our lives at as dear a price as we can make you pay; but we don't want to hurt you, nor do we want you to hurt us; and, therefore, if you will agree to treat us as prisoners of war, we will surrender without a fight, because we see that one would be useless."
"You will soon be made to surrender on our terms," was the response.
"Then approach us at your peril," I answered, "for we intend to shoot as long as we can crook a finger."
During this parley, another large party had joined the first, and we could now hear them disputing among themselves, when presently they hailed us cheerfully:
"If you will surrender, we will treat you as prisoners of war, and there shall not one hair of your head be touched," said the commander of the party.
"All right, sir," said I; "on these conditions and no others, you can have our arms."
I then invited two of their men over to take our weapons, but they asked that we should fire them in the air first; but I objected, as evincing a lack of confidence in our honor; but the truth was, the loads had all been tried on the dogs, but they failed to go, and I did not want them to know how helpless we were. They then told us to stand still, and they would all come to us; and they at once flanked out on both sides to surround us, every now and then uttering assurances that we should not be hurt.
Finally they approached us direct and demanded the arms; and while the process of surrendering was going on, Gray, who was one of the coolest men I ever met, began to crack jokes with them to give them confidence in our intentions--inquiring the "news from Virginia," and asking them what they were going to feed us on, and if they had any coffee; and on receiving a negative answer to his last question, he next asked for whisky; and to this they replied "plenty," and promised us a drink. But no sooner were our arms delivered, than they changed their manner. One of them, named Chamberlain--a Massachusetts Yankee, as I afterward learned--swore by his Maker that if we had shot one of the dogs, he would have retaliated by killing a man; and at once they commenced looking around among the pack to see if any of them were hurt; but it was so dark, and the dogs were so restless, that they were unable to ascertain what damage was done; nor was it ascertained till next morning.