George Washington Flowers Memorial Collection DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ESTABLISHED BY THE FAMILY OF COLONF.^ FLOWERS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/furtherhapsmisha01mcel FURTHER MISHAPS TO SI Klegfg and Shorty. fbe Second Year of Their Service. ILLUSTRATED. PUe;LISHED BY THE NA lONAL TRIBUNE; WASHINGTON. D. C. FURTHER HAPS AND MISHAPS TO SI KLEQQ AND SHORTY. THE SEOO^TD YEAR OF THEIR SERYICE. THE NATIONAL TKIBTJNIl (Tim f SI KLEQQ AND SHORTY. CHAPTER L THE ^rUD AND MIRE OF DUTY'S PATH. "Shorty," said Si Klegg, the morning after Christmas, 1862, as the 200th Ind. sullenly plunked along through the mud and rain, over the roads leading southward from NasliTille, " they say that this is to be a sure-enough battle and end the ^yar." "Your granny's night-cap they do," answered Shorty crossly, as he turned his cap around backward to stop the icy current from chasing down his backbone. "'How many thousand times 's that bin stuffed into your ears? This is the forty-thousandth mile we've marched to find ihat battle that was goin' to end the war. And Til bet we'll march 40,000 more. This war ain't goin' to end till we've scuffed the top off all the roads in Kentucky and Tennessee, and wore out God s patience and all the sole- leather in the North. I beliere it's the shoemakers that's runnin' this war in the interest o' their business." The cold, soaking rain had reduced the most of tha 200th Ind. to a mood when they Avould have disputed the Ten Commandments and quarreled with tiieir mothers. "There's no use bein' crosser'n a saw-buck if you are wet, Shorty," said Si, walking to the side of the road and scraping off his generous-sized brogans several pounds of stiff, red mud. "They say this npw G-eneral with a Dutch name is a fighter from Wayback, an' he always licks the rebels right out of their boots. I'm sure, I hope it's so. I like huntin' ez well ez anybody, au' I'll walk r ST KLEGG ANB SHOIITY ez Tur ez tlie next man to find something to slioot. But I think walkin' over two States, backward and forward, is altogether too much huntin' for so little shootin\ Don't you?" "Don't worry," snapped Shorty. "You'll git all the shootin' you want before your three years are up. It'll keep." "But why keep it so long?" persisted Si. "If it can be done up in three months, an' we kin git back home, why dribble it out over three years? That ain't the way we do work back home on the AVabash." "Confound back home on the Wabash," roared Shorty. I don't hear nothin' else, day an' night, but ^back home on the AVabash.' I've bin on the Wabash, an' I don't want to never see the measly, muddy, agery ditch agin'. Why, they have the ager so bad out there that it shakes the buttons off a man's clothes, the teeth out of his head, the horns off the cows. An' as for milk-sickness "Shorty!" thundered Si, "stop right there. If you wasn't my pardner I'd thrash you this minute. I kin join you in jawin' about the officers an' the Government. A great deal of your slack that I can't agree with I km put up with, but you mustn't say nothin* against my home in the Wabash Valley. That I won't stand froia no man. For fear that I may lose my temper I'm goin' away from you till you're in better humor." With that Si strode on ahead, feeling as cross and un- T^OTifortable internally as ho v^as ill-at-ease externailr. Se iiated above ail things to quarrel with Shorty, but the Wabash Valley, that gardenspot of earth, that place where lived his parents, and sister, and Annabel — but the subject was too sore to think about. Presently an Aid came galloping along the middle of the road, calling upon the men to make way for him. MUD AND MIEE OF DUTY'S PATH. 5 I'-'* horse's hoofs threw the mud in every direction, and Si caught a heavy spatter directly in his face. "Confound them snips of Aids/' said he angrily, as he wiped the mud off. "Put on more airs than if they was old Gen. Scott himself. Always pretend to be in such a powerful hurry. Everybody must hustle out of theii way. I think that fool jest did that en purpose." THE AID SPATTERS LIUD ON SL TliPi rain kept pouring down with tormenting^ persist- ence. Wherever Si looked were drenched^ depressed look- ing men; melancholy, steaming horses; sodden, gloomy fields: y^^How, rushing streams, and boundless mud that thonsa-nds of passing feet were churning into the con- sistency of building-mortar Si had seen many rainy days since he had been in the army, but this was the first real Winter rain he had been Dut in. 6 SI KLEGG AND SHOBTT. Jabe Belclier, the most disagreeable man In Go. Q, was just ahead of him. He stepped into a mudpuddle, slip- ped, threw the mud and water over Si, and his gun, which he flung in the effort to save himself, struck Si on the shoulder. *'Ciumsy lunkhead!" roared Si, as ill-tempered now as anybody. "Couldn't you see that puddle and keep out of it? You'd walk right into the Cumberland Eiver if it was in front of you. Never saw such a bat-eyed looney in niylife." *'If the Captain wasn't lookin'," retorted Belcher, ''I'd shut up both them dead-mackerel eyes o' your'n, you backwoods yearlin'. I'll settle with you after we git into camp. Your stripes won't save you.'' "Never mind about my stripes^ old Stringhalt. I kin take them off long enough to Avallop you.'*' Si was in such a frame of mind that his usual open- eyed ness vras gone. The company was wading across a creek, and Si ])lungod in without a thought, lie stepped on a smooth stone, his feet went, from under him, and he sat dovvm hard and v. aist-deep in much the coldest water that he ever remembered. *'0, Greenland's icy mountains," was all that he could ihir'k to say. The other boys yelled: "Come on to camp, Si. That's no place to sit down." "Feet hurt. Si, and goin' to rest a little?" "This your day for taking a bath, Si?" "Thinks this is a political meetin', and he's in take tht chair." "Place-Ilest:" "When 1 sit down, I prefer a lo<: or a rail; but some Eien's different." "See a big bass there, Si^ an' try to ketch him by set- tin' down on him?'> MUD AND MIKE OF DUTY'S PATH. 7 f^it up^ Si; git up, an' give your seat to some lady.'V ©i was too angry to notice their jibes. He felt ar^iy^cl in the icy water for his gun, and clambered out oB tike bank. He first poured the water out of his gun^lian^ and ^iped the mud off. His next thought was the ihxee days' rations he had drawn that morning. He og^0 his hayersack, and poured out the water it had caj^iSt. WAIST-DEEP IN COLD WATER. With it went his sugar, coffee and salt. His hardtack were a pasty mess : his meat covered with sand and dirt. He turned the haversack inside out, and swashed it out in the stream. ^ Back came Capt. AIcGillicuddy, with water streaming from the down-turned rim of his hat, and his humor bad. He was ignorant of Si's mishap. s SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. ^^Corporal Klegg, what are you doing back here? Why aren't you in your place? I've been looking ail around for you. The company wagon's stalled back somewhere. That spavin-brained teamster's at his old tricks. 1 want you to lake tive men off the rear of the company, go back and fmd that wagon, and bring it up. Be smart about it.'^ ^'Captain," remonstrated Si, "I'm wetter 'n a drowned rat. i" "Well, who in thunder ain't?" exploded the Captain. **Do I look as dry as a basket of chips? Am I walking around in a Panama and linen clothes? Did you expect to keep from getting your feet wet when you came into the army? I want none of your beily-aching or sore-toe- ing. You take five men and bring up that A\agon in a hurry. Do you hear me?" And the Captain splashed oft through the red mud to make somebody else still more miserable. Si picked up his wet gun from the rain-soaked sod, put it under his streaming overcoat, ordered the five drenched, dripping, dejected boys near him to follow, and plunged back into the creek, which had by this time risen above his knees. He was past the stage of anger now. He simply wished that he was dead and out of the wtiole business. A nice, dry grave on a sunny hillock in Posey County, with a good roof over it to keep out the rain, would be a welcome retreat. In gloomy silence he and his squad plodded back through the eternal mud and the steady downpour, through the mirey fields, through the swirling yellow floods in the brooks and branches, in search of the lag- gara company wagon. Two or three miles back they came upon it, stuck fast in a deep mud-hole. The enraged teamster was pound- ing the mules over the head with the butt of his black- snake whijD, not in the ex]Dectatioii of getting any further IlVD AND MIRE OF DCTY'S PATH, 9 effort out of them— he knew better than that — but as a relief lo his overcharged heart. "Stop beatin' them mules over the head/" shouted Si, as they came up. Not that he cared a fi;^ about the muleS; but that he wanted to "jump" somebody. -'STOP BEATIX' THEM MULES/' \ *^Go to brimstone blazes, yoti freckle-faced Posey County refugee/' responded Groundhog, the teamster, in the same fraternal spirit. "I'm drivin' this here team." He gave the nigh-swing mule a "welt" that would have knocked down anything else than a swing mule, f "If you don't stop beatin' them muleS; by thunder, I'll make you." "Make's a good word," responded Groundhog, giving the off-s^ing mule a wicked "biff." "'I never see any- thing come out of Posey County that could make me do what I didn't want to." Si struck at him awkwardly. He wac5 Hampered by bis weigb't of soggy clothes that there was little force or dtreSii^ to blow. The soaked teamsiei returned the blow witli eqiiM clumsiness. The other boys came up and pulled them a^art. "Wa ain't no time for sich blamed nonsense," they growled. "WeVe got to git this here wagon up to the company, an' we'll have the devil's own time doin' it. Quit skylarkiu' an' git to work." They looked around for something with which to make pries. Every rail and stick within a quarter of a mile of the road was gone. They had been used up the previous Summer, when both armies had passed over the road. There was nothing to do but plod off through mud and rain to the top of a hill in the distance, where there was a fence still standing. A half an hour later each of the six came back with a heavy rail on his shoulder. They pried the wagon out and got it started, only to sink again in another quagmire a few hundred yards further on. Si and the boys went back to get their rails, but found that they had been carried off by another squad that had a wacon in trouble. There was nothing to do but to make another toilsome journey to the fence for more rails. After helping the wagon out they concluded it would be wiser to carry their rails along with them a little, ways to see if they would be needed again. They were—many times tliat afternoon. As darkness came on Si, who had the crowning virtue of liopeiulnoss when he fully reco.i]:iuzed the unutterable badness of things, tried io cheer ihe other boys up with assertions that llicy would soon !;et into camp, where they would find bright, warm fires with which to dry their clothes, and \f\cn{y <>i hot coffee to thaw them out inside. The r|uick-f ()r.iini^ dnrkncss added enormously to the inisery of their work. lM)r hours they struggled along the botlomless road, in the midst of a ruck of played-uut inJD Jtis'D MITJE OF DrTY'S PATH. 11 mules and unutterably tired, disgusted men, laboring as they were to get wagons ahead. Finally they cajne up to their brigade, which had turned off the road and gone into line-of-battle in an old cotton-field; where the mud was deeper, if possible, thau in the road. ^'"Where's the 200th Ind.?" called out Si.^ "Here, Si," Shorty's voice answered. ■ "Where's the tires, Shorty ?" asked Si, with sinking heart. "Ain't allowed none," answered his partner gloomily. "There's a rebel battery on that hill there, and they shoot every time a match is lighted. "What've you got there, a rail? By George, that's lucky' We'll have som^ thing to keep us out of the mud." They laid the rail down and sat upon it,^ --^-j-. ■ "Shorty," said Si, as he tried to arrange his aching bones to some comfort on the rail, "I got mad at you fof cussin' the Wabash this mornin'. I ain't a fluid talkef such as you are, an' I can't find words to say v>'hat I think. But I just wisht you would begin right here and cuss everybody from Abe Lincoln down to Corporal Sa Klegg, and everything from the Wabash in Injianny down to the Cunibcriand iu Tenii.e^jj.^e. I'd like to listen to you " 12 SI KLEGG AND SHCXETT. CHAPTER IL THE SECOND DAY'S MARCH TO STONE RIVER Si Klegg was generous with his rail, as he was with all things among his comrades. He selected the softest part, in the center, for himself and Shorty, and then in- vited the other boys to share its hospitalities. They crowded up close to him and Shorty on either side, and there seemed to come a little warmth and dryness from the close contact of their bodies. Si was so mortally tired that it seemed a great relief just to sit still and rest, though the rain continued to pour doAvn. Shorty fished some hardtack and fried pork out of his haversack, and also gave him a handful of ground coffee. Si munched the crackers and meat, with an occasional nip at the coffee. His spirits began to rise just a trifle. He was too healthy in body and mind to be totally down- oast for long. "'Tis n't much of a supper," he said to himself," but it beats nothin' at all miles and miles. Besides, I was raighty lucky in gettin'' the biggest rail. Some that the other boys has are no good at all. They'll let 'em right d^vvn in the mud. And most o' the boys has no rails at all. I'm awfully sorry for 'em." Then lie began to wonder if they were not over-cautious suX^ui the nearness of the enemy. He had been in the army p..?,t long enough to have a contempt for the stories that were all always current with a certain class about the proximity and strength of the enemy. Shorty was not of that kind; but, then. Shorty was as liabl_e to be im- gosed ugon as anybody. - SECOND DAY'S MARCH TO STONE RIVER. 13 ''How do you know there's a rebel battery on ttie bill out there?" he finally asked Shorty. "They belted into the Oshkosh Terrors, out there to our right, killed a mule, seared two teamsters to death, and knocked over three or four kittles of coffee. It was awful unlucky about the coffee," answered Shorty. "How long ago was that?" "0, several hours ago. Just after we turned into the field, and long before you come up." ^'Mebbe they've gone off now. Mebbe, if they're there yet, their ammynition's so soaked they can't shoot. What do you say to startin' a little fire? It'd be an immense comfort. Unless we can dry out a little we'll be soaked into such mush before morning that we can't keeg our shape, and they'll have to ladle us up with dippers.'^ *'It's strictly against orders." ''You mean it was against orders several hours ago. I can't see nothin' on that hill over there. I've Been watchin' for half-an-hour. There's nothin' movin'. Mebbe the orders has been changed, an' you haint heard about it," persisted Si. "Mebbe the Orderly that was bringing 'em 's got stuck in the mud. Mebbe the rain's soaked 'em so's they can't be read. If anybody's got any dry matches I'm goin' to chance it." Word was passed along the raiJ, and at length one o\ the boys was found to have some matches in d iioa hoj^ which was proof against the rain. Si got out his knife and whittled down a corner ot the rail until he came to the dry part, and got off some saa ic- ings. Splinters were contributed by the others, and aiiei several failures a small flame was started. "Here, what in the world are you men doing there?* came in the stentorian tones of the Colonel, whom » startled Si to discover was sitting a short distance be- hind him. "Put that light out this instant/ 14 ELEGG AND SHORTY. Even before the command could be obeyed, four great flashes burned out like lightning in the murky darkness on the hill-top. Four cannon roared, and four shells screeched toward Si and his companions, who instinct- ively toppled over backward into the mud. One of the shells struck in the mud a few yards in front, burst with a deafening report, and sent over them a deluge of very wet Tennessee real estate. "The battery's out there yit, Si," said Shorty, as they gathered themselves up and carefully stamped out every spark of the fire. "It's 'tendin' strictly to business," remarked Wes Wil- liams. "It's ammynition don't seem to be a mite wet," added Jim Hutchinson. "There, you see, now," said the Colonel sternly. "I'll tie up by the thumbs the next man that dares scratch a match." "You jest kin if I do," muttered Si, scraping off some of the superabundant mud, and resuming his seat on the rail. "This dog's cured of suckin' eggs." He set the butt of his gun down in front of him, clasped his hands around the barrel, leaned his head on them, &Dc\ went to sleep. ■ He was so tired that he coiild have slept anywhere and in any position. He was dimly conscious during the night that tlio rain ceased and that it turned bitter cold. He was not going to wake up for trifles like that, though. When Si vrent to sleep he devoted himself entirely to that and nothing else. It was one thing that he never allowed tny interference vrith. But vrith the first gray streaks of dawn in the east some uneasy^ meddlesome spirit in the 200th Ind. hap- pened to be awake, and he awakened the Adjutant, who cuffed and shook the headquarters drummer until he SECOND DAY'S iUECH TO STONE UlXEE. 16 awakened and beat the reveille. This aroused tlie weary Orderly-Sergeants, who started upon tlie task of getting up the bone-wracked, aching-muscled men. In 10 min- utes there was enough discontent and bitter grumbling in the 20oth Ind. to hare furnished foith a new ijolitic^ cartY. ^ ^ - FEOZEN IN THE MUD. The awakening process finally reached those of Co. Q who had roosted on Si's rail all night. Si vigorously insisted on being let alone; that he hadn^ been asleep five minutes, and that, anyhow, it was not his turn te go on guard. But the Cbderly-Sergcant of Co. Q was a persistent fellow, and would not be denied. When Si finally tried to rise he found that, in addition to the protests oi his stiff legs^ he was ginned firmly 16 SI ELEGG AND SHORTY. down. Feeling around to ascertain the cause, dis- covered that the tail of his overcoat and his shoes had become deeply imbedded in the mud, and frozen solkily there. Shorty was in the same fix. "Got to shuck yourself out your overcoat, and leave them gunboats anchored where they are," remarked Shorty, doing as he said, and falling in for roll-call in his Blocking feet. After roU-call Si got a hatchet from one of the boys and chojDped his and Shorty's shoes out. The overcoats were left for subsequent effort, for the first thing was to get some wood and water and cook breakfast. The morning w^as bitter cold and the sky overcast, but Si felt that this was a thousand times better than the cheerless rain, which seemed to soak his very life out of Lim. He pounded most of the frozen mud off his shoes, picked up the camp-kettle, and started off for wood and water, broke the ice on the creek, took a good wa.sh, and presently came ba«jk with a load of dry pine and a kettle full of water. •"My joints feel like I think our old wagon does after k's gone about a year without greasing," he remarked to Shorty, who had a good fire going; "but I think that after I get about a quart o' hot coffee inside of me, with a few pounds o' pork and crackers, I'll be nearly as good as new again. My, how good that grub does smell! An'* did you ev^r i?ee such a nice fire?" Be chopped his and Shorty's overcoats out while Shorty was cooking breakfast, and when at last he sat down on one end of his rail and ate enough toasted hard bread and crisp fried side-meat to feed a small family for a week, washing it dow^n with something near a quart of black coffee sweetened with coarse brown su^ar, life be- gan to again have some charms for him. SECOND DAY'S MAJICH TO STONE RWEK. 17 "You're sure that dumbed battery's gone that shot at us last night, are you, Shorty?" he said, as he drained his cup, fastened it again to the strap of his haversack, and studied the top of the hill with a critical eye. "They say it is," said Shorty, between bites. "While you was down at the crick a man come cover from the camp o' the Oshkosh Terrors, and said two o' their com- panies 'd been onto the hill, and the rebels had gone." "I wish them Oshkosh fellers 'd mind their own busi- ness," said Si, irritably, as he picked up his gun and be- gan rubbing the mud and rust off. "They're entirely too fresh for a new regiment. That battery was none of theirs. It was ours, right in om front, an' if they'd let it alone till after breakfast we'd gone up and taken it. It was just the right size for the 200th Ind., an' we wanted a chance at it. But now they've had to stick in afid run 'tQff." "Don't worry," said Shorty, fishing out anotheir crs^k^ "It hasn't gone too far. 'Taint ioSc. You'll b^ve a chances at it some other time. Mebbe to-day yet." The army began to move out very promptly, and soun the 200 th Ind. was called to take its place in the loii.f> column that crawled over the hills and across the vallevr-. toward Murfreesboro, like some gigantic blue serpent moving toward his prey. Miles ahead of the 200th Ind.'s place in the cohmm the rebels were offering annoying disputation of farthB? progress. Lines as brown as the dried leaves on the oak trees would form on the hilltops, batteries would gallop into position, and there would be sharp bangs by tiie cannon and a sputter of musketry-fire. Then the long, blue serpent would wriggle out of tha road into the fields, as if coiling to strike. Union bat- teries would rush on to hilltops and :^'g across the valleys at the zebel camion^ and a shutter of musketry woulcf 18 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. answer that from the leaf-brown ranks on the hilltops, which would dissolve and march back to the next hill- topf where the thing would be gone over again. The 200th In«f. would occasionally see one of these performances as it marched over and down one of the hills. SECOND DAY'S MARCH TO STONE PJVEH. As tlie afternoon \vas wearing away the 200 tli IncL kept nearing the front where this was going on. Finally, when the dull day was shading into dusk, and the bri- gade ahead of it was forming in the field at the foot of a hill to open a bickering fire against the dun line at the top, the 200th Ind. was taken off the road and marched away oyer to the left, where it was put into line in front of a dense groye of cedars ^^Capt. McG-illicuddy," commanded the Colonel to the Captain of Co. Q, ^'adyance your company as skirmishers to the edge of the cedars, and send a Corporal and fiye men into the thicket to see if there is anything there." ^'Corporal Klegg," said the Captain, "take fiye men oE the left of the company and go in and see what's in there." Si was instantly fired with the importance of the duty assigned him. He sent two of his men to the left, two to the right, while he and Shorty, a little distance apart, struck for the heart of the thicket. They made theii way with difEculty through the dense chaparral for some minutes, and then stopped, as they heard yoices and tho crashing of branches in front. Si's heart thumped against his ribs. He looked oyer to his left, and saw Shorty standing there peering earn- estly into the brush, ^-ith his guH cocked and ready to fire. He ran oyer to him and whispered i "^Yhat do you see, Shorty?^*' "Nothin' yit, but I expect to eyery minute," replied Shorty, without turning his intent eyes. Si's gun was already cocked, and he bent his head forward eagerly, to get a better yiew. But he could see nothing, except that the tops of the bushes were shaking "Shall we skip back an' report?" Si *'I ain't goin' till I see something," said Shorty, stoutly. ^Of SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "^'or me/' echoed Si; rather ashamed that he had susr- gested it. "Steady, there; steady, on the right! Come forward with that left company/' called out a stern voice in front. "SURRENDER, YOU CONSARNED REBELS!" ''Must be a full regiment in there," whispered Si, cran- ing his nerV still farther. The tramping and crashing increased SECOND DAY'S MARCH TO STOiTE EIYER. 21 '^Steady, men, I tell you! Steady! Dress on the center, commanded tlie unseen Colonel. "Forward ! Forward!'^ In spite of his perturbation, Si noticed that the sounds did not seem to be coming any nearer. "We must get a squint at 'em," he said, desperately, to Shorty. "'Let's git down an' crawl forward. There must be an openin' somewhere." They got down on their hands and knees, so as to avoid as many as possible of the thickly-interlaced branches. Soon they came to a rift which led to an opening of some rods in circumference. Raising their heads cautiously above a moss-covered log, they saw in the opening a stalwart Sergeant with five or six men. The Sergeant was standing there with his eyes Esed on the tops of the trees, apparently thinking of the next series of commands he was to give, while the men were busy breaking limbs off the cedars. _ Si and Shorty immediately grasped the situation. { *^Forward, Co. Q!" yelled Si at the top of his lungs. '^Surrender, you consarned rebels, or we'll blow your heads o5," he added, as he and Shorty jumped forward into the opening and leveled their guns on the squad. The Sergeant stopped in the midst of a thundering command and started to raise his gun, but he saw Si's muzzle too near his head, and dropped it. The rest held up their hands. "What'n thunder was you fellers makin' all that racket fur?" Si asked the Sergeant as he was marching him back to the skiriiiish-line. "Ouah Cumiel," explained the Sergeant, "wuz afeared you'ns'd try to flank us through the thicket, and sent me down to make a rumpus and hold you back while he fit you in front. But whar's your company?" "We'll come to it soon," said Si. 22 BT KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTER III. STILL MARCHING ON TO STONE ElVl^it. Si called out to the other boys by name to come up and join him. The rebel Sergeant mentally tallied off each name as it was called. A flush of shame and anger mounted to his face as Si concluded. "Gol darn hit/' he said, "yo'uns hain't got ez many ez we'uns; they hain't nigh ez good men ez we'uns, an' they'uns ain't heah. We'uns air Tennesseans, an' yo'uns hain't." *'AVe've got enough, an' they're good enough/' said Si senientiously. ''Lijianny turns out better men than Tennessee ever dreamed o' doing." "1 don't believe hit a mite/' said the Sergeant, stoop- ing down and picking up a piece of cedar, which made a formidable club. "We'uns is not a-gwine back with yo'uns nary a step. By rights, we'uns orter take yo'- uns back with we'uns. But I'm willin' to call hit off, and let yo'uns go ef yo'uns '11 let we'uns go. Is hit a bargain?" "Not by 40 rows o' apple trees it ain't," said Si, step- ping back a little to get better range, and fixing his bayonet. "I've set my heart on takin' you back to Co. Q, d^xi back to Co. Q you'll go, if Si Klegg knows himself." "And you'/i go in a hurry, too," said Shorty. "It's /ettin' late, and I'm always afraid to be out after dark. Mosey, nowP' The other rebels were picking up clubs similar to the Sergeant's and casting their eyes on him for the signal to attack. STILL MARCHING ON TO STONE EIVER. 2S **See here/' said Si desperately, corking his gun. "Don't waste no more time in words. This hain't a de- batin' society. You're goin' back to Co. Q or going somewhere else thunderin' quick. Sergeant, if yoti make a move agin me I'll surely blow your licad oficn you, an' jab my bayonet through the next man. My partner, Shorty, is a worse man than I am, an' I can't tell how many of you he'll kill. He's awful quick- 24 61 KLEGG AND SHORTY. tempered, too, towards evening, an' liable to begin shoot- ing any minute without warnin'. It'll save several lives if you start right off on the jump, straight toward the rear, an' keep it up, without looking to the right or left, until you reach Co. Q. You'll find the trail we made comin' in. Take it this minute.'* The rebel Sergeant's eyes looked directly into the dark muzzle of Si's gun. They glanced along the barrel, and met one eye looking directly through the sights, while the ether w^as closed, in the act of taking deliberate aim. He decided with great promptness that there were many reasons w^hy he should prefer to be a live rebel in ^ Yankee prison, rather than a badly-disfigured dead one in a lonely cedar thicket. He dropped his club, turned around, and made his way along the path over which Si had come. The rest followed, with Si and Shorty a few paces in the rear. Palpitating with pride. Si marched his prisoners up to the company, who gave him three cheers. The Captain ordexed him to report with his prisoners to tlie Colonel. | ^ The Colonel praised him with words that made his blood tingle. The skirmishing off to the right had now ceased. The rebels had lallen back to the next hill-top, and the 200th Ind. was ordered to go into camp where it stood. It was a fine place for a camp. The mud of the day tiefore was frozen into stony hardness. The wagons had no difficulty in coitiing up. There was wood and water in abundance, and it seemed that the command "Break ranks— March!" had hardly been uttered when great, bright, comfort-giving fires of fragrant cedar rails flashed up all alon^- the line. Si and Shorty found several cedar stumps and logs, which they rolled together, and maile a splendid fire. They cooked themselves an ample supper of fried pork, STILL MARCHING ON TO STONE EIYER. 25 toasted liardtack, and strong, fragrant coffee, wliicli tliey devoured with an appetite and a keen enjoyment only possible to healthy young men who have had a day of active manuvering and marching in the crisp^ chill air of December. Then they gathered a lot of cedar branches, and made a thick mattress of them near the fire, upon which to spread their blankets for the night. This was a new suggestion by Shorty, and an amazing success. "I declare, Shorty," said Si, as he lay down on the bed to try it, "I often wonder where you get all your ideas. 26 SI KtEGG AND SHORTY. For a man who wasn't raised on the Wabash you know an awful sight. Mebbe, if you'd actually been bom in Posey County you'd a-knowed enough to be a Jigadier- Brindle. Then I'd a lost you for a pard. This's a great invention. Why, it's softer and comfortabler than one of mother's feather beds. When I get out of the army, I'm going to sleep on nothin' but cedar boughs." ''There, you're at it again— the Wabash forever/' re- turned Shorty, good-humoredly. "They raise the finest corn and cattle in the world on the Wabash, I'll admit, and some fairly good soldiers. But where'll you get any cedars there to make beds w^ith? You'll have to go back to sleepin'on wheat straw and corn husks, with chicken- feather pillers. But after the way you stood up to that rebel Sergeant to-day I'll never say another word about ager and milk-sick on the Wabash, and I'll lick any other feller that does. There wasn't a speck of ager in your gizzard when you ordered him forward,, or you'd blow his Southern Confederacy head off." "There was more ager there than you thought, Shorty," Si admitted softly. "I was awfully scared, for there was six to us two, and if that feller 'd had the right kind of sand he'd a-jumped me at once, before I could get my gun \jp. The moment he began to palaver I knowed I had him. But I'd 'a' died in my tracks before I'd let him go, and I knowed you would, too. You're the best pard a feller crv^er had." And he reached over and took Shorty's rough hand and squeezed it affectionately. "I can bet on you every time, even when I don't think It's quite safe to bet on myself. And, Shorty," he con- tinued, with his eyes kindling, "it was worth all that we've gone through since we've been in the army, even all that time in the rain, to have the Colonel speak as he did to us before all the rest of the boys. I'd be willing to STILL MARCHING ON TO STONE RIVER. 27 enlist for three years more if father and mother and sisterS; and — and — Annabel could have heard him. I tell you, war has some glorious things in it, after all." He sat there on his bed before the fire, with his feet curled up under him In the comfortable w^ay that it takes months of field service to acquire, and gazed steadily into the bank of glowing coals. They suffused his face and body with their ge^nerous w^armth, and helped lif^; his soul toward the skies. He was much happier than he had ever been before in his life. The trials of the day before were hardly more than a far-away dream. The fears and anxieties of the coming battle were for- gotten. The ruddy embers became a radiant vista, which Pride and Hope and Joy filled with all that he wanted to see. He saw there the dear old home on the Wabash, his father seated by the evening lamp reading the paper, while his mother knit on the other side of the table. His sisters were busy with some feminine trifles, and Annabel had come in to learn the news. They would hear what he had done, and of the ColonePs Words of praise before the regiment, and his father's heart would glow with pride and his mother^s eyes suffuse with tears. And Annabel— but it passed words, passed thought, almost; what she would say and think. Just then tattoo rang out clear and musical on the chill night air. The rattling military *'good night" had never before had any special charms for Si. But now he thought it an unusually sweet composition. "I declare," he said to Shorty, "that sheepskin band of our'n is improving. They're getting to play real well. But I ought to write a few lines home before taps. Got any paper. Shorty?" _ _ "Much paper you'll find in this regiment after that raiu/' said Shorty contemptuously, as he knocked the SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. ashes out of his pipe, aud started to fall in for roll-call. "Every mite of paper anybody had was soaked to spit- watds. But mebbe the Orderly might have a sheet." After roll-call Si went to the Orderly-Sergeant. Noth- AFTER THE MULES STAMPEDED. ing in reason could then be refused Si, and the Orderly tore a couple of leaves out of the back of his treasured diary, which had escaped the rain, and handed +hem to STILL MARCHIXG ON TO STOXE RIVER. 39 him. Si fished his stub of a pencil out of his blouse- pocketj laid the paper on the back of a tin-plate, and began : "Somewhere in Tennessee, December the 27th, 1862. "Dere Annabel: We're movin' on Murphysboro, where we expect a big fite. There's bin htin' goin' on ever since we left Nashville^ but the 2C0th Ind. hain't had no hand in it so far, except this afternoon me and Shor-ty" He stopped, stuck his pencil in his mouth, and began to study just what words he should use to describe the occurrence. He wanted to tell her all that was bubbling in his heart, and yet he was afraid she would think him an intolerable boaster, if he told it in just the words that came to him. He was more afraid of that little country girl's disapproYal than of all the rebels in Murfreesboro. There w'ere yells, the rattling of chains, and the sound of galloping hoofs coming towards him. "Hi, there; stop them condemned mules!" shouted th« voice of a teamster. Si jumped to his feet, for the mules were charging directly for his fire, and were almost upon him. He dropDed paper, pan and pencil, and jumped to one side, just in time to avoid a rush which scatterecJ his hie, Vis carefully-prepared bed, and all his belongings under 24 flying, hard-pounding hoofs. "Blast mules, anyhow," said the driver, coming up with his whip in his hand. "I didn't hev nothin' for them to eat but a cottoiiwood pole that I cut down in the bottom. But they must have smelt fodder over there somewhere, and they broke for it like the devil beatin*" tanbark. Hope you weren't hurt, pard." Si and Shorty hxed up their fire a^ain, rearranged their BT KLEGG AND SHORTTr ^gajf^c! CGclar bouglis, and did the best they could with their torn blankets t Si found that a mule's hoof had landed squarely on his tin plate, mashed all future usefulness out of it, and stamped his letter to Annabel into unrecognizability He threw the rent fragments into the fire, sighed deeply, and crawled under the blankets with Shorty, just as three sounding taps on the base-drum commanded silence and lights out in the camp. BEAAI OF THE SUXSHIXE OF LIFE. 81 CHAPTER ly. A BEAM OF THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE. " - There come times in every man's life when he feels himself part of the sunshine that illumines and warms the earth — The lover, after he has won his best girl's consent. The candidate, after he has been elected by a big majority. The valedictorian, after his address has been received by bursts of ringing applause. The clerk, after he has been admitted into partner- ship. The next morning the camp of the 200th Ind. seemed to Si Klegg one of the most delightful places on earth. The sun shone brightly and cheerily through the crisp December air. The fires of cedar rails sent up a pun- gent, grateful fragrance. Hardtack, pork, and coii^^ tasted much better than he had ever known them. Everybody noticed him and spoke pleasantly to him. The other boys of Co. Q called out cheerily to him from their fires. Those from the other companies wou-d stroir over to take a looli at him and Shorty, and his comrades would point them out proudly as fair specimens of Co. Q, and what it was capable of doing when called upoji in an emergency The Captain spoke very cordially to him and Shcntyj the busy Adjutant stopped and greeted them smilingiv, and even the grave Colonel singled them out for a pleas- ant "Good morning" and an inquiry as to vrlietk^? th^f had everything they w:2-»ited. It did not seem to BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. there was anything more on earth just then for which he could ask. The 200th Ind. having been at the head of the column when it halted, was to take the rear for that day's march, and so remained in camp for a while to let the rest pass on.' THE ADJUTANT SMILED ON SI AND SHORTY, After getting things ready for the march Si arid Shorty took a stroll through the camp to see w^hat was to be seen. They came across their prisoners seated around a f-ie, under guard. Hotf mnerent they looked to what they did the evening beiorcj when the two partners encountered them in the BEAM OF THE ST:^•SHr^:E OF LIFE. S3 depths of the cedar brake. Then they seemed like fierce giants, capable of terrible things, such as would make the heart quail. Xow. powerless for harm, and awed by the presence of multitudes of armed men in blue filling the country in every direction that they looked they ap- peared very commonplace, ignorant, rotigh men, long- haired, staring-eyed, and poorly-clad in coarse, butter- nut-dyed homesptm, frayed and tattered. ^'Father gits better men than them to work on the farm for $S a month," Si remarked to Shorty, after a length- ened survey of them. "Eight dollars a month is Congressman's wages to what they git for fightin' for the Sotithern Confederacy," answered Shorty. ''1 don't s'pose any one of *em ever had eight real dollars in his pocket in his life. They say they're fightin' to keep its from takin' tlieir niggers away from 'em, and yit if niggers wuz sellin" for $1 a-piece not one of 'em coitld buy a six-months '-old baby. Let's go up and talk to 'emV '''I don't know 'bout that," said Si, doubtfully. ''Seems to me I wouldn't be particularly anxious to see men who'd taken me prisoner and talked very cross about blowin' my blamed head off." "0, that's all right," answered Shorty confidently. "T\^ords spoken in the heat of debate, and so on. They won't lay them up agin us. If they do, and want any satisfaction, we can give it to 'em. I kin lick any man in that crowd with my fists, and so kin you. We'll jest invite 'em to a little argyment with nature's weepons, withe ut no interference by the guard. Come on." The prisoners returned their greetings rather pleasantly. They were so dazed by the host of strange faces that Si and Shorty seemed, in a measure, like old acquaintances. *'Had plenty to eat, boys 7" asked Shorty, familiarly, 34 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. seating himself on a log beside tliem and passing liis pipe and tobacco to the Sergeant, "Plenty, thankee," said the Sergeant, taking the pipe and filling it. "More'n we'uns 've had sence we left home, an' mouty good vittles, too. You Yanks sartinly live well; ef yo'uiis don't do nothin' else." THE PRISONER ; **Yes," said Shorty with a glance at his mud- stained garments, *Sve're bound to live high and dress well, even if we don't lay up a cent." ."You sartinly do hava good cloze, too," said the Ser- geant, surveying the stout blue uniforms with admira- tion. "Yo'uns' common soldiers 've better cloze thap BEAM OF THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE. 35 our officers. We'uns got hold o' some o' yo'uns' overcoats, and they wear like leather.'" ^'There's leather in 'em/' said Shorty unblushingly. tell you, old Abe Lincoln's a very smart man. He saw that this war was costin' a heap of money, especi- ally for clothes. He got a bright idee that by soaking the clothes when they were new and green in the tan-vats, jest aftqr the leather wuz taken out, they'd take up the strength o' the leather out o' the juice, and wear always. The idee worked bully, and now old Abe goes every morning to where they're makin' clothes and sees that every stitch is put to soak." ^'Nobody but a Yankee'd thought that," said the rebel reflectively. ^'You bet," assented Shorty. ^'Jeff Davis 'd never think of it if he lived to be as old as Methuselah. But that's only the beginnin' of Abe Lincoln's smartness." "He's a durned sight smarter man than we'uns thought he wuz when we begun the war," admitted the Sergeant. "But we'uns '11 woUophim yit,in spite of his smartness.'^ "We kin tell more about that a few months later," re- turned Shorty. "It's never safe to count the game until the last hand's played. We hain't fairly begun to lead trumps yit. But what are you fellers fighting for, anyhow?" "We'uns foutin' for our liberty, and keep yo'uns from takin' our niggers away." The reply that came to Shorty's lips was that thej scsmed to be losing a great deal of liberty rather than gaining it, but he checked this by the fear that it would be construed as an ungentlemanly boast of their capture. He said, instead; "I never knowed as any of us wanted your niggers— me particularly. I wouldn't take a wagon load of 'em, even if the freight was prepaid. But, let me ask you, Sers^eanti fepw mmy niggers do jou own?" S6 BI KLEGG AND RTTORTT. "I don^t own nary one." "Does your fatlier own any?" "No, lie don't." "Does your motlierj or brothers, uncles, aunts, or cousins own any?" persisted Shorty. "No, thar aint nary one owned in tlie IiuU fambly." "Seems to me," said Shorty, "you're doin' a great deal of figiitin' to keep us from takiu' away from you some- thing that we don't want and you haint got. That's the way it looks to a man from north o' the Ohio Eiver. Mebhe there's something in the Tennessee air that makes him see differently. FIl admit that I've changed my mind about a good many things since we crossed the river." "I've alluz said," spoke another of the prisoners, "that this wuz a rich man's wah and a pore man's fout." "Well," safd Shorty, philosophically, "for folks that like that sort o' fightin', that's the sort o' fightin' they like. I'm different. I don't. When I fight it's for something that I've got an interest in." While the discussion was going on Si had been study- ing the appearance of the prisoners. In spite of their be- ing enemies his heart was touched by their comfortless condition. Not one of them had an overcoat or blanket* The Sergeant and a couple of others had over their shoulders pieces of the State House carpet, which had been cut up into lengths and sevv'-ed together .for blankets. Another had what had once been a gaudy calico counter- pane, with the pattern "Rose of Sharon" wrought out in flaming colors. It was now a sadly-bedjraggled substi- tute for a blanket. The others had webs of jeans sewed / together The buttons were gone from their garments in many essential places, and replaced by strings, nails, skewers and thorns Worst of all, almost every one of them was nearlj sfe^spJesso k sudden knj^ulse seized Si. BEAM OF THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE. 37 •'Shorty," said he. '^tliese men are going up wliere the weather is very cold. I wish I was able to give each of them a warm suit of clothes and a bla^nket. I ain't though. But I tell you vrhat I will do; I'll go down to the Quartermaster and see if he'll issue nie a pair of shoes for each of 'em, and charge it to my clothin' account." "Bully idee," ejaculated Shorty. "I'll go you halves. Mebbe if they git their uiiderstandin' into Yankee leather it'll help git some Yankee idees into their understanding. See?" And Shorty was so delighted v/ith his little joke that he laughed over it all the way to the Quartermaster's vv^agoa, and then rehearsed it for that officer's entertainment. Fortunately, the Quartermaster had a box of shoes that he could get at without much trouble, and he was in sufficiently good humor to grant Si's request. They added a vrarm pair of socks to each pair of shoes, and so wrought upon the A. Q. M.'s sympathies that he threw in some damaged overcoats, and other articles, which he said he could report '%st in action." They came back loaded with stuff, which they dumped down on the ground before the prisoners^ with the brief remark : "Them's all yours. Put 'em on." The prisoners vvcre overwhelmed by this generosity on the part of their foes and captors. "I alluz thought," said the Sergeant, "that you Yan- kees wuz not half so bad ez 1 believed that yo'uns wuz. Yo'uns is white men, if yo'uns do want to take away our niggers." "Gosh," said the man who had uttered the opinion that it Vvas a rich man's war and a poor man's fight, "I'd give all my interest in every nigger in Tennessee for that ere one pa'r o' shoes. They're beauties, I tell you. I never had so good a pa'r afore in all my life." 38 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTER V. INING UP ON THE BANKS OF STONE RIVER. '*Ram agin to-day," said Shorty, disgustedly, as, on the morning of Dee. 30, 1862, he crawled out of the shelter which he and Si had constructed by laying a pole in the crotches of two young cedars, and stretching their pon- chos and pup-tents over it. "Doggoned if I don't believe Tennessee w^as left out in the flood, and they've been tryin' to make up for it ever since. I'd rather have the flood at once, and be done with it, for then I'd join the navy instead of paddlin' 'round in this dirty glue that they call mud." "Never saw such a grumbler. Shorty," said Si cheerily, as he punched the soaked embers together to start a blaze to boil their coffee by. "Last Summer the dust and dry weather didn't suit you. Do you want to do your soldierin' in heaven?" "Hurry up with your grub, boys," said the Orderly- Sergeant, who came spattering through the muck of leaves and mud into which the camping-ground had been trampled. "The regiment's to move in 15 minutes. The 200th Ind. guards wagon-trains to-day. Yesterday Wheeler's cavalry got in among our wagons and raised thunder — burnt about a mile of 'em.** Shorty grumbled : "That means a tough day's work pryin' wagons out of the mud, and restin' ourselves be- tw^een times runnin' after a lot o' skippin', cavortin' cav- alry that's about as easy to ketch as a half-bushel o* fleas. Anything I hate it's rebel cavalry— all tear-around and yell, and when you git ready to shoot they're on the other side o' the hill,'* LINING UP ON THE BANKS OF STONE RIVEK. 39 "Well/' said Si, removing a slab of sizzling fat pork from the end of his rammer, laying it on his hardtack, and taking a generous bite, '*we musn't allow them to take no wagons away from the 200tli Ind., slosh around as they may. We want all that grub ourselves." EARNING THIRTEEN DOLLARS A MONTH. "Well, hump yourselves," said the Orderly-Sergeant, as he spattered on; "fall in promptly when the assemby blows. Got plenty o' cartridges?" ^ Two or three hours later every man in the 200th Ind., wet to the skin, and with enough mud on him to be as- sessable as real estate, was in a temper to have "sassed his gentle old grandmother and whipped his best iriendU 40 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. He believed that if there was anything under heavens meaner than Tennessee weather it was an army mule; the teamsters had even less sense and more contrariness than the mules; the army wagon was a disheartening device of the devil, and Tennessee roads had been es- pecially contrived by Jeff Davis to break the hearts of Union soldiers. The rain came down with a steady pelt that drove right through to the body. The wagon wheels sank into every mud-hole and made it deeper. Prying out the leading ones seemed only to make it worse for the next. The discouraged mules would settle back in the breech- ingS; and not pull an ounce at the most critical moments. The drivers would become blundering idiots, driveling futile profanity. In spite of all the mud the striving, pushing, pulling, prying, lifting, shouting 200th Ind. gathered up on their hands and clothes, it increased momentarily in the road. The train had strung out over a mile or more of rocky ledges and abysses of mire. Around each wagon was a squad who felt deeply injured by the certainty that their infernal luck had given them the heaviest wagon, the worst mules, and the most exasperating driver in the whole division. *T couldn't 've made a doggoneder fool than Ground- hog, that teams'ter," said Shorty, laying down his rail for a minute's rest, "if I'd 'a' had Thompson's colt before my eyes for a pattern. That feiier was born addled, on Friday, in the dark of the moon." i "Them mules," dolefully corroborated Si, scraping an acre, more or less, of red Tennessee soil from his over- coat with a stick, "need to be broke again — with a saw- log. Lucky for old Job that the devil didn't think o' set- tin' him to drive mules. He'd 'a' bin a-goner in less'n an houiu" LINING UP ON THE BANKS OF STONE RIVER. 41 '^Doggone it, tliere they come/' said Shorty, snatching up his gun. Si looked in the direction of Shorty's glance. Out of the cedars, a mile or more away, burst a regiment of rebel cavalry, riding straight for the front of the train. With his tribe's keen apprehension of danger, Ground- hog had jumped from his saddle, nervously unhitched his mule, and sprung into the saddle again, ready for instant flight. *'Get off and hook that mule up agin," commanded Si sternly. "Now get on your mule and 2»o to the head of your team, take the leaders by the bridles, and stay there. "If you aint standing there holding your mules when we come back ril break your worthless neck." The bugle sounded "Eally on the right flank," and Si and Shorty joined the others in a lumbering rush over the miry fields toward the right. Their soaked clothes hung about them like lead. They had not a spoonful of breath left w^hen they got to where, half-a-mile away, Co. A had taken a position in the briers behind a rail fence, and had opened a long-ranged fire on the cavalry, which was manuvering as if trying to discover a way to take the company in flank. Another fence ran at right angles away to the right of Co. A's position. The cavalry started for that. "Capt. McGillicuddy," shouted the Colonel, "take your company back to that fence as quick as you can, run along back of it, and try to keep those fellows on the other side." Away the panting company rushed for the fence. The field was overgrown with those pests of the Southern plowman, called locally "devil's shoe-strings," w^hich stretch from furrow-ridge to furrow-ridge, and are snares to any careless walker. The excited Indianians were 42 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. constantly tripped on tliese, and fell headlong in the mud. Down Si and Shorty went several times, to the great damage of their tempers. But in spite of all— rain, mud, lack of breath and devil's shoe-strings — the com- pany got to the fence in advance of the cavalry, and opened a scattering fire as eachjman could get his damp gun to go off. Si and Shorty ran back a little to a hillock, from which they could get long-distance [shots on where the cavalry would probably try to tear down the fence. "It's all of 600 yards. Si," said Shorty, as he leaned against a young oak, got his breath back in long gulps, and studied the ground. "We kin make it, though, with our Springfields, if they'll give us time to cool down and git our breaths. 1 declar I w^ant a whole Town- ship of fresh air every second. That last time I fell knocked enough breath out o' me to fill a balloon." "There, they're sendin' out a squad now to go for the fence," said Si, putting his sight up to 600 yards. "I'll line on that little persimmon tree and shoot as they pass it.,j^^ J'll take the fellow on the clay bank horse, who seems to be an officer. You take the next one on the spotted bay." "Better shoot at the boss," said Shorty, fixing hia sight. "Bigger mark; and if you git the boss you git the man." The squad made a rush for the fence, but as the leader crossed the line Si had drawn on the persimmon tree through his sights, his musket cracked, and the horse reared and fell over in the mud. Shorty broke the shoulder of the next horse, and the rider had to jump off. "Bully shots, boys. Do it again," shouted the Captain of Co. Q, hurrying some men farther to the right, to con- centrate a fire upon the exposed point. Si and Shorty hastily reloaded, and fired again at the i^bels, Avho had pressed on toward the fence, in spite o^ LINING UP ON THE BANKS OF STONE RIYER. 43 tlie fall of their leader. But not having at the moment an object in line to sight on, Si and Shorty did not suc- ceed in bringing anybody down. But as they looked to see the effect; they also saw a cannon-flash from a hill A CLOSE CALL. away off behind the cavalry, and the same instant its rifled shot took the top off the young oak about six feet above Si^s head. Shorty was the first to recover his wits and tongue. ''Dog-goned if somebody else hain't been drawin' If 44 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. bead on trees," lie said, looking into Si's startled face Knows how to shoot, too." '^^'1 didn't notice that measly gun come up there. Dia you, Shorty?" said Si, trying to get his heart back out of his mouth, so that he could speak plainly. ^^No, I didn't. But it's there all the same, and the fel- lers with it have blood in their eyes.' Le's run over to where the other boys are. I'm a private citizen. I don't like so much public notice.'^ ^(They joined the squad which was driving back the rebels who had started out to break the fence. Presently the cavalry wheeled about and disappeared in the woods. The rear was scarcely out of sight, and the 200th Ind. was just beginning to feel a sense of relifef, when there was a sputter of shots and a chorus of yells away off to the extreme left. j^lj^^Just as I expected," grumbled Shorty. "They are jumping the rear of the train now." i , Leaving Co. A to watch the head of the train, the rest of the regiment bolted off on the double-quick for the rear. They did not get there a moment too soon. Not soon enough, in fact. As they came over the crest of the hill they saw Co. B, which had been with the rear, hav- ing more than it could attend to with a horde of yelling, galloping rebels, who filled the little valley.^'Co. B's boys were standing up manfully to their work, and pop- ping away at the rebels from behind fences and rocks, but the latter had already gotten away from them a wagon which had been far to the rear, had cut loose the anules and run them off, and were plundering the wagon, and trying to start a fire under it. ^ The fusillade which the regiment opened as the men gained the crest of the hill, put a different complexion on the affair. The rebels recognizred the force of circum- Istances^ and s;^dily ro^ mi grange, aiL^ iiieu LINING UP ON THE BANES OF STONE EIVER 45 out of sight. As tlie last of them disappearec! over the hill the ^Yea^ied regiment dropped down all around to rest. "We can't rest long, boys," said the sympathetic Colonel, ^^We've got to start these wagons along." ' THE FRIGHTENED TEA.MSTEIJ., Presently he gave the order: "Go back to your wagons, now^, and get them out as quickly as you can." Bi and Shorty took a circuit to the left to get on some sod v/hich had not been trfi.mpled into mortar. Tliey heard a volley of profanity coming from a cedar brake still farther to the left; and recognized the voice of tiieii SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. teamster. They went thither, and found Groundhog, who had fled from the scene, after the manner of his race, at the first sound of the firing, but had been too seared to fasten up his traces when he unhitched his saddle mule. These had flapped around, as he urged his steed forward, and the hooks had caught so firmly into the cedars when he plunged into the thicket that he was having a desperate time getting them loose. "You dumbed, measly coward," said Si. ^'1 told you I'd blow your head off en you if you didn't stay by them mules. I ought to do it." "Don't, Si," said Shorty. "He deserves it, and we kin do it some other time. But we need him now in our business. He hain't much of a head, but it's all that he's got— and he can't drive without it. Le's git the mulo loose first." They got the mule out and turned him around toward the wagons. "Now," said Shorty, addressing Groundhog, "you white- livered son-in-law of a jackass, git back to that wagon as fast you kin go, if you don't want me to run this bayonet through you." There was more straining and prying in the dreary rain and fathomless mud to get the wagons started. "Shorty," said Si, as they plodded alongside the road, with a rail on one shoulder and a gun on the other, "1 really believe that this is the toughest day we've had yet. What d'you s'pose father and mother'd say if they could see us?" "They'd probably say we wuz earning our |13 a month, with $100 bounty at the end o' three years," snapped Shorty, who was in no mood for irrelevant conversation. So the long, arduous day went. When they were not pulling, pushing, prying, and yelling, to get the wagons QMi oi mud lii^lesj they w.ere rushing over the clogging, LINING UP ON THE BANKS OF STONE 47 plowed fields to stand off the nagging rebel cavalry, wliieli seemed to fill the country as full as the rain, the mud, the rocks and the weeping cedars did. As night drew on they came up to lines of fires where the different divisions were going into line-of-battle along the banks of Stone River. The mud became deeper than ever, from the trampling of tens of thousands of men and animals, but they at least did not have the aggravating rebel cavalry to bother them. They found their division at last in an old cotton field, and were instantly surrounded by a crowd of hungry, angry men. "Where in blazes have you fellers bin all day?" they shouted. "You ought to've got up here hours ago. We're about starved." "Go to thunder, you ungrateful whelps," said Si. "Yoa kiia gii jous «wn w^aas up after tkU- I'ii ttdver helg guard another wagoa-irain as long as Fm in the army." 48 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY CHAPTER VI. ON THE STOExMY BANKS OF STONE ElVER. The fagged-out 200tli Incl. was put in reserve to the brioade, -ivhich lay in line-of-battle. After having got the trai;? safely into camp, the regi- ment felt that it Avas incapable oi moving another foot. While their coffee was boiling Si and Shorty broke off a few cedar branches to lay under them, and keep them out of the mud. The rain still drizzled, cold, searching and depressing, but they were too utterly tired to do any- thing more than spread their overcoats on the branches, lay their blankets and ponchos over, and crawl in between. In the few minutes which they allovxed to elapse be- tween getting into camp and going to sleep they saw and heard something of the preparations going on around them for the mighty battle, but body and brain were too weary to properly "sense" these. They hardly cared w^hat might happen to-morrow. Rest for to-day was everything. They were too weary to worry about any- thing in the future. "It certainly looks, Shorty," said Si, as crawled in, "like as if the circus was in town, and the big show'd come off to-morrow, without regard to the weather." "Let it come and be blamed to it," snorted Shorty. "They can't git up nothin' wuss'n we've bin havin' to- day, let them try their durnedest. But I tell you, Mr. Si Klegg, I want you to lay mighty still to-night. If you git to rollin' around in your usual animated style and tanglin' up the bedclothes, I'll kick you out into the raiiu and make you stay there. Do you hear me?" ON THE STORMY BAXKS OF STOXE RIVER. 49 *Tou bet I'll lay quiet,-' said Si. as together iliey gave the skillful little kick only known to veteran campaigners bv which, they brought the blankets snugly up around their feet. ''You could sooner wake up a fence-rail than me. I want to tell you, too, not to git to dreamin' of pryin' wagons out of the mud, and chasin' rebel cavalry. I won't have it.'' The reveille the next morning would have promptly awakened even more tired sleepers than Si and Shorty. Eyen before the didl, damp drums began rolling and the fifes shrieking the air of enforced gaiety along the sinu- ous line of blue which stretched for miles through red, muddy cotton-fields and cedar tangles v-et as bath-room sponires, there came from far away on the extreme right a dee-pening roll of musketry, punctuated with angry cannon-shots and the faint echo of yells and answering cheers. ''That's !McCook opening the battle,'' said the officers ^ answering the anxious looks of the men. ''He's to hold the re]:)els out there, while Crittenden sweeps around on the left, captures iMurfreesboro, and takes them in the rear." Miles away to the left came the sound of musketry and cannons, as if to confirm this. But the firing there died dovn, while that to the riglit increased with regular, crashing volleys from muskets and artillery. The 200th Ind. was in that exceedingly trying positioa for soldiers, where they can hear everything but see nothing. The cedar thicket in which they stood shut off the view in every direction. The Colonel kept ofncers and men standing strictly in place, ready for any con- tingency. Si and Shorty leaned on their muskets aud anxiously watched the regimental commander as he sat rigidly in his saddle, with his fixed gaze bent in the direc- tion of the awful tumult. ,^^The Adjutant had ridden for- 50 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. ward a little ways to where he could get a better view. The oilier officers stood stiffly in their places, with the points of their drawn swords resting on the ground, and their hands clasped on the hilts, and watched the Colonel intently. Sometimes they would whisper a few words to THERE'LL BE A MILLION REBELS ON TOP 0' YOU. those standing near them. The Captain of Co. Q drew geometric figures in the mud with the point of his sword • Constantly the deafening crash came nearer, and crept around farther to the right. Si gave a swift glance at Shorty. His partner^s teeth were set, his face drawn and bloodless^ his eyes fixed immovably on the Colonel* THE STOEMY BANKS OF STOXE RIVER. 51 *'x\wful fightin' goin' on out there. Shorty," said Si, in hushed voice. "I'm afraid they're lickin' our fellers." ''Confound it!" snorted Shorty, ''why in thunder don't ihey move us out, and give us something to do? This is hell standin' here listenin'." A teamster, hatless and coatless, with his hair stand- ing up, came tearing through the brush, mounted on his e addle-mule. A chorus of yells and curses greeted his appearance. ^ was immense relief for the men to have something to swear at, "Eun, you egg-sucking hound. ^ "Run, you scald-headed dominie "Somebody busted a cap in your neighborhood, old white-liver?'' "Seen the ghost of a dead rebel, Pilgarlic?'* "Pull back your eyes, you infernal mulew^hacker. A limb'U brush 'em ofi." "Look at his hair — standin' up stiffer'n bristles on a boar's back." "Your mule's got more sand 'n you. They're standing where you left 'em." "Of course, you're whipped and all cut to pieces. You was that when you heard the first gun crack." ~ "'Get out of the way, and let him run himself to death. That's all he's fit for'!" "You've no business in men's clothes. Put on petti- coats." "Go it, rabbit; go it, cotton-taU—you've heard a dog bark," "Chickee— ehickee— skip for the barn. Hawk's in the air." "Let him alone. Fa'-q I'n a hurry to get^^back^nd j^eij his sutler's bill." Tlie t ^^stei gasE^ed out : , 52 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. *'You'd better all git out o' here as fast as the Lord'H let you. Johnston's Division's cut all to pieces and run- nin'. There'll be a million rebels on top o' you in an- other m inn it." "Capt. McGillicuddy/' said the Colonel sternly, but without turning his head, "either bayonet that cowardly rascal or gag him and tie him to a tree." The Captain turned to give the order to Corp'l Klegg, but the teamster struck his mule with his whip, and went tearing on through the brush before the order could be given. Some severely-wounded men came slowiy pushing their way through the chaparral. "It's awful hot out there," they said. ^'The rebels got the start oi us, and caught our battery horses off to water. They outflanked us bad, but the boys are standin' up to 'em and they're gettin' help, and '11 lick the stuflin' out of 'em yet." The regiment gave the plucky fellows a cheer. A riderless horse, frantic from his wounds and the terrific noise, tore through the brush, and threatened to dash over Co. Q. Si and Shorty saw the danger, and be- fore the Captain could give an order they sprang forward, and, at considerable risk, succeeded in getting hold of the reins and partially calming the poor brute. The eagles on the saddlecloth showed that he belonged to a Colonel. He was led to the rear, and securely haltered to a young cedar. The incident served a purpose in dis- tracting for awhile the attention of the regiment. The noise in front and to the right swept farther away for a little while, and the men's hearts rose with a cheer. "Now the reinforcements are getting in. Why in the world don't they send us for^vard?" they said. The Colonel still sat rigidly, with his face straight to the iiont. ON THE STORMY BANKS OF STONE RIVER. 53 Then the noise began to roll nearer again, and the men's hearts to sink. The wounded men coming back became a continuous procession. They spoke less confidently, and were anxi- "THE WHOLE CONFEDERACY'S OUT THERE." ous to know what was talving place on otlier parts of the line. "The whole infernal Southern Confederacy's out there," said one boy, who was holdine^ his shattered right hand 54 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. in his left, ^^itll his thumb pressed hard on the artery, to stanch the blood, "in three lines-of-battle, stretching from daybreak to sunset. The boys have been standing them off bully, though, but I don't know how long they TWO MUSICIANS CAME LABORING THROUGH. can keep it up. Thomas and Crittenden^ought to be walking right over everything, for there can't be anybody in front of them. They're all out there." Two musicians came laboring through, carrying 9 ON THE STORMY BANKS OF STONE HIYER. 55 s-iTetcher on whicli was an officer with part of His face S'hot away. Si felt himself growing white around the mouth and sick at the stomachy but he looked Hie other way, and drew in a long, full breath. The storm now seemed to be rolling toward them at railroad speed. Suddenly the woods became alire with men running back, some with their guns in their hands, many mthout. Some were white with fear, and silent; some were in a delirium of rage, and veiling curses. Officers, bareheaded, and wiklly excited, were waving their swords, and calling regiments and companies by name to halt and rally. The Adjutant came galloping Dack, his horse knocking the fugitives right and left. He shouted, to make him- self heard in the din : *The whole di^asion is broken and going back. Our brigade is trying to hold the rebels. They need us at once." The Colonel turned calmly in his saddle, and his voice rang out clear, distinct, and measured, as if on parade: "Attention, 200th Indiana!" "Loadat wiU-LOAD!" A windrow of bright ramrods flashed and weaved in the air. A wave of sharp, metallic clicks ran from one end of the line to the other. "Shoulder-ARMS!" ''Eight— FACE r ^'Forward-MARCH!" What happened immediately after emerging from the cedars Si could never afterward distinctly recall. He could only vaguely remember — as one does the impres- sions of a delirium— seeing, as the regiment swung from column into line, a surging sea of brown men dashing forward against a bank of blue running along a rail fence, and from which rose incessant flasll^ of fiie and 56 SI KLEGSG AND SHORTY* clouds of wliKe smoke. The 200th Ind. rushed down to the fence, to the right of the others; the fierce flashes flared along its front; the white smoke curled upward from it. He did not remember any order to begin firing; did not remember when he began. He only remembered presently feeling his gun-barrel so hot that it burned his hand, but this made him go on firing more rapidly than before. He was dimly conscious of his comrades drop- ping around him, but this did not affect him. He also remembered catching sight of Shorty's face, and noticing that it was as black as that of a negro, but this did not seem strange. He felt nothing, except a consuming rage to shoot into and destroy those billows of brown fiends surging inces- santly toward him. Consciousness only came back to him after the billows had surged backward into the woods, leaving the red mud of the field splotched with brown lumps, which had lately been men. As his mind cleared his hand flinched from the hot gun-barrel, and he looked down curiously to see the rain- drops turn into steam as they struck it. His throat was afire from the terrible powder thirst. He lifted his can- teen to his lips and almost drained it. He drew a long breath, and looked around to see what had happened since they left the cedars. Shorty was by his side, and unhurt. He now understood why his face was so black. He could feel the thick incrustation of powder and sweat on his own. Several of Co. Q were groaning on the ground, and the Captain w^as detailing men to carry them back to where the Surgeon had established him- self. Two were past all surgery, staring with soulless eyes into the lowering clouds. "Poor Bill and Ebe," said Si, gazing sorrowfully at the bodies. "Co. Q will miss them. AYhat good boys they" Were" stuck in his throat. That those strong, act- A GLOOMY NEW YEAH'S DAY 57 lye, eveFfeady comrades of a few minutes before now merely "were" was unspeakable. His thouglits were distracted by a rebel battery on the hill sending a volley of shells at the fence. Some went over, and tore gaps in the cedars beyond. One struck the corner of the fence near him, and set the rails to flying. "I like fence-rails in their place as well as any man," said Shorty, as they dodged around; "but a fence-rail's got no business sailin' round in the air like a bird." An Aid rode up to the Colonel. "The General's compliments. Colonel. He directs me to express to you his highest compliments on the splen- did manner in which you have defended your position. You and your men have done nobly. But we are out- flanked, and it will be necessary to retire to a new posi- tion about a half-mile to the rear. You will Avithdraw your regiment by companies, so as to attract as little at- tention from the enemy as possible. As soon as they are v.nder cover of the cedars you will move rapidly to the new position." "Very well," said the Colonel, saluting. "You will be good enough to say to the General that my men and myself appreciate highly his praise. AYe are proud to receive it, and sball try to deserve it in the future. His orders shall be immediately obeyed." "They call this a civil war," said Shorty, as another volley of shells tore around. "Seems to me sometimes that it's too durned civil. If we're goin' to git out of here, we might save compliments for a quieter time." One by one the companies filed back into the cedars, Co. Q being the last. Just as they started the rebels on the opposite hill discovered the movement, raised a yell, and started across the field fHalt-Front!" commanded the Captain. "Those fel- 58 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. lows are too tumultuous and premature. We must check them up a little. Wait till they come to that little branch, then everybody pick his man and let him have it. Aim below the belt." The frenzy of the first struggle was now gone from Si's mind; instead had come a deadly determination to make every shot tell. "I'm goin' to fetch that mounted officer on their right," he said to Shorty and those around him. "Very well," said Shorty. "I'll take that Captain near him who's wavin' his sword and yellin'. The rest o' you fellers pick out different men." The rebel line was in the weeds which bordered the branch when the Captain gave the order to fire. When the smoke rose the mounted officer and the yell- ing Captain were down. "If somebody else didn't get them, we did," saic Shorty, as they turned and rushed back into the cedars- The rebels were only checked momentarily. They soon came swarming on, and as Co. Q crashed through the cedars the rebels were yelling close behind. For- tunately, they could not do any effective firing, on ac- count of the brush. But when they came to the edge of the thicket there was a long run across a furrowed, muddy cottonfield, to reach the knoll on which the bri- gade was reforming. The battery was already in action there, throwing shells over the heads of Co. Q at the rebels swarming out of the cedars in pursuit. Si and Shorty threw away overcoats, blankets, haver- sacks and canteens — everything which would impede their running, except their guns and cartridge-boxes. Their caps were gone, and Si had lost one shoe in the mud. They all sat down on th© ground for a minute and panted to get their breath. The rebels were checked, but only temporarily. They A GLOOMY XEW YEAR'S DAY. 59 were tlirciKiing out in countless muliiiLidc-?, lining up into regiments and brigades; prepciiaicry to a ri'.sli across the field upon tlie brigade. Away to the right of the brii^^ade rebel batteries had been concentrated, ^vilich were slieliino- it and the ground to the rear, to p:-event any assistance being sent it. "Captain/"' said the Colonel, riding up to Co. Q. '"'the General says that we have got to stay here and hold those fellows back until the new line can be formed along the pike. ^Ye haven't ammunition enough for an- other fight. You'll have to send a Corporal and a squad back to the pike to bring up some more. Pick out men that'll be sure to come back, and in a hurry." '''Corp'l Klegg/"' said the Captain, without an instant's hesitation, ''you hear what's to be done. Take five men and go." Si looked around to see if there was someone he could borrow a shoe from. But that was hardly a time when men were likely to lend shoes. He picked Shorty and four others. They flttng down their gtms and started on a run for the pike. The batteries were sweeping the fields with shells, but they were so intent on their errand that they paid no at- tention to the iemoniac shrieks of the hurtling pieces of iron. They gained the other side of the field, but as they entered the welcome shelter of the v\'Oods they encoun- tered an officer with a draT\ n sword, commanding a line of men. "Stop there, you infernal, cowardly rascals," he yelled. "Pick up those guns there, and get into line, or I'll shoot you. You, Corporal, ought to be ashamed of yourself." "We're after ammunition for the 200th Ind.," gasped Si. *'We must have it right away. "Where/'s th^e dividon aiQ.- munition train?". GO SI KLEGG AND SHORTY "Tliat ammunition story's played. Can't work it on me. Where's your regiment? Wbere's your caps? Where's your shoes? Where's your guns? You're rattled out of your senses. Stop here and cool off. Pick up guns there and fall into line." "Name o' God, Lieutenant/' said Shorty excitedly. "This's no time for any foolishness. Our regiment's out there on the hill without any ammunition. The rebels are gittin' ready to jump it, four or five to one. Don't fool, for heaven's sake. There's not a minute to waste. Come with us and help us git the ammunition. That's a blamed sight more important than stoppin' these here runaways, who're no good when they are stopped. Come ilong, for God's sake." His earnestness impressed the Lieutenant. "Lieut. Evans," he called out, "take command of the line, while I go back with these men to the ammunition- train. I can get it quicker for them than they can. Your Colonel should have sent a commissioned officer with you." . "The Colonel needs all the officers he has left with him," panted Shorty, running ahead of the rest. "Every- body back there's got all he can attend to, and we couldn't really be spared." There was a crowd of similar men surging around the ammunition wagons, each eager to get his load and rush back. The covers of the wagons had been torn off., and a man stood in each, pitching the boxes to the clamoring details. All were excited and reckless. The pitching would be wild, or the catching bad, and occasionally a box would strike a man on the head or the body and knock him down. He would scarcely stop to sv/ear, but snatch up his precious box and rush off toward his regiment. "Open out here, let us in," commanded the Lieutenant striking right and left with the flat of his sword. It was A GLOOMY >TEW YEAR'S DAY. bi not a moment for gentle courtesies. The crowd opened up, and Si and Shorty pushed in near the ^Yheels. "Now give us six boxes in a hurry/"' commanded the Lieutenant. Si caught the first box. Shorty the second, and before the Lieutenant was hardly done speaking the rest had theirs, and started back on the run. accompanied by the Lieuienaut. The boxes were very heavy and the mud was deep, but they went faster than they had ever done, even when runniiig from the rebels. 'T"ni awfully afraid you'll have a time getting across the field there,'" said the Lieutenant, as they came to the edge, and he surveyed the ground in front doubtfully. '"'Lieut. Evans says they've moved a battery up closer, and are sweeping the field with canister.'' ^'We don't care what they're shootin',"' said Si resolutelv. ''We're goin' back to the regiment with these boxes, or die a-tryin'.'"' ''Go on, then, and God help you," said the Lieutenant. 'T'd go with you if I could do any good." Si arranged his box for a desperate rush. A blast of canister swept through, cutting down skrubs, splattering the mudj and shrieking viciously. •'Let's get as far as we can before they nre asfain," he shouted, and plunged forward. Half-way across the field his foot caught in a "de^iPs shoe-string," and down he went in the mud, with the heavy box drivin^g him deeper. Just then anotlier blast of canister hurtled across the field. "Golly, it was lucky, after all, that I was tripped," said Si, rising, stunned and dripping. "That lo^'^ of canister was meant for me personally." Two niuiates later he fiung the box down before the company, and sank panting on the ground. The others came ug after. Some had been grazed by canister, but C!? KLEGG AND SHORIV none seriously wounded. They arrived just in the nick of time, for the regiment had expended its last cartridge in repulsing the last assault, and was now desperately fixing bayonets to meet the next with cold steel. Tho A LUCKY FALL. lids of the Doxes were pried off with bayonets, ana the Sergeants ran along the companies distributing the pack- ages. The assault was met with a stream of fire, given with steady deadliness, which sent the rebels back to their covert. An Aid ddshed across the field to the brigade com- mander. A GLOOMY XEW YEAR'S DAY. "The line is now formed," he said. 'Tietire your com- mand to it." That night, after the battle had ceased, Si and Shorty were seated on a rail by the Xashville pike munching rations which they had luckily found in a thrown-away haversack. They were allowed no fires, they had no blankets nor overcoats, and it was bitter cold. ^'Shorty, you said last night you was sure that they couldn't git up nothin' to-day that'd be as bad as what we had yesterday," said Si. "I believe that I'd rather guard wagon-trains and fight cavalry than have such another day as this." "I think the lake of brimstone'd be a pleasant change from this," snorted Shorty. 64 SI KLma AND SHORTY. CHAPTER Vn. THE NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE. It was SO desperately cold and comfortless that Si and Shorty felt that they must do something or perish. There were some fragments of cracker-boxes near. With these they dug a hole several inches deep, put same splinters in, and started a stealthy blaze. They were careful to sit on the side toward the rebels, the bet- ter to hide from them any sight of it. It was a very small fire, but there was more relief in it tlian Si had before gotten irom those a thousand times larger. It kept his unshod foot from freezing, and brought the blood back to his numb hands. "Just think, Shorty," murmured Si; "night before last we had a whole panel of fence on the fire, and all our blankets and overcoats, and yet you kicked, Shorty. I believe this is a judgment on you for not being thankful for wheit you receive." "Judgment be blowed," ejaculated Shorty. "This ain't no judgment; it's just durned luck — that is. what isn't foolishness in sendin' a boy to mill. If we'd had only half as many men out there in the cedars as the rebels had we'd licked thunder out of 'em. We simply G-ouldn't whip four or five to one. McCook didn't size up his job right." "Well, we have something to be thankful for," said Si, determined to see the bright side of things "Neither us got hurt, which is a blessi^ig." "Don't know whether it is or not. If we are goin' to freeze to death before morniu' I'd rather've bin shot tho first volley. '^ THE NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE. 65 The misty darkness around them was filled witli noise and motion. Men who had become separated from their regiments wore wandering around trying to find them, in the bewildering maze of men, wagons, and animals. Of- ficers were calling aloud the names of regiments to bring together stragglers. xA.ids were rushing around to find Generals and Colonels to give and receive orders and in- structions. Piegiments and batteries were marching hither and yon to get into position and complete the for- mation of the line for tlie morrow's battle. The 200th Ind., which had fallen back in good order with its brigade, was well togetherj and made an island around which a restless sea of humanity flowed and eddied. Cheerless as was its bivouac in the cold mud, yet it was infinitely preferable to being lost in the inextricable confusion that reigned over those cotlonlields on that sorrowful night of Dec. 31, iSG2. "I'm not goin' to freeze to death," said Si, starting up, at last. "I'm c'oin'z to look around and see if I can't find something to make us more comfortable. Shorty, hold on to that hole in the ground. It's all that we've got left in the world, and if we lose that I don't know what'll be- come of us. "Better stay here, and not go wanderin' off into that mob," remonstrated Shorty." You'll git lost entirely, and never find your way back." "ril not get lost," responded Si. "I've got the lay the ground in my mind. If 1 did," he continued proudly, "it'd be easy to find you agia. Everybody knows where the 200th Ind. is." He went only a little ways, and carefully, at first. Ho was rewarded by kicking against an object which upon examination proved to be a well-filled knapsack, which someone had fiung away in his hurry. He carried itba<"k, rejoicincf, to Sliorfy. " 2 0 66 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "Finders is keepers," said Shorty, unbuckling tlie knapsack. "We'll just call this fair exchange for what we've throwed away in to-day's hustle. Let's open her FINDING A GOOD THING. r "Some new recruit's," said Si, as they exainined the inside. "Looks like the' one I packed ffohi Lijianny. "VYiiat's this? I declare if it aiiit a p>iif o' new shoes, and THE NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE. 67 about my size; and some socks. I tell you, Shorty, I'm in luck.'' He pulled the muddy socks off his shoeless foot, and drew on one of the Avarm, homemade affairs, and then the shoe. Both fitted avcII. lie put on the other sock and shoe, and life at once seemed brighter. '^Shorty," said ho, "I shouldn't wonder if I could find a blanket and aii overcoat. You keep on holding that hole down, and I'll go out agin. I won't be gone long, for I'm dead tired. Just as soon as I find an overcoat or a blanket to put between us and the mud, I'll come back and we'll lay down. Every joint in me aches." He started off less carefully this time. His new shoes made him feel more like walking. He was some distance from the regiment before he knew it. He found an over- coat. It had been trampled into the mud by thousands of passing feet, but still it was an overcoat, and it was not a time to be too nice about the condition of a gar- ment. Presently he found a blanket in similar condi- tion. He pulled on the overcoat, and threw the blanket over his shoulders. He felt warmer, but they were very heavy. Still, he thought he would go on a little ways further, and perhaps he would find another overcoat anci blanket, which Avould fix out both him and his partnei. All this time men were sweeping by him in compan- ies, regiments and squads, batteries were moving in all directions, and mounted officers were making their way to and fro. Filling up the spaces between these were hundreds of men, single and in small groups, wandering about in search of their regiments, and inquiring of every- one who would stop to listen to them as to the Avherc- abouts of regiments, brigades and divisions. Xo one could give any satisfactory information. Organizations which had formed a line two miles long in the morning had been driven back, frequently in tumult ar.d dis- 68 m KLEGG- AND SHOETY. order, for miles tlirougli the thickets and woods. Frag- mentary organizations had been rallied from time to time. A fragment of a regiment would rally at one point with fragments of other regiments and make a stand, while other fragments w^ould rally at widely separated places and renew the tight, only to be pushed back again toward the Nashville Pike. Regiments and brigades that had remained nearly intact had been rapidly shifted from one point to another, as they were needed, until the mind could not follow their changes, or where nightfall had found them, or whither they had been shifted to form the new line. At last Si succeeded in picking up another overcoat and blanket out of the mud, and started to go back to the regiment. But where was the regiment? He had long since lost fciTI track of its direction. He had been so intent upon studying the ground for thrown-away clothing that he had not noticed the course he had taken. It suddenly dawned on him that he was but one drop 171 that great ocean of 35,000 men, surging around on the square miles lying between the Nashville Pike and Stone Hiver. He looked about, but could see nothing to guide him. His eyes rested everywhere on dark masses of moving men. Those immediately around him were in- quiring weariedly for their own regiments; they had no patience to answer inquiries as to his own. Discour- aged, he determined to walk as straight ahead as pos- sible in the direction which he had come, and see where that would bring him. He was so tired that he could gcarceiy drag one foot after another, but he plodded on. At length he drew out of the throng a Httle, and saw that lie was approaching the banks of a large stream. This disheartened him, for they had not been within miles of 6 tone Ilivei duxing the day. He saw a group of men IHE NIGHT AFTEH THE BATTLE. 69 huddlevl around a larger fire than had been permitted near ths:- front. This^ too, was discouraging, for it showed that he had been forging toward the rear. But he wen-^ up to the group and inquired: '''Do any o' you know where the 200th Ind. is?- The men had become wearied out answering similar questions, and were as cross as soldiers get to be tinder similar circumstances. "The 200th Ind./' snapped one; "better go back to tha rear-guard and inquire. The straggler-ketchers 've got 'em.''' „ "^"^^ ^ "Xo," said another; "'thev skipped out before the fear- guard was formed, and were all drowned trying to swim the Cumberland." "They say the Colonel went on foot," said a third, "and was the first man in the regiment to reach Nashville* Made the best long-distance run on record." "'You infernal liars," roared Si; "'if I wasn't so tired I'd lick the whole caboodle of you. But I'll say this: Any man who says that the 200th Ind. run, or that our brave Colonel run, or that any man in it run, is a low-down, measly liar, and hain't a grain o' truth in him, and he daresn't take it up." It was a comprehensive challenge, that would have met with instantaneous response at any other time, but now the men were too exhausted for such vanities as fisticuffs. "'0, go off and find your rattled, lousy Hoosi^zs^" th^y shouted in chorus. "'Go talk to the Provost-Marshal about 'em. He's got the most of 'em. The rest are break- ing for the Y^abash as fast as their legs can carry them' Don't be bothering us about that corn-cracking, agery crowd." * "YTiere'd you leave your regiment, you chuckle-headed straggler?^ 70 SI KLEGG ANB SHORTY. "You were SO rattled you couldn't tell wliicli way tlicy went." **vYhero's your gun?'* '*Tv here's your cartridge-box ana Ua versa ck?" ** Where's your cap?" '•'You were so scared you'd a' throw cd away your neaa if it'd been loose!" "Clear out from KerC; you dead-beat." THE NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE. 71 Si was too sick at heart to more than resoI\'e that he would remember each one of them, and pay them oft at some more convenient time. He turned and walked back as nearly as possible in the direction in which he had come. He knew^ that his regiment was at the front, and he had been forging toward the rear. He knew vaguely that the front was somewhere near the Nash- ville Pikcj and as he wearily wound around and through the bewildering masses, he inquired only for the Xash- ^dlle Pike. He reached-HMiFike, at last, just as he was sinking with fatigue. The dreary rain had set in again, and he had determined to give the thing up, and sit down and wait for morning.. He saw a feeble glimmer of light at a distance, and decided to make one more effort to reach it, and inquire ipr iiis regiment, v , - "Partner, have you any idee where the 200th Ind. is?" he said meekly to the man who was crouching over the fire in the hole; ;V "Hello, Si/' said Shorty. "I had given you up long ago. Of course, you went off and got lost in that mob, as I told you youvrould. Next time you'll have sense enotigh to mind w^hat I say." "0, Shorty," groaned Si, "don't say nothing. I've nigh walked my legs offen me. I think I've tramped over every foot of ground betwixt here and Overall's Crick. But I've brought back two overcoats and two blankets." "That's bully," answered Shorty, much mollified. "Say, I've got an idee. D'you see that white thing over there? That's a wagon. The mules 've been taken away, and it's been standing there for an hour. I've seen the Lieutenants and the Orderly-Sergeant sneak back there, and I know what they're up to. They're goin' to sleep in the wagon. _ Of eouise^ they^'re officers, and got the first 72 SI KUlOG AND SnorwTT. pick. Pjiii we kin lay down under il., and get out of tlio rain. Besides^ it looks as if the grcund was drier up there than it is down here." They slipped quietly back to the wagon, and were lucky enough to find a little hay in the feed-box, which they could lay down to spread tlieir blaid^ets upon. They pulled the tad-gate off and set it up on the side from which the rain was coming. "There," said Shorty, as they crawled in. "Si, what'd you do vdthout me? Ain't 1 a comfort to you every min- ute of your life?" *'you certainly are, Shorty," said Si. as he fell asleep. A GLOOMY NEW YEAR'S DAY. 73 CHAPTER VIIL A GLOOMY NEW YEAK'S DAY OX TUE BAXUS OF STONE VdYEK Si was awakened the next morning b}' the rain dashing down squarely on his upturned face. He was lying on A DISAGKEEABLE AWAKENING FOR SHORT T AND SL the flat of his back, sleeping the sleep of the utterly out" worn, and he got the full force of the shower. ^ 74 «I KLEGG AND SHOETt. ''Plague take it, Shorty," said he, kicking his snoring partner; "you're at your old tricks again— scrougin' me out o' the tent while I'm asleep. Why can't you lay still, like a Avliite man?" "it's you, dcd-rot you," grumbled Shorty, half-awaken- ing. "You're at your old trick o' kickin' the tent down. You need a 10-acre lot to sleep in, and then you'd damage the fence-corners." They were both awake by this time, and looked around in amazement. "We went to sleep nice and comfortable, under a wagon last night," said Shorty, slowly recalling the circum- stances. "The two Lieutenants and the Orderly had the upper berth, and we slept on the ground-floor." "Yes," assented Si; "and someone's come along, hitch- ed mules to our bedroom and snaked it off." "Just the vvay in the condemned army," grumbled Shorty, his ill-humor asserting itself as he sat up and looked out over the rain-soaked fields. "Never kin git hold of a good thing but somebody yanks it away. S'pose they thought that it was too good for a private soldier, and they took it away for some Major-General to sleep under." "Well, I wonder what we're goin' to do for grub?" said Si, as his athletic appetite began to assert itself. "Our own wagons, that we had such a time guarding; are over there in th® cedars, and the rebels are filling themselves ^3p with the stuff that we were so good to bring up for them." *lt makes me Jest sizzle," said Shorty, "to think of all we went through to git them condemned wagons up where they'd be handiest for them." Si walked down the line toward where the Beglmental Headquarters were established under a persimmon tree, atd presently came back, saying t A GLOOMY NEW YEAR'S DAY. 75 "Thoy say there's mighty small chance of gettin' any grub to-day. "Wheeler burnt throe or four miles of our wagons yesterday, and 's got possession of the road to Nashville. "We've got to figlit the battle out on empty stomachs, and drive these whelps away before vre kin get a square meal." Jan. 1, 1.^60, was an exceedingly solemn, unhappy New Year's Day for the Union soldiers on the banks of Stone Paver. Of the -11,000 who had gone into the line on the evening of Dec. oO, nearly 0,000 had been killed or wounded and about 2,000 were prisoners. The whole right wing of ihe army had been driven back several miles, to the Nashville Pike. Cannon, wagon-trains, tents and sup- plies had been captured by the enemy, the road to Nash- ville was in the hands of the rebel cavalry, which had burned miles of wagons, and the faint-hearted ones mur- mured that the army would have to surrender or starve. There was not ammunition enough to fight another battle. The rebel army had suffered as heavily in killed and wounded, but it was standing on its own ground, near its own supplies, and had in addition captured great quantities of ours. The mutual slaughter of the two armies had been in- conceivably awiul — inexpressibly ghastly, shuddering, sickening. They had pounded one another to absoluie exhaustion, and all that suli-en, lowering, bky-weeping Winter's day they lay and glared at one another like two huge lions which had fanged and torn each other unti^ their strength had been entirely expended, and breath and strength were gone. Each was too spent to strike another blow, but each too savage]\^ resolute to think oi retreating. All the dogged stubbornness of his race was now at fever point in Si's A^eins. Those old pioneers and farmers of the Wabash from whom he sprang were not particularly 76 SI "kleM a:»i> shoety. handsome to look at, they were not glib talk'^-s, iior well educated. But they had a way of thinking out — rather slowly and awkardly it might be— just what they ought to do, and then doing it or dying in the effort — which made it very disastrous for whoever stood in their way. Those who knew them best much preferred to be along with them rather than against them when they set their square-cornered heads upon accomplishing some object. Si might be wet, hungry, and the morass of mud in which the army was wallowing uncomfortable and dis- couraging to the last degree, but there was not the slight- est thought in his mind of giving up the fight as long as there was a rebel in sight. He and Shorty were not hurt yet, and until they were, the army was still in good fighting trim ^ ^ The line of the 200th Ind. was mournfully shorter than it was two days before, but there were still several hundred boys of Si'g stamp gathered resolutely around its flag, the game little Colonel's voice rang out as sharply as ever, and the way the boys picked up their guns and got into line whenever a sputter of firing broke out anywhere must have been very discouraging to Gen. Bragg and his officejs, who were anxiously watching the Union lines through their glasses for signs of demoraliza- tion and retreat* **We licked 'em yesterday, every time they come up squarely in.front o' the 200th Ind.," Si said to Shorty and those who staod around gazing anxiously on the masses of brown men on the other side of the field. "We can do ft again, every time. The only way they got away with us was by sneakih' around through the cedars and takin' us in the rear. We're out in the open ground now, an' they c^n't get around our flanks." And he looked to the extreme right, vv^here every knoll was crowned with a battery of frowning guns. A GLOOOT NEW YEAE'S DAY 77' "They got^their bellies full o' fightin' yesterday," added Shorty, studying tlie array judicially. "They hain't none the brashness they showed yesterday mornin', when they were jumpin' us in front, right, left and rear at the same minute. They're^^ry backward -about ci)min^ for- ward acrost them fields for us to-day. I only wish they'd try it on." But the forenoon wore away without the rebels show- ing any disposition to make an assault across the muddy fields. Si's vigilant appetite took advantage of the quiet to assert its claims imperiously. "Shorty," said he, "there must be something to eat somewhere around here. I'm goin' to look for it." "You'll have just about as much chance of fijidin' it," said Shorty dolefully, "among that mob o' famished Suckers as you would o' findin' a straw-stack in the in- fernal regions. But I'll go 'long with yovL We can't lose ' the regiment in the day time." "By the way, Shorty," said Si, happening to glance at the sleeves of the overcoats which he had picked up, "we both seem to be Sergeants." "That's so," assented Shorty. '*'Both these are Ser- geant's overcoats. Well, we'll take our guns along, ^d play that we are on duty. It may help us out some- Vfhere." Things looked so quiet in front that the Captain gava them permission, and off they started* It seemed a hope- less quest. Everywhere men were ravenous for food. They found one squad toasting on their rammers the pieces of a luckless rabbit they had cornered in a patch of briers. Another was digging away at a hole that they alleged contained a woodchuck. A third was paich- 'ing some corn found in a thrown-away feed box, and congratulating themselves upon the lucky fijid. Finally they came out u^on the banks of Stone Rivei 78 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. at the place to ^^llicl3 Si had ^yancIercd during the night. Si recognized it at once, and also the voices that came from behind a little thicket of paw-paws as those of the men with whom he had had the squabble. Si motioned to Shorty to stop and keep silent, while he stepped tip closer, parted the Inishcs a little, looked through, and listened. Two men were standing by a fire, which was con- cealed from the army by the paw-paws. Four others had just come up, carrying rolled in a blanket what seemed to be a dead body. They flung it down by the fire, yvith ex- clamations of relief, and unrolled it. It was the carcass of a pig so recently killed that it was still blooding. "Hello," exclaimed the others joyfully; "where did you get that?'* "Why,-- exclaimed one of the others, "vro wore f '"'■'g around dow^n there under the bank, and vre Ir | pcr.cd to spy a nigger cabin on the other side of the river, hid in among the willers, where nobody could see it. We thought there might be something over there, so we waded across. There wasn't anything to speak of in the cabin, but we found this pig in the pen. Jim bayoneted it, and then we wrapped it up in our blanket, as if we wuz taking a boy back to the Surgeon's, and fetched it along. We couldn't 've got a hundred yards through that crowd if they'd dreamed what we had. Jerusalem, but it was heavy, though. We thought that pig weighed a thousand pounds before we got here." "Bully boys,^' said the others gleefully. "We'll have enough to eat, no matter how many wagons the rebels hvrn. I always enjoyed a dinner of fresh pork more on New Year's Day than any other time." Si turned and gave Shorty a wink that conveyed more to ihM observant individual than a long telegram would haT€ iono. He y> inked back approvingly, brought up his A GLOOMY NEW YEAR'S DAY^ 79 gim to a severely regulation "carry arms," and he and Si stepped briskly through the brush to the startled squad. "Here," said Si, with official severity; "you infernal stragglers, what regiments do you belong to? Sneaking out here, are you, and stealin' hogs instead of being ^Yith your companies. Wrap that pig up again, pick it up, and come along vvith us to Headquarters." For a minute it looked as if the men would fight. But Si had guessed rightly ; they were stragglers, and had the cowardice of guilty consciences. They saw the chev- rons on Si's arms, and his positive, commanding air finished them. They groaned, wrapped up the pig again, and Si mercifully made the tw^o who had waited by the fire carry the heaviest part. Si started them back toward the 200th Ind., and he and Shorty walked along close to them, maintaining a proper provost-guard-like severity of countenance and carriage. The men began 'to try to beg off, and make advances on the basis of sharing the pork. But Si and Shorty's official integrity was incorruptible. "Shut up and go on," they would reply to every proposi- tion. "We ain't that kind of soldiers. Our duty's to take you to Headquarters, and to Headquarters you are going." They threaded through the crowds for some time^ and as they were at last nearing the regiment a battery of artillery went by at as near a txoi as it could get out of the weary horses in that deep mire. The squad took ad- vantage of the confusion to drog their burden and scurry out of sight in the throng. "All right; let 'em go," grinned Si. "I wuz jest won- derin' how we'd get rid o' 'em. I'd thought o' takin' them into the regiment and then givin' them a chunk g' their pork, but then I'd get mad at the way they talked ^ about the 200th Ind. last night, and want to stog and lick SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. 'em. It's better as it is. We need all that pig for tL> boys." Si and Shorty picked up the bundle and carried i'. to the regiment. When they unrolled it the boys gav:i^ such lusty cheers that the rebels beyond the field rushed to arms, expecting a charge, and one of our impulsi?:i> cannoneers let fly a shell at them. Si and Shorty cut off one ham for themselves and thc-i' particular cronies, carried the other ham, with their com. pliments, to the Colonel, and let the rest be divided up ► am.ong the regiment. One of their chums was lucky enough to have saved tin box of salt, and after they had toasted and devoured large slices of the fresh ham they began to feel like new men, and be anxious for something farther to happen. But the gloomy, anxious day dragged its slow^ length along with nothing more momentous than fitful bursts of bickering, spiteful firing, breaking out from time to time on different parts of the long line, where the men's nerves got wrought up to the point where they had to do something to get the relief of action. Away out in front of the regiment ran a little creek, skirting the hill on w^hich the rebels were massed. In the field betvreen the hill and the creek was one of our wagons, which had mired there and been abandoned by the driver in the stampede of the day before. It seemed out of easy rifle-shot of the rebels on the hill. Si had been watching it for some time. At length ho Bhia: "Shorty, I believe that wagoii's loaded with hardtack." "It's eertainly a Commissary wagon," said Shorty, after Etud^^hjg it a little "Yes, I'm sure that it's one o' them wagons we was guardin', and I recollect it was loaded with hardtack." A GLOOMY NEW YEAR'S DAY. 81 -i The mere mention of the much-abused crackers made both their mouths water. ^ "Seems to me I recognize the wagon, too," said iShorty, "Shorty, it'd be a great thing if we could sneak along up the creek, behind them bushes, until w& come op- posite the wagon, then make a rush acrost the field, snatch up a box o' hardtack apiece, and then run back. We'd get enough to give each o' the boys a cracker apiece. The wagon 'd shelter us comin* and goin', and we would- n't get a shot.'' "Jt might be," said Shorty, v^ith visions of distributing hardtack to the hungry boys warping his judgment. "The fellers right back o' the wagon couldn't shoot to any advantage, and them to the right and left are too fur off. If you say so, it's a go." [ "If the boys could only have one hardtack apiece," said Si, as his last hesitation vanished, "they'd feel ever so much better, and be in so much better shape for a light. Come on, let's try it." ' The rest overheard their plan, and began to watch them with eager interest. They made a circle to the right, got into the cover of the brush of the creek, and began rwaking their way slowly and carefully up to a point opposite the wagon. They reached this without attracting notice, parted the bushes in front of them care- fully, and took a good survey of the wagon and the hill f The wagon was a great deal nearer the hill than Lad appeared to be the case from where the regiment lay, and even where they stood they were in very easy ran^e of the rebels on the hill. But the latter were uiierly un- suspicious of them. They were crouching down around fires, with their guns stacked, and the cannoneers of a couple of guns were at some distance from theii pieced^ 82 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. under a brugli shelter, before which a fire smoldered in the rain. "It's awful short range/' said Si dubiously. "If they were lopkin' theyW tear us and the wagon all to pieces. But our boys is a-watchin' us, and I don't want to go back without a shy at it. Them fellers seem so busy tryin' to keep warm that we may get there without their noticin' us*" "I never w^anted hardtack so much in my life as I do this minute," said Shorty. "I don't want to live forever, anyway. Let's chance it." They pulled off their overcoats, carefully tied up their shoes, shifted around so as to be completely behind the wagon, and then started on a rush through the mud. For several hundred steps nothing happened, and they began to believe that they w^ouid reach the wagon un- noticed. Then a few shots sang over their heads, fol- lowed a min^te later by a storm of bullets that struck in the mnd and against the wagon. But they reached the wagon, and sat dow^n, exhausted, on the tongue, sidling up close to the bed to protect them from the bullets. Si recovered his breath first, caught hold of the front board and raised himself up, saw the boxes of coveted hardtack, and was just putting his hand on one of them whea. a shell struck the rear end and tore the canvas cover off. Si sank back again beside Shorty, when an- other shell burst under the wagon, and filled the air with pieces of wheels, bed, cracker-boxes and hardtack. "I don't want no hardtack: I want to find the bank o' that .^crick," yelled Shorty, starting back on the jump, with Si just six inches behind. The bullets spattered in the mud all around them as they ran, but they reached the creek bank without be- ing struck. They were in such a hurry that they did not stop to jump, but fell headlong into the water. GLOOMY NEV7 YEAR'S DAY 83 "Tlicm hardtack wuz spiled, anyway/' said Shorty, as they fished themselves out, found their overcoats, and made their way back to the regiment. They received the congratulations of their comrades on their escape, and someone fished out all the consola- tion that the regiment could offer — a couple of brierwood pipes filled with fragrant kinnikinnick. They sat down, smoked these, and tried to forget their troubles. The cheerless night drew on. No fires were allowed, and the men huddled together on the wet ground, to get what comfort they could from the w^armth of each other^s bodies. The temper of the rebels became nastier as the day wore away, and under the cover of the darkness they pushed out here and there and opened worrying fires on the Union line. Suddenly a battery opened up on the 200tli Ind. from a bare knoll in front. The rebels had evidently cal-culated the range during daylight, and the shells struck aroujid them in the most annoying way. They threw up showers of mud, scattered the groups, and kept everybody nervous and alarmed. The regiment stood this for some time, when an idea occurred to Si and Shorty. They went up to the Colonel and explained: "Colonel, we've studied the ground out there purty carefully, and we know that the knoll where that battery is is in close range o' that crick where we went up this afternoon. If you^ll let a few of us go out there we kin stop them cannoneers mighty soon." "Sure of that?" said the Colonel alertly. "Dead sure." "Very well, then," said the Colonel promptly. "I've been thinking of the same thing. I'll take the whole regiment out. Put yourselves at the head, and lead the way." The regiment was only too eager for the movemen.1. 84 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. It marclied rapidly after Si and Shorty up tlie creek bed, and in a very few minutes found itself on tlie flank of the obnoxious battery, which was still banging away into the line which the 200th Tnd. had occupied. It was scarcely 200 yards away, and the men's hearts burned with a fierce joy at the prospect of vengeance. With whispered orders the Colonel lined up the regiment care- fully on the bank, and waited until the battery should fire again, to make sure of the aim. Every man cocked his gun, took good aim, and waited for the order. They could distinctly hear the orders of the battery officers, directing the shelling, Three cannon were fired at once, and as their fierce i^'ghts flashed out, the Colonel gave the order to fire. A terrible simoon of death from the rifles of the 200th Ind. struck down everything in and around the battery "That dog's cured o' suckin' aigs," said Shorty, as the Colonel ordered the regiment to about face and march back. The 200th Ind. heard no more from that battery^ that liight. VICTORY FOR THE ARLIY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 85 CHAPTER 1X4 VICTORT AT LAST FOR THE ARI^IY OF THE CmiBERLAND. On their way back from "settling the battery," Si and Shorty each broke off a big armful of cedar branches. These they spread down on the ground when the regi- ment resumed its place in the line-of-battle, and lay down on them to spend the rest of the night as comfort- ably as possible. The fire with which they had roasted the pig, and from which they had drawn much comfort during the day, had had to be extinguished when dark- ness came on. But it had dried out and warmed the ground for a considerable space around, and on this ihey made their bed. "We seem to play in fair luck right along. Shorty," said the hopeful Si, as they curled up on the boughs. "Most of the boys 'ye to lay down in a foot of mud.^ "Don't get to crowin' too loud," grumbled Shorty. "If they find out what a good thing we have, some Jigadier- Brindle'U snatch it away for himself." But Si was fast asleep before Shorty finished speaking. Sometime before midnight the Orderly- Sergeant ctime around, and after vigorous kicking and shaking, suc- ceeded in waking them. "Get up," he said, "and draw some rations. The wagons've got in from Xashyille." ^ *'My gracious I" said Si, as soon as he was wide enougn awake to understand the Orderly-Sergeant's words, "'is it possible that we're going to have plenty of hardtack and pork and coffee again? Seeu2s "^o me a hundred years since we d"rew a full ration." Ee and Shorty jumped up and ran over to where the 86 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Quartermaster-Sergeant and his assistants were dealing out a handful of crackers and a piece of pork to each man as he came up. "Mebbe 1 oughtn^t to say it," said Si, as he munched away J taking a bite first off the crackers in his right and then off the meat in his left, "but nothing that ever mother baked tasted quite as good as this." "This dees seem to be a specially good lot," assented Shorty. "Probably a wagon load that they intended for the officers and give us by mistake. Better eat it all up before they find it out.'* The morning of Jan. 2, 1863, dawned bleak and chill, but this at least brought the great comfort that the dreary rain was at last over. The sharp air was bracing, and put new life and hope into the hearts of the Union sol- diers. Many wagons had been gotten up during the night, bringing food and ammunition for all. Soon after daylight cheerful fires were blazing everywhere, and the morning air was laden with the appetizing fragrance of boiling coffee and broiling meat. The sun began to rise over Murfreesboro* and the rebel camps, giving promise of a bright, invigorating day. "I hope this thing'll be brought to a focus to-day, and Wie question settled as to who shall occupy this ])iece of real estate," said Shorty, as he and Si finished a gener- ous breakfast, filled their boxes and pockets wilh car- tridges, and began knocking the dried mud theii clothes and rubbing the rust from their guns. "1 want them gents in brown clothes to clear out and leave. It frets me to see them hangin' 'round. They're bad npiiie another. Let's have the thing out at once." Evidently the rebels were of the same frame of mmd. They saluted the dawn with a noisy fusillade that ran along the miles of winding line. It was spiteful, crash- ing and persistent, but as the Union lines lay beyond good musket range and the rebels showed no disposition to advance across the fields and come to close quarters, the noise was quite out of proportion to the harm done. Then two rebel batteries on the opposite side of the river opened up a terrific fire upon one of our batteries, and the air seemed torn to shreds by the storm of howl- ing missiles. The 200th Ind. was too far away to have more than a spectacular interest in this tempestuous episode. They stood around their gun-stacks and watched and listened while the hours passed in ineffective noise, and won- dered vrhen the crisis of action was going to arrive. I "They seem to have lost their appetite for close ac- quaintance with the 200th Ind.," remarked Shorty. "They found that Jordan was a hard road to travel whenever they came across the fields at us, and are tryin' to scare us out by makin' a racket. I think we kin stand it as long as their powder kin. But I'm gittin' hungry agiu. Let's have somethin' to eat." "Good gracious, it is noon," answered Si, looking up at the sun. "I believe I do want some dinner." They had scarcely finished dinner-eating wlie-j> i^ie 200th Ind. was ordered to move over toward Stone" Idver. It halted on a little rise of ground on the bank, which commanded an extensive view on both sides of the river. There was a portentous flov,' in the great, dark-blue sea of men. The billows, crested with shining steel, were rolling eastward toward the river. "Something's goin' to happen; meetin's about tc -^^reak SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Up; schooPs goin' to let out," said Shorty eagerly. "Isn't it a grand sight." "G-racious me!" said Si, devouring the spectacle with his eyes. "How I wish that father and mother and sister could see all this. It's worth going through a great deal to see this." It AYas by far the most imposing spectacle they had yet seen. The whole Army of the Cumberland was crowded into the narrow space betAveen the Nashyille Pike and Stone River. Its compact regiments, brigades, and divisions showed none of the tearing and mangling they had endured, but stood or moved in well-dressed ranks that seemed the embodiment of mighty purpose and resistless force. Around its grand array, a half mile away, lay the somber, portentous line of brown-clad men. Beyond them rose the steeples and roofs of the sleepy old town of Murfreesboro', Avith croAvds of men and Avomen occupying every point of vantage, to Avitness the rencAA'al of the aAvful battle. It .AA^as noAv long past noon. The bright sun had long ago scattered the chill mists of the morning, and radiated Avarmth and light over the dun landscape. Even the somber cedars lost some of the funereal gloom they Avoro Avhen the skies Avere loAA cring. - "There go tAA^o brigades across the river," said Si. "We're gcin' to try to turn their right." They saAv a long ]ine of men file doAvn the riA-er bank, cress, and go into line on the high ground beyond. Their appearance seemed to stir the broAvn mass lying on the bights a mile in front of them to aciion. The rebels be- gan SAvarming out of their Avorks and moving forAvard into ihe AA^oods. Presently a thin line of men in butternut-colored clothes ran forAvard to a fence in front, and began throAv- VICTORY FOR THE ARMY OF THE CUMBEREAND. 89 ing it down. Behind them came three long/ brown lines, extending from near the river to t-he woods far away to the left. Batteries galloped in the intervals to knolls, on which they unlimbcred and opened fire. It was an overpoweiing mass of men for the two little brigades to resist. Si's heart almost stood still as he saw the inequality of the contest. "Why don't they send us over there to help those men?" he anxiously asked. "They can't stand up asrainst that awful crowd." ".Tust wait," said Shorty hopefully. "Old Eosy knows what he's dcin\ lie's got enough nereiorihe Dusiness." The artiller}^ all along the line burst out in torrents of shells J but Si's eyes were glued on the two little brigades. He saw the white spurts from the skirmishers' rifles, and men drop among the rebels, who yet moved slowdy forward, like some all-engulfing torrent. The skirmish- ers ran back to the main linO; and along its front sped a burst of smoke as each regiment fired by volley. The foremost rebel line quivered a little, but moved steadily on . Then a cloud of white smoke hid both Union and rebel lines, and from it came the sound as of thousands of carpenters hammering away industriously at nails. Presently Si was agonized to see a fringe of blue break back from the bank of smoke, and run rapidly to tiie rear. They were followed by regiments falling back slowly, in order, and turning at the word of command to deliver volleys in the faces of their yelling pursuers. Si looked at his Colonel, and saw him anxiously watch- ins the bii2:ade commander for orders to rush across the livei to the assistance of the two biigades. Suddenly there was a whirl in front. A battery gal- loped up, the drivers lashing the horses, the cannoneers sitting stolidly on the limbers with their arms folded. It - SI KLEOG AND SHOBTY. swept by to a knoll in front and to the ligiit, wMcli com- manded tlie other side of the river. Instantly the gun- ners sprang to the ground, the cannon were tossed about as if they were playthings, and before Si could fairly wink he saw the guns lined up on the bank, the drivers *'SI KLEGG FELL WITHOUT A GROAN. standing by the horses' heads, and the cannons belching savagely into the flanks of the horde of rebels. Then another battery swept up alongside the first, and another, until 58 guns crowned the high banks and thundered until the earth shook as with the ague. A deluge of iron swept the fields where the mighty host of VICTORY FOR THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, 91 rebels were advancing. Tops were torn out of trees and fell with a crash, fence-rails and limbs of oak went madly flying through the air, regiments and brigades disap- peared before the awful blast. For a few minutes Si and Shorty stood appalled at iht deafening crash and the shocking destruction. Then they saw the rebels reel and fly before the tornado of death. A great shout rose from thousands of excited men standing near. Regiments and brigades started as with one impulse to rush across the river and pursue the fly- ing enemy. The 200th Ind. was one of these. No one heard any orders from the officers. The men caught the contagion of victory and r"shed forward, sweeping with them the lately-defeated brigades, hurrying over the wreckage of the cannon-fire, over the thickly-strewn dead and wounded, and gathering in prisoners, flags and cannon. They went on so, nearly to the breastworks behind which the rebels were seeking shelter Si and Shorty were among the foremost. A few hundred yards from the rebel Avorks Si fell to the ground without a ^^roan. Shorty saw^ him, and ran to him. The side of his head was covered with blood, and he was motionl-ess. "Stone dead— bullet plum through his head," said the agonized Shorty. But there was no time for mourning the fallen. The pursuit was still hot, and Shorty's duty was in front. He ran ahead until the Colonel halted the regiment. Fresh rebels were lining up in the breast- works and threatening a return charge which would be disastrous. The Colonel hastily reformed the regiment to meet this, and slowly withdrew it in good order to re- sist any counter-attack. After marching a mile more or the regiment halted and went into bi^^ouac. The rejoic- ing men started great fires and set about getting supper. ^3 SI KtEm AND SHOETT. But the saddened Shorty had no heart for rejoicing over the victory, or for supper. He drew off from the rest, sat down at the roots of an oak, Avrapped the cape of his over- coat about his face, and abandoned himself to his bitter "YES, IT'S REALLY ME.'» grief. Earth had no more joy for him. He wished he had been shot at the same time his partner was. He could think of nothing but that poor boy lying there dead an^ TICTORY FOR THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 93 motionless on the cold ground. Tie felt that he could never think of anything elsC; and the sooner he was shot the better it would be. The other boys respected his grief. At first they tried to tempt him to eat something and drink some coffee, Init Shorty would not listen to them, and they drew away, that he might be alone. He sat thus for some hours. The loss of their sturdy Corporal saddened the whole company, and as they sat around their fires after supper they extolled his good traits, recounted his exploits, and easily made him out the best soldier in the regiment. Presently the fifes and dnmis played tattoo, and the boys began preparations for turning in. Shorty had become nearly frozen sitting there motion- less, and he got up and went to the fire to thaw out. He had just picked up a rail to lay it on the fire in better shape, when he heard a weak voice inqviiring: "Does anybody know where the 200th lud. is?" Shorty dropped the rail as if he had been shot, and rushed in the direction of the voice. In an instant he came back almost carrying Si Klegg. There was a hubbub around the fire that kept every* body from paying the least attention to "taps." "Yes, it's really me," said Si, responding as well as he was able to the hearty handshakings. "And I ainH no ghost neither. I've got an appetite on me like a prairie fire, and if you fellers are really glad to see me you'll hustle up here all the grub in the Commissary Depart- ment. I can eat every mite of it. I wuz hit by a spent ball and knocked senseless. But I ain't going to tell you i ny more till I get something to eat."^ 94 BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTEE X. AFTER THE BATTLE. The boys were so glad to see Si back again alive that they robbed themselves of any choice morsel of food they might have saved for to-morrow's delectation. "Here, Si," said one, ''is a nice knuckle-bone o' ham, that I pulled back there at tlie General's when his cook returned to the tent for something. You ought t've heard the nigger cussing as I walked away, but he couldn't recognize the back o' my head, nor see under my overcoat. Me and my chum 've had supper off it, and we wuz saving the rest for breakfast, but I'll brile it for you." "Some of them Kentucky fellers," said another, "found a sheep in the briars and killed it. I traded 'em my silk handkerchief for a hunk o' the meat. I'm going to cook a slice for you, Si." ^^Si, I'll bile some coffee for you," said a third. '-'I'll toast some crackers for you," added a fourth. Shorty roused. He felt so much gladder than any of them, that he was jealous of their attentions. "See here, you fellers," said he, "this is my partner, an' I'm able to take care of him. I'll bile all the coffee an' toast all the crackers he kin eat; though I'm much obliged to you, Jim, for your ham, and to you, Billy, for your mutton, though I'm afraid it'll taste too much of the wool for a wounded man." ^^Don't mind about that," said Si; '^I'm hungry enough to eat the wool on the sheep's back, even. Hand over your mutton, Billy, an' thankee for it. My appetite's not delicate, I can tell you. AVoolly mutton won't faze it more'n bark would a buzz-saw." AFTER THE BATTLE. 95 Si didn't over-state the case. He ate evervtliin^ tliat was cooked and offered him, until he declared that he was so full he ''could touch it with his finger." SHOETY THIXKS SI DOES XOT LOOK LIKE A GHOST. "I'm sure you're not a ghost^ from the way you eat^" said Shorty, who was beginning to recover his propensity for sarcasm. "If ghosts et like you there'd Lave to be a steam bakery an' a pork packery run in connection v, iih every graveyard." "And Pd never take no ghost to board," said Billy. "Come, Si," said Jimmy Barlovr, filling a briar-wood pipe with kinnikinnick; lighting it from the fire, taking a 61 KLEGG AND SHORTY. few puffs to start it, and handing it to Si, "tell us just what happened to you. We're dyiii' to hear." "Well," said Si, settling down with the pipe into a com- fortable position, "I don't know Avhat happened. Last thing I knowed 1 wuz runnin' ahead on Shorty's left, loadin' my gun, an' tryin' to keep up with the Colonel's Loss. Next thing I knowed I wuz wakin' up at the foot of a black-oak. Everything was quiet around me, ex- cept the yellin' of two or three wounded men a little ways off. At first I thought a cannon-ball'd knocked my whole head off. Then it occurred to me that if my head was knocked off I couldn't hear nor see" *Nor think, even," injected Shorty. "No, nor think, even. For what'd I to think with?" know some fellers that seem to think with their feet, and ihat blamed awkwardly," mused Shorty. "1 kept on wakin' up," continued Si. "At first I thought 1 had no head at all, an' then it seemed to me I was all head, it hurt so awfully. I couldn't move hand nor foot. Then I thought mebbe only half my head was shot away., an' the rest was aching for all. 1 tried shut- tin* one eye an.' then the other, an' found I'd at least both eyes left. I naoved my head a little, an' found that the ^^ack part was still there, for a bump on the roots of the oak hurt it. ".^y-'^nd^bv the numbness began to go out of my head an" .^rm, but I was afraid to put my hand up to my head, Ua [ was afraid to find out how much was gone. Nearly tne whole of the left side must be gone, an' all my schoolin' scattered over the ground. I lay there thinkin' it all over— how awful I'd look when you fellers came to find rne and bury me, an' hoAv you wouldn't dare tell the folks at home about it. "Finally, I got plum desperate. I didn't seem to be dyin', but to be gettin' better every Qiinute. I determined LTTEVx THE BATTLE. 97 to find out Just liow mucli of my head was really gone. I put up my hand; timid-like, an' felt my forehead. It was all there. I passed my hand back over my hair an' the whole back of my head was there. I felt around carefully, an' there was the whole side of my head, oidy a little welt where I'd got a spent ball. Then I got mad an' I jumped up. Think of my makin' all that fuss over a little peck that might have been made by a brick-bat. I started out to hunt you fellers, an' here I am." "Yes, but you wouldn't 've bin here," philosophized Shorty, examining the wound, "if the feller that fired that shot'd given his gun a little hunch. If that bullet'd "went a half-inch deeper, you'd be up among the stars a bow-legged Wabash angel." '^Well, we've licked the stuffin' out of 'em at last, have- n't we?" asked Si. "Well, I should say we had," replied Shorty with an impressive whistle. "I thought the artillery would tear the foundations out of the wdiole State of Tennessee, the way it let into them. There won't be more crashin' an* bangin' when the w^orld breaks up. I'd a-bin willin' to serve 100 years just to see that sight. Lord, what a chance the cannoneers had. First time I ever wanted to be in the artillery. The way they slung whole black- smith shops over into them woods, an' smashed doAvn trees, and wiped out whole* brigades at a clip, filled niy soul with joy." "We must go over there in the mornin* an' take a look at the place," said Si drowsily. "It will be good to re- member alongside o' the way they slapped it to us the first day." . Si and Shorty woke up the next morning to find the chill rain pouring down as if the country had been suf- fering from a year's drouth, and the rain was going to make up for it in one forenoon 98 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "Lord liave mercy/' said the disgusted Shorty, as he fell into line for roll-call. "Another seepin', soppin', sloshin', spatteiin' day. Only had U of 'em this week so far. Should think the geese 'd carry umbrellas, an' the cows w^ear overshoes in this land of eternal drizzle. If I ever get home they'll have to run me through a brick- kiln to dry me out." GI REFUSES TO CALL UPON THE DOCTOR. In spite of the down-pour the army was forming up rapidly to resume the advance upon Murfreesboro', and over the ground on the left, that had proved so disastrous to the rebels the day before. While the 200th Ind. was getting ready to fall in, the AFTER THE BATTLE. 99 siclv-call soiinclcJ. and the Orderly-Sergeant remarked to Si: "Fall into this squad. Corporal Klegg." ''AVhat for?'- asked Si, looking askance at the squad. "To go to the Surceon's tent," answered the Orderly- Sergeant. "This is the sick squad." "That's what I thought," answered Si, ''an' that's the reason I aint gcin' to join it." "But your head's bigger'n a bushel, Si," remonstrated the Sergeant. "Better let the doctor see it." "I don't want none of his bluemass or quinine," per- sistod Si. "That's all he ever gives for anything. The swellin' '11 come out o' my head in time, same as it does out o' other people's." "Corporal, I'll excuse you from duty to-day," said the Captain kindly. "I really think you ought to go to the Surgeon." "If you don't mind. Captain," said Si, saluting, "I'll s^^jO^'i^^^ the boys. I want to see this thing to the end. My iiead won't hurt me half so bad as if I was back gruntin' 'round in the hospital." "Probably you are right," said the Captain. "Come along, then." Willing and brave as the men were, all the movements were tiresomely slow and laggard. The week of march- ing and King unsheltered in the rain, of terrific fighting, and of awful anxiety had brought about mental and physical exhaustion. The men were utterly worn out in body and mind. This is usually the case in every great battle. Both sides struggle with all their mental and physical powers, until both are worn out. The one that can make just a little more effort than the other wins the victory. This was emphatically so in the battle of Stone River. The rebels had exhausted themselves, IOC SLEGG AND SITOHTY. even J more in tlieir assaults than the Union men had in repelling them. When, therefore, the long line of blue labored slowly through the mud and the drenching rain up the gentle slopes on the farther side of Stone Kiver, the rebels sul- lenly gave ground before them. At last a point was reached which commanded a view of Murfreesoro' and the rebel position. The rebels were seen to be in retreat, and the exhausted Army of the Cumberland was mighty glad to have them go. As soon as it Avas certain that the enemy was really abandoning the bitterly-contested field, an inexpressible weariness overwhehned everybody. The 200th Ind. could scarcely drag one foot after another as it moved back to find a suitable camping-groundo Si and Shorty crawled into a cedar thicket, broke down some brush for a bed, laid a pole in two crotches, leaned some brush against it to make a partial shelter, built a fire, and sat down. "I declare, I never knew what being tuckered ouVjvas before," said Si. "And it's come on me all of a sudden. This morning I felt as if I could do great things, but the minute I found that them rebels was really going, my legs begun to sink under me." *'Same w^ay with me," accorded Shorty. "Don't believe I've got strength enough left to pull a settin' hen offen her nest. But we can't be drowned out this way. We must fix up some better shelter." "The Colonel says there's a wagon-load o' rations on the way here," said Si, sinking wearily down on the giound by the fire, and putting out his hands over the feeble blaze. "Let's w^ait till we git something to eat. Mebbe w^e'U feel more like work after we've eaten some- thing." *'Si Kleg^," said Shorty sternlj^ but sailing down Iiim- AFTER THE BATTLE. 101 self on the otlier side of tlie fire, "1 never knowed you to flop down before. You've always bin, if anything, for- w^arder than me. I was in hopes now that you'd take me by the back o' the neck and try to shake some o' this laziness out o' me." "Wait till the rations come," repeated Si, listlessly. "Mebbe we'll feel livelier then." The shelter we've fixed up'll keep out the coarsest o' the rain anyway. Most the boys ain't got none." When the rations arrived. Si and Shorty had energy enough to draw, cook and devour an immense supper. Then they felt more tired than ever. Shorty had man- aged to tear off a big piece of the w^agon cover while he was showing much zeal in getting the rations distributed quickly. He got the company's share in this, and helped carry it to the company, but never for a minute relaxed his hold on the coveted canvas. Then he took it back to his fire. Si and he spent what energy they had left in making a tolerable tent of it, by stretching it over their shelter. They tied it down carefully, to keep anybody else from stealing it off them, and Shorty took the addi- tional precaution of fastening a strip of it around his neck. Then they crawled in, and before night come on they were sleeping apparently as soundly as the Seven of Eghesus*, 102 SI KLEGG AND SHOKTY. CHAPTER XL GOING INTO WINTER yUARTEES. The next day — Sunday — after the battle dawned as clear, bright and sparkling as only a Winter's day can dawn in Tennessee, after a fortnight of doleful deluges. Tennessee Winter weather is like the famous little girl with the curl right down the middle of her forehead, who, *''When she was good was very, very good, And when she was bad was horrid." After weeks of heart-saddening down-pour that threat- ens to drench life and hope out of every breathing thing, it will suddenly beam out in a day so crisp and bright that all Nature will wear a gladsome smile and life be- come jocund. When the reveille and the Orderly-Sergeant's brogans aroused Si and Shorty the latter's first thought was for the strip of canvas which he had securea with so much trouble from the wagon-cover, and intended to cherish for future emergencies. He felt his neck and found the strip that he had tied there, but that was all that there was of it. A sharp knife had cut away the rest so deftly that he had not felt its loss. ( Shorty's boiler got very hot at once, and he began blow- ing off steam. Somehow he had taken an especial fancy to that piece of canvas, and his wrath was hot against the man who had stolen it. '•'Condemn that ornery thief," he yelled. "He ought to be drummed out o' camp, with his head shaved. A man that'll steal ought to be hunted down and kicked out o' the army. He's not fit to associate w^ith decent men.*^ GOING IXTO WINTER QUARTERS. 103 Wliy^ Slioity," said Si= amused at his partner's lieat, "jou stole that yoin'self." "I didn't do nutliin' o' tlie kind," snorted Shorty, ''and i don't want you sayin' so, Mr. Klegg, if you don't want SHORTY RETALIATES. to git into trouble. I took it from a teamster. You ouglit to know it's never stealin' to take anything from a team^ ster. I'll bet it was some of that Toledo regiment that stole it. Them Maumee Paver muskrats are the durndest 104 Ki KLEGG AND SHORTY. thieves in tlie brigade. They'd steal the salt out o' your hardtack if you didn't watch 'em— not because they wanted the salt^ but just because they can't help stealin'. They ought to be fired out o' the brigade. I'm going over to their camp to look for it, and if I find it I'll Avipe the ground up Vvith the feller that took it. 'Taint so much the value of the thing as the principle. I hate a thief above all things." Si tried to calm Shorty and dissuade him from going, but his partner was determined, and Si let him go, but kcDt an eye and ear open for develonments. In a fevv minutes Shorty returned, with Jubilation in his face, the canvas in or.e hand and a nice frying-pan and a canteen of molasses in the other. "Just as I told you," he said triumphantly. "It was seme o' them Maumee Eiver muskrats. I found them asleep in a bunch o' cedars, with our nice tent stretched over their thievin' carcasses. They'd been out on guard or scoutin', and come in after we'd gone to sleep. They were still snorin' away when I yanked the tent off, an' picked up their fryin'-pan an' canteen o' molacses to re- J. emljer 'em by." "I thought you hated a thief," Si started to say; but real comrades soon learn, like husband and wife, that it is not necessary to say everything that rises to their lips. Besides, the frying-pan was a beauty, and just what they wanted. It became generally understood during the day that tht Army of the Cumberland would remain around Murfrees- boro indefinitely — probably until Spring — to rest, refit and prepare for another campaign. Instructions were given to regimental commanders to select good camping ground and, have their men erect comfortable Winter quarters. The 2C0th Ind. moved into an oak grove, on a gentle GOING INTO WINTER QUARTERS. 105 slope toward the south, and set about making itself thoroughly at home. Si and Shorty were prompt to improve the opportunity to house themselves comfortably. Si had now been long enough in the army , to regard everything that was not held down by a man with a gun and bayonet as legitimate capture. He passed where one of the Pioneer Corps had laid down his ax for a minute to help on some other work. That minute was spent by Si in walking away with the ax hidden under his long overcoat. Those long overcoats, like charity, covered a multitude of sins. The ax was not sharp — no army ax ever was, but Si's aryd Shorty's muscles were vigorous enough to make up !^ its dullness. In a little while they had cu| down and trimmed enough oak saplings to make a pen about the size of the corn-crib at Si's home. While one would whack away with the ax the other would carry the poles and build up the pen. By evening they had got this higher than their heads, and had to stop work from sheer exhaustion. "I'll declare," said Si, as they sat doAvn to eat supper and survey their work, "if father'd ever made me do half as much work in one day as I have done to-day I should have died with tiredness and then run away from home. It does seem to me that every day we try a new way o' killing ourselves." "Well," said Shorty, arresting a liberal chunk of fried pork on the way to his capacious grinders to cast an admiring glance on the structure, "it's worth it all. It'll just be the daisyest shebang in Tennessee when we git it finished. I'm only afraid we'll make it so fine that Gen. Rosecrans or the Governor of Tennessee '11 come down and take it away for himself. That'd just be our luck." "Great ScottI'' said Si, looking at it with a groan. "How 106 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. miicli work tliere is to do yet. What are we goin' to do for a roof? Then, we must cut out a place for a door. We'll haVe to chink between all the logs* with mud and chunks; and we ought to have a fireplace." "I've bin thinkin' of all them things, and I've thunk ^em out," said Shorty cheerfully. "I've bin thinkin' while you've bin workin'. Do you know, I believe I was born for an architect, an' I'll 'go into the architect busi- ness after the war! I've got a head plumb full of the natural stuff for the business. It growed right there. All I need is some more know-how as to figgers an' makin' plans on paper." "0, you've got a great big head. Shorty," said Si, ad- miringly, "and whateverVou start to do you do splendidly. Nobody knows that better 'n me. But what's your idee about the roof?" "Why, do you see that there freight- car over there by the bridge," (pointing to where a car was off the track, near Stone Eiver.) "I've bin watchin' that ever since we begun buildin', for fear somebody else'd drop on to it. The roof of that car is tin. We'll jest slip down there with the ax after dark, an' cut off enough to make a splendid roof. I always wanted a tin-roofed house. Ole Jake Wilson, who lives near us, had a tin roof on his barn, an' it made his daughters so proud they wouldn't go home with me from meetin'. You kin write home thatjwe have a new house with a tin roof, an' it'll help your sisters to marry better." "Shorty, that head o' your'n gits bigger every tune I look at it." Si and Shorty had the extreme quality of leiiig able to forget fatigue when there wa"s something to be accom- plished. As darkness settled down they picked up the ax and proceeded across the fields to the freight-car. " "There's someone in thej'Q^" said Si, as they came close COIXG INTO WINTER QUARTERS. 107 to it. Tliey reconnoitered it carefully. Five or six men, Avithout arms, were comfortably ensconced inside and playing cards by the light of a lire of pitch-pine/ which they had built upon some dirt placed in the middle of the car. "They're blamed skulkers/' said Shorty, after a min- ute's survey of the interior. "Don't you see they haint got their guns with 'em? We won't mind 'em." They climbed on top of the car^ measured off about half of it, and began cutting through the tin with the ax. The noise alarmed the men inside. They jumped out ou the ground, and called up: "flere, what're you fellers doin' up there? This is our car. Let it alone.' "Go to the devil," said Shorty, making another slash at the roof with the ax. "This is our car, I tell you," reiterated the men. "You let it alone, or we'll make you." Some of the men looked around for something to throw^ at them. Si walked to the end of the car, tore off the brake- wheel, and came back. ^ "You fellers down there shut up and go back inside to your cards, if you know wdiat's good for you," he said. "You're nothing but a lot of durned skulkers. We are here under orders. We don't Avant nothin' but a piece o' the tin roof. You kin have the rest. If any of you at- tempts to throw anything I'll mash him into the g^j^nd with this wheel. Do you hear me? Go back inside, or we'll arrest the whole lot of you and take you back to your regiments." Si's authoritative tone, and the red stripes on his arm, were too much for the guilty consciences of the skulkers, and they went back inside the car. The tearing off the roof proceeded without further interruption, but with con- siderable mangling of their hands by the edges of the tin. 108 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY, After they had gotten it off, they proceeded to roll it up and started back for their "house." It was a fearful load, and one that they would not have attempted to carry in ordinary times. But their blood was up, they were de- termined^^ outshine everybody else with their tin roof, and they toiled on over the mud and rough ground, al- though every little while one of them would make a mis- step and both would fall, and the heavy weight would seem to mash th^em into the ground. "I don't wonder old Jake Wilson was proud of his tin roof," gasped Si, as he pulled himself out of a mudhole and rolled the tin off him and Shorty. "If I'd a tin roof on my barn durned if my daughter should walk home with a man that didn't own a whole section of bottom land and drove o' mules to boot." It was fully midnight before they reached their pen and laid their burden down. They were too tired to do any- thing more than lay their blankets down on a pile of cedar boughs and go to sleep. The next morning thfey unrolled their booty and gloated over it. It would make a perfect roof, and they felt it re- paid all their toils. Upon measurement they found it much larger each way than their log pen. "Just right," said Shorty gleefully. "It'll stick out two feet all around. It's the aristocratic, fashionable thing now-a-days to have wide cornishes. Remember them sweJ^ houses we wuz lookin' at in Louisville? We're riglinn style with them." The rest of Co. Q gathered around to inspect it and envy them. "I suppose you left some," said Jack Wilkinson. "I'll go down there and get the rest." "Much you won't," said Si, looking toward the car; ^there ain't no rest." They all looked that 'F: THE AEAIY. 150 ' CHAPTEP. XYL ^ - ■ - ■ - DEACOX SLEGG HAS A LITTLE EXPEEIE^XE OF LIFE IN THE AEMY. 'Tap/'' said Si, by way of introduction, *'tliis is fe'horty, my paidner; and the best pardner a feller ever had, and tlie best soldier in the Army of the Cnmberland." "Glad to see vou. Mr. Klec^s:," said Short v. reddeninsr and grasping the father's outstretched hand; '''but you orter've broke that boy o' your'u o' lyin' when he was young." ''He never did lie," said the Deacon cheerfully, "and I don't believe lie's lyin* now. Pve heard a great deal o' you. Mr. Shorty, and I'm sure he's tellin' the truth about you." "Drop the Mister, Pap," said Si. "We never call each other Mister here, except when we're mad." Si took the carpetsack under his arm, and they trudged' up toward Army Headquarters Eelieved of anxiety as to his own personal safety, and having found his son, Deacon Klegg vievred everything around him with open-eyed interest. It was a wonder- fully new and strange world into which the sober, plod- ding Indiana farmer had dropped. The men e^rounc him spoke the speech to which his ears were accustomed, but otherwise they were as foreign as if they had come from the heart of China. Their dress, their manners, their actions, the ways in which they Vv^e^.e busving themselves, had no resemblance to anything seen on rbe prosaic plains of the T> abash in his half-century of iiie there. The infantry sweeping over the fields in endless waveS; the dashing cavalcades of officers and staffs, xho 160 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. bewildering whirl of tlie light batteries dazed him. Even Si awed him. It was hard to recognize in the broad- shouldered, self-assured young soldier, who seemed so entirely at home in his startling surroundings, the blun- dering, bashful hobbledehoy of a few months before, whose feet and hands were constantly in the way, and into everything else that they should not be. "Somehow, Si," he said, looking at his offspring with contemplative eye, "you seem to have growed like a cornstalk in July, and yit when I come to measure you up you don't seem no taller nor heavier than w^hen you went away. How is it? "Don't kno^w. Pap," Si answered. "I feel as if I'd had more'n 10 long years o' growth since we crossed the Ohio River. Yit, you don't seem a minute older than when I went away." "I didn't feel no older," returned the father," until I got in that guard-house last night. Then I could feel my hair gittin' grayer every hour, and my teeth droppin' out." "I'm afraid you didn't git much chance to sleep. Pap," said Si sympathetically. "Loss o' sleep was the least part of it," said the Deacon frciingly. "I kin stand ix little loss o' sleep wilhout any (-articklcr bother. 1^ wasn't bein' kept awake so much as t]:e way \ was kept awake that wore on me." "ATl.y, Avhat happened?" asked Si. "Better ask what didn't happen," groaned his father. 'Used to have some mighty rough shivarees when I was a boy.and'd jest settled on the Wabash. Lots o' toughs ihen, 'specially 'mong the flatboatmen, who'd nothin' to drink but new sod-corn whisky, that'd a hght in every apoontuL But for pure, straight-out tumultuousness tiiat guard-house last night gave six pecks for every bushel of a Wabasii shivaree." . - ~ DEACON KLEGG'S EXPERIENCE IN THE ARMY. 161 Shorty looked meaningly at Si. "Guard-house fellers 's likely to be a ructionary lot o' roosters. Awful sorry you got in among 'em. Was they very bad?" "Well, I should say. When I was chucked in they wuz havin' a regular prize fight, 'cordin' to rules, as to whether Rousseau or Negley wuz the best General. The Rousseau man got licked, and then the other Rousseau men wuzzent satisfied, and proposed to lick all the Negley men in the guard-house; but the Sheridan men interfered, and made the Rousseau men cool down. Then they turned their attention to me. They raised a row about a citizen being put in among them. It was a disgrace. The guard-house was only intended for sol- diers and gentlemen, and no place for condemned civil- ians. Then someone said that I had been arrested as a Knight o' the Golden Circle, on my way to Bragg, with information from the Injianny Knights. Another insisted that he knowed me, and that I wuz Vallandigham him- self, brought down there to be sent through the lines. Then I thought sure they'd kill me on the spot. I beg- ged and pled and denied. Finally, they organized a court-martial to try me for my life. They had an awful tonguey feller that acted as Prosecutin' Attorney, and the way he blackguarded me w^as a shame. He said that traitor was wrote in every liniment o' my face; that I wuz a dyed-in-the-wool butternut, and that the bag I'd brung along with me contained the muster-rolls of 100, OCO Injiannians who'd bin swore in to fight for Jeff Davis. "The feller that they appinted to defcxid me admitted the truth of all that the other feller'd said. He said that no one could look in my Southern Injianny face without seein' Secession, treason and nigger-lovin' wrote there in big letters. He could only ask the honorable court fot mercy instid o' p;gtice, and that I be shot instid o' hung, as I deserve(^- - 1G2 BI KLEGG AND PJIORTY. "When tliey asked me what I'd got to say in my own defense I told 'em the truth, and said that Fd come down here to visit my son, who they all knovved — ihey must know Si Ivlegg, o' the 2CCth Injianny Yoliuitecrs, who was an officer, and had a house with a tin roof. "Then they all got up and yelled. They said they knowed Si Ivlegg only too well; that he wuz the meanest, orneriest soljer in the army, and that he looked just like me. They had him in the guard-house now^ He'd bin put in for stealin' a hoe-cake from a blind nigger half- w^ay back to Nashville durin' the battle. ^'They brought up the dirtiest, scaliest Icokin' man in the guard-house, and said that w^as Si Klegg, and that he resembled mo so much that they wuz sure he wuz my son. They asked him if he reckernized me as his dad, and after 1 hey kicked liim tv,"0 or three times said he did, but he avuz goin' to cut his throat now, since they'd found it out. He couldn't stand everything. Then they said they'd postpone execution on condition that I'd kneel down, drink a pint o' whisky, take the oath o' allegiance to Abe Lincoln, and slug 'lYe'H hang Jeff Davis on a sour-apple tree.' ^T told 'em I wuz perfectly willin' to take the oath to Abe Lincoln as often as they pleased; that he wuz my man from start to finish; that I wanted Jeff Davis hung the minit we ketched him. I'd sing the song if they'd learn it to me, though I've not sung anything but hymns for the last 25 years. As for the v/hisky, I w^ouldn't tetch it on no account, for I belonged to the Good Tem- plars. "They all seemed pacified with this except one man, who insisted that I should drink the whisky. One o' the Sherican men knocked him down, and then the fight between the Rousseau men and the Negley men broke out afresh, and the guard come in and quieted things. DEACOy KLEGG'S EXPERIENCE IN THE ARMYo 163 By ilic time they'd done this they found that the man who hr.d rechcrnizcd me as his failicr ^\uz tryin' to hang hin:sch" Aviih a jdcce u' icnt-rcj'e. Tl:cy cut him do^vn, larruped him vdth the tcnt-ro}:e; and then started an- other ecurt to try mo for ha^dn' sieh a son. But some officer ccn:c in and toch out the Prosecutin" Attorney and the lawver ior the dciense and the Piesidin' Judge and bucked and gagged 'em. This cooled things down agin till mornin''." ^*We might walk ©rer to the Provost-Marshars/'' sug- 164 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. gested Slioriy, ''^and watcli for them fellers as they come out, and take a drop out o' some of 'em." "It'll be a waste o' timej" said Si, with a shrug of his shoulders. ''They'll all be doing hard labor for the next SO days, and by that time we'll likely have a good deal else to think about. Let's report at Headquarters, and then take Dad over and show him our new house." ''Yes, I'm dying to see it," said the Deacon, "and to git somewhere that I kin sit down in peace and quiet- ness. Seems to me I haven't had a moment's rest for years, and I'm as nigh tuckered out as I ever wuz in my life." At the Army Headquarters was a crowd of officers, mounted and dismounted. Aids were arriving and de- parting, and there was a furore when some General com- manding a corps or division came or went, which im- pressed the father greatly. Si and Shorty stood at "at- tention," and respectfully saluted as the officers passed, and the Deacon tried awkwardly, but his best, to imi- tate their example. Two or three spruce young Order- lies attempted to guy him, but this thing came to a sud- den stop when Shorty took one of them quietly by the ear, and said in a low voice: "Don't be brash, bub. If you only knowed it, you're givin' your measure for a first-class, custom-made lickin', and I'm the artist to do the job. That old man's my chum's father, and I won't allow no funjiy business 'round where I am." "We wuz ordered to report to Gen. Eosecrans," said Si to the Orderly on duty before the tent. "What are you to report for?" asked a member of the staff, standing near. The General is very busy now, and can see no one. Who ordered you to report?" "The General himself," said Si. ^ The sound of his v^ice r^ched Gen. Rosecrans, m- DEACOX KLEGG'S EXPEKIEXCE IN THE ARMY. 165 side, and busy as he was. arrested liis attention. uli tlie kindly tliougiitiuiness tliat so endeared liini to liis soldiers lie instantly remembered liis promise, dri;pped his pen, and came to the door. SHOETY AD>,I0>:iSHE3 THE OEDEELY. ^1 ordered these men to report,'' he said to the Aid. Bring me that checkerboard which lies on my table." The Aid did so. Gen. Rosecrans noticed the father, and, as nstial. saw the opportunity of doing a kindly, gracious thing. ''You have found your son, I see," he said to him. '^Sorry that you had so much trouble. That's a fine son yoti have. One of the very best soldiers in my army. I 1G6 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. congratulate you upon him. Boys, here 5s 3'our board and men. I may drop in some evening and see you play a game. I'll be careful to clean my feet, this time." Si and Shorty got very red in the face at this allusion, and began to stammer excuses. The General playfully pinched Si's ear and said: "Go to your quarters now, you young rascal, and take your father with you. I hope he'll have a very pleasant time while he is in camp." They saluted and turned away too fvdl for utterance. After they had gone a little distance the Deacon re- marked, as if communing with himself : "And that is Gen. Rosecrans. Awful nice man. Nicest man I ever saw. Greatest General in the world. Won't this be something to tell Mariar and the girls. And the men down at the store. I'd 've come down here 40 times jest to 've seen him and talked with him. What'd last night in the guard-house amount to, after all? A man must expect some trouble occasionally. Wouldn't have no fun if he didn't. Say, Si, you remember Old Susy's chestnut colt?" i , ,a / "Yes," answered Si. "I thought he had in him the makin' o' the finest horse in Posey County. i "Yes," said Si. "Well, he's turnin' out even better'n I thought he would. Shouldn't wonder if he could trot down some- where nigh 2:40." "You don't say so?" "Yes, indeed. You used to want that colt mighty bad, Si." "I remember that I did, Pap." "Well, Si, I'll give you that colt, and take good care o' him till you come home, for that e'er checker-board." When they arrived at their house Si and Shorty ar- DEACO^: KLEG.Ct'S experience IX TH*E AEOT. 167 Tanged ilie tilings so as to give the Deacon a most com- fortable rest after his trying experiences, and cooked him the best dinner their larder would afford. After din- ner they tilled him a pipe-full of kinnikinnick, and the old gentleman sat do^Yn to enjoy it while Si and Shorty SHORTY ADMIRES SI'S SHIRT. investigated the contents of the carpetsack. They found endless fun in its woful condition. The butter and honey were smeared over ererything, in the rough handling which it had endured. They pulled out the shirty the socks, the boots, the paper and books, and scraped off caiefully as mtich as they could of. the preci- ous-honey and butter. 1G8 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "It's too good to waste the least bit," said Shorty, tast- ing it from time to time with uiictioii. "Don't mind a hair or two in the butter, this time, Si. I kin believe your mother is a good buttermaker. It's the best I ever tasted." "Well, the butter and the honey may be spiled," said Si, "but the other things are all right. My, ain't this a nice shirt. And them socks. Shorty, did you ever see such socks. Ever so much obliged to you. Pap, for these boots. Old Hank Sommers's make. He's the best shoe- maker in the State of Injianny. No Quartermaster's cowhide about them. And" Si stopped. He had suddenly come across Annabel's ambrotype. He tried to slip it into his pocket without the others seeing him. He edged awkwardly to the doer. "You look over the rest o' the things, Short ," he said, with a blush that hid his freckles. "I've got to go down and see the Orderly-Sergeant." Shorty and the Deacon exchanged very profound winks. \ THE DEACON ACQUIRES EXPERIENCE. 169 . • CHAPTER XYII. THE DEACON RAPIDLY ACQUIRES EXPERIENCE OF LIFE IN THE ARMY. Si asked questions of his father about the folks at home and the farm until the old gentleman's head ached, and he finally fell asleep through sheer exhaustion. The next day the Deacon took a comprehensive sur- vey of the house, and was loud in his praises of Si and Shorty's architecture. "Beats the cabin 1 had to take youi mother to, Si, when I married her," he said with a restrospective look in his eye, "though I'd got up a sight better one than many o' the boys on the Wabash. Lays a way over the one that Abe Lincoln's father put up on Pigeon Crick, over in Spencer County, and where he brung the Widder John- ston when he married her. I remember it well. About the measliest shack there wuz in the country. Tom Lincoln, Abe's father, wuz about as lazy as you make 'em. They say nothin' will cure laziness in a man, but a second wife '11 shake it up awfully. The Widder Johnston had lots o' git up in her, but she found Tom Lincoln a dead load. Abe wuz made o' different stuff.'* "Yes," continued the father, growing reminiscentiah "There wuz no tin roof, sawed boards, glass winder nor plank door in that little shack on the Wabash, but some o' the happiest days in my life wuz spent in it. Me and your mother wuz both young, both very much in love, both chock full o' hope and hard day's work. By the time you wuz born, Si, we'd got the farm and the house in much better shape, but they wuz fur from being what they are to-day." 170 BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. ^It we only had a deed for a quarter section o' land around our house we'd be purty Avell started in life for young men," ventured Si." "I'd want it a heap sight better land than this is 'round here," said the Deacon, studying the landscape judicially* "Most of it that I've seen so far is like self- righteousness — the more a man has the worse he's off. Mebbe it'll raise white beans, but I don't know o' nothin' else, except niggers and poverty. The man that'd stay 'round here, scratchin' these clay knobs, when there's no law agin him goin' to Injianny or Illinoy, haint gumption enough to be anything but a rebel. That's my private opinion publicly expressed." / "Pap," said Si, after his father had been a day in camp, "I think we've done fairly well in providin' you with a house and a bed, but I'm afeared that our cookin's not quite up to your taste. You see, you've bin badly pampered by mother. I might say that she's forever spiled you for plain grub and common cookin'." "Your mother's the best cook that ever lived or breath- ed," said the Deacon earnestly. "She kin make plain cornbread taste better than any body else's pound cake. But you do well, Si, considerin' that your mother could never git you to so much as help peel a mess o' 'taters. Your coffee'd tan [a side o' sole leather, and there's enough grease about your meat to float a skiff; but I didn't expect to live at a hotel when I come down here." The Deacon strolled down near Regimental Head- quarters. An Aid came up and, saluting the Colonel, said: ' "Colonel, the General presents his" compliments, and instructs me to say that he has received orders from Division Headquarters to send details of a Corporal and five men from each regiment there to-morrow morning at 7 o'clock for fatigue duty. You will furnish yours.'* THE DEACON ACQUIRES EXPERIENXE. 171 "Very good/' answered the Colonel, returning tlie sa- lute. "Adjutant, order the detail." "Sergeant-Major," said the Adjutant, after a mcment- ary glance at his roster, "send an order to Capt. McGilli- cuddy, of Co. Q, for a Corporal and five men for fatigue duty, to report at Division Headquarters at 7 to-morrow morning." The Deacon walked toward Co. Q's quarters, and pres- ently saw the Orderly hand the Captain the order from the Colonel. "Orderly-Sergeant," said the Captain, "detail a Corporal and five men to report for fatigue duty at Division Head- quarters to-morrow at 7 o'clock." The Orderly-Sergeant looked at his roster, and then, walked doAvn to Si's residence. "Klegg," said he, "you will report for fatigue duty at Division Headquarters to-morrow at 7 o'clock with five men. You will take Shorty, Simmons, Sullivan, Tom- kins and Wheeler with you." "Very good, sir," said Si, saluting. "Si," said his father, with a quizzical smile, "I've bin wonderin', ever since I heard that you wuz an officer, how much o' the army you commanded. Now I see that if it wuz turned upside down you'd be on the very top.'* "He leads the army when it goes backAvard," inter- jected Shorty. "Gracious, Pap," said Si, good-humoredly, "I haven't rank enough to get me behind a saplin' on the battle- field. The Colonel has the pick o' the biggest tree, the Lieutenant-Colonel and Major take the next; the Cap- tains and Lieutenants take the second growth, and tlie Sergeants have the saplins. I'm lucky if I git so much as a bush." "Old Eosecrans must have a big saw-log," said his SI KLEGl* AND SHORTY. "Not mucli saw-log for Old Eosey," said Si, resenting evexx a joking disparagement upon liis beloved General. "During the battle lie wuz wherever it wuz the hottest, and on horseback, too. Wherever the firin' wuz the loudest he'd gallop right into it. His staff was shot down all around him, but he never flinched. I tell you, he's the greatest General in the world.'' The next morning after breakfast, and as Si and Shorty were preparing to go to Division Headquarters, Si said: "Pap, you just stay at home and keep house to-day. Keep your eyes on the boys ; I tell it to you in confidencer, for I wouldn't for the world have it breathed outside the company, that Co. Q's the most everlastin' set o' thieves that ever wore uniform. Don't jou ever say a word about it when you get home, for it'd never do to have the boys' folks know anything about it. It'd break their hearts. Me and Shorty, especially Shorty, are the only honest ones in the company. The other fellers 'd steal the house from over your head if you didn't watch 'em." "That's so," asseverated Shorty. "Me and Si— especi- ally me — is the only honest ones in the company. We're the only ones you kin really trust." "I'd be sorry to think that Si had learned to steal," said the Deacon gravely, at which Shorty could not re- sist the temptation to give Si a furtive kick. "But I'll look out for thieves. We used to have lots o' them in Posey County, but after we hung one or two, and rid some others on rails, the revival meetin's seemed to take hold on the rest, and thev g-ot converted." "Something like that ought be done in the army," mur- -mured Shorty. ^' When you want anything to eat jou know where to git it," said Si, as they moved of£c ^W@',ll probabl|^ h0 h2.Gk in time to git supper." THE DEACON ACQUIEE3 EXPEEIEXCE. 173 Tlie Deacon watclied tlie squad march away, and then turned to think hov," he would employ hmiself during the day. He busied himself for awhile cleaning up the cabin and settinfj thino-s to rights, and flattered himself that his housekeeping was superior to his son's. Then he decided to cut some wood. He found the ax, "condemn- ed"' it for some time as to its dullness and bad condi- tion, but finally attacked with it a tree which had been hauled up back of the company line for fuel. It was hard work, and presently he sat down to rest. Loud words of command came from just beyond the hill, and he walked over there to see what was going on. He saw a regiment drilling, and watched it for some minutes with interest. Then he walked back to his work, but found to his amazement that his ax was gone. He could see nobody around on vdiom his suspicions could rest. "Mebbe somebody's borrowed it/' he said, '^and will bring it back when he's through usin' it. If he don't I kin buy a better ax for 10 or 12 bits. Somebody must have axes for sale 'round here somewhere." He waited awhile for the borrower to return the tool, but as he did not, he gathered up a load of wood and carried it up to the cabin. "The boys '11 be mighty hungry when they git back this evenin'," said he to himself. "I'll jest git up a good sup- per for 'em. I'll show^ Si that the old man knows some p'ints about cookin', even if he haint bin in the army, that'll open the youngster's eyes." He found a tin pan, put in it a generous supply of beans, and began carefully picking them over and blow- ing the dust out, the same as he had often seen his wife do. Having finished this to his satisfaction, he set down ihe pan and went back into the cabin to get the kettle to boil them in. When he returned he found that pan and beans had vanished, and again he saw no one upon 174 ei KLEGG AND SHOKTY. whom lie could fix his suspicions. The good Deacon be- gan to find the "old Adam rising within him/' but as a faithful member of the church he repressed his choler. can't hardly believe all that Si and Shorty said about the dishonesty of Co. Q," he communed with himself. *'Many o' the boys in it I know — they're right from our neighborhood. Good boys as ever lived, and honest as the day is long. Some o' them belonged to our Sunday- school. I can't believe that they've turned out bad so soon. Yet it looks awful suspicious. The last one I see around here was Jed Baskins. His father's a reg- gerly ordained preacher. Jed never could We took them beans. But who on airth done it?" The Deacon carefully fastened the door of the cabin, and proceeded with his camp-kettle to the spring to get some water. He found there quite a crowd, with many in line waiting their chance at the spring. He stood around awhile awaiting his chance, but it did not seem to get any nearer. He said something about the length of time it took, and a young fellow near remarked: "Here, Uncle, give me your kittle. I'll git it filled for you.'* AVithout a thought the Deacon surrendered the kettle to him, and he took his place in line. The Deacon watched him edging up toward the spring for a minute or two, and then his attention was called to a brigade maoiuvering in a field across the river. After awhile he thought again about his kettle, and looked for the kindly yoBng man who had volunteered to fill it. There were several in the line who looked like him, but none whom he could positively identify as him. "Which o' you boys got my kittle?" he inquired, walk- ing along the line. ''Got your kittle, you blamed teamster," they an- swered crossly. "Go away from here. We don't allow THE DEACON ACQUIRES EXPERIENCE. 175 teamsters at this spring. It's 013 ly for soldiers. Go to your own spring." His kettle was gone too. That was clear. As the Deacon walked back to the cabin he was very hot in the region of his collar. He felt quite shamefaced, too, as to the way the boys would look on his management, in the face of the injunctions they had given him at parting. His temper was not improved by discovering that while he was gone someone had carried off the bigger part of the wood he had laboriously chopped and piled up in front of the cabin. He sat dow^n in the doorway and meditated angrily: "I'll be dumbed (there, I'm glad that Mariar didn't hear me say that. I'm afeared I'm gittin' to swear just like these other fellers). I'll be dumbed if I ever imagined there wuz sich a passel o' condemned thieves on the face 0' the airth. And they all seem sich nice, gentlemanly fellers, too. What'U we do with them when they git back home?" Presently he roused himself up to carry out his idea of getting a good meal ready for the boys by the time they returned, tired and hungry. He rummaged through the cabin, and came across an old tin bucket partially filled vdth scraps of paper. There did not seem to be any- thing of value in it, and he tossed the contents on the smoldering fire. Instantly there was an explosion which took the barrel off the top of the chimney, sent the stones rattling down, filled the room full of smoke, singed the Deacon's hair and whiskers, and sped him out of the cabin in great alarm. A crowd quickly gathered to see what was the matter. Just then Si appeared at the head of his squad. He and Shorty hurried to the scene of the disturbance. *^What,is the matter, Pap?" Si asked anxiously. "Why," explained his fathei, "I was lookin' ^roirnd 176 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. for sonietlihig to git water in, and I found an old tin bucket with scraps o' paper in. I* tlirowed them in the fire, and I'm feared I busted your fireplace all to pieces. But. I'll help you to fix it up agin," he added depreeat- ingly. DEACON KLEGG IS SURrRISED. *Bvit you ain't hurt any, are you. Pap?" asked Si, anx- iously examining his father, and ignoring all thought as to the damage to the dwelling. "No," said his father cheerfully. "I guess I lost a little hair, but I could spare that. It was about time to git it cut anyway. I think we kin fix up the fireplace. Si." "Cuss the fireplace, so long's you're all right," answer- ed Si. *'A little mud '11 straighten that out.''' You got THE DEACON ACQUIRES EXPERIENCE. 177 liold o' the bucket where me and Shcrlv 've bin savin' up our broken cartridges for a little private Fourth July some night." "But, Si," said the Deacon sorrowfully, determined to have it all out at once. "They're bigger thieves than you said they wuz. They've stole your ax — but I'll buy you a better one for 10 or 12 bits; they took your pan and beans, an' took your camp-kittle, and finally all the wood that I'd cut." He looked so doleful that the boys could not help laughing. "Don't worry about ihem, Pap," said Si cheerfully. "We'll fix them all right; Let's go inside and straigh en things up, and then we'll have something to eat." "But you can't git nothin' to eat," persisted the Dea- con, "because there's nothin' to cook in." / . - "We'll have something, all the same," said Shorty, with a wink of enjoyable anticipation at Si. The two boys carefully stowed away their overcoats, which were rolled up in bundles in a way that would be suspicious to a soldier. They got the interior of the cabin in more presentable shape, and then Shorty went out and produced ^^ camp-kettle from somewhere, in which they made their coffee. When this was ready, they shut the door and carefully unrolled their overcoats. A small sugar-cured ham, a box of sardines, a can of peaches, and a couple of loaves of fresh, soft bread de- veloped. ' • "Yum-yum!" murmured Shorty, gloating over the viands. "Where in the world did you git them, boys?" asked the Deacon in wonderment. "Eat what is set before you, and ask no questions, for conscience' sake, Pap," said Si, slicing off a ^iece of the 17S SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Iiam and starting to broil it for his father. "That's what you used to tell me." "Si," said the father sternly, as an awful suspicion moved his mind, "I hope you didn't steal 'em." "Of course not. Pap. How^ kin you think so?" TRYING TO CONQUER THE DEACON'S SCRUPLEa "Josiah Klegg," thundered the father, "tell me how you came by them things?" "Well, Pap," said Si, considerably abashed, "it was something like this: Our squad was set to work to un- load a car o* Christian Commission things. Me and Shorty pulled off our overcoats and laid them in a corner. When we got through our work and picked up our coats we found Jhese things in them. Somejbad men had hid THE DEACON ACQUIKES EXPERIENCE. 179 tliem tliere, thinkiii' tlioy vruz their overcoats. We thouglit the best way wuz to punish the thieves by takin' the things away with us. Now, here's a piece o' ham biiled almost as nice as motlier could do. Take it, and cut you off a slice of that soft bread.' "Si, the receiver's as bad as the thief. I won't touch it.'' "Pap, the harm's been done. No matter wlio done it, the owner'll never see his victuals agin. Jest as like he cribbed 'em from somebody else. These Christian Com- mission things wuz sent dovrn for us soljers anyhow. We'd better haA^e 'em than the bummers around the rear. They'll spile, and be wasted if you don't eat 'em; and that'd be a sin.'' The savory ham was very appetizing, the Deacon was very hungry, and the argument was sophistical, "I'll take it. Si," said he with a sigh. "1 don't wonder that the people down here are rebels and all that sort o' thing. It's in the air. I've felt my principles steadily weakenin' from the time I crossed the Ohio Eiver." 180 SI "KLma AND SHORTY. CJMPTEE XVIIL THE DEACON CONTINUES TO ACQUIRE VOLUMES OF MILITARY EXPERIENCE. With the Deacon's assistance, the chimney was soon rebuilt better than ever, and several homelike improve- ments were added. The lost utensils were also replaced, one by one. The Deacon was sometimes troubled a lit- tle in his mind as to where the pan, the camp-kettle, etc., came from. Si or Shorty would simply bring in one of them, with a sigh of satisfaction, and add it to the household stock. The Deacon was afraid to ask any questions. One day, however. Shorty came in in a glow of excite- ment, with a new ax in his hand. "There; isn't she a daisy," he said holding it up and testing the edge with his thumb. "None o' your old sledges with no more edge than a maul, that you have to nigger the wood off with. Brand new, and got an edge like a razor. You kin chop wood with that, I tell you." "It's a tolerable good ax. Wuth about 10 bits," said the Deacon, examining the ax critically. "Last ax I bought from 01 Taylor cost 12 bits. It was a better one. How much'd you give for this? I'll pay it myself." "Do you know Jed Baskins thinks himself the best eucher player in the 200th Ind.," said Shorty, forgetting himself in the exultation of his victory. "Jed Baskins — the Rev. Jared Baskins 's son — a eucher player," gasped the Deacon. "Why, his father'd no more tech a card than he would a coal o' fire. Not so much, for I've often heard him say that a coal o' fire kin only Iburn the hands, while cards scorch the soul." "Well, Jed," continued Shorty, "bantered me to ^^ay THE DEACON CONTINUES TO ACQUIRE EXPEEIENCE. 181 tliree games out o' five for this liere ax agin my galvanized brass watcli. We wuz hoss and lioss on the first two games; on the saw-off we had four pints apiece. I dealt and turned up the seven o' spades. Jed ordered me up, and then tried to ring in on me a right boAver from an- other deck, but I knovred he hadn't it, because I'd tried 'HOW MUCH'P YOU GIVE FOF; THIS?" to ketch it in the deal, but missed it and slung it under the table. I made Jed play fair, and euchered him, with only two trumps in my hand. Jed's .a mighty slick hand with the pasteboards, but he meets his boss in your Uncle Ephraim. I didn't learn to play eucher in the hay lofts o' Bean Blossom Crick for nothin', I kin tell you.'' 182 SI KLEGO AND SHORTY. An expression of horror came into Deacon Klegg's face, and he looived at Shorty vvith severe disapproval, which ■was entirely lost on that worthy, who continued to prat- tle on: "Jed Baskins kin slip in more cold decks on green- horns than any boy I ever see. You'd think he'd spent his life on a Mississippi steamboat or follerin' a circus. You remember how he cleaned out them Maumee Musk- rats at chuch-a-luck last pay-day? Why, there wuzn't money enough left in one company to buy postage stamps for their letters home. You know how he done it? Why, that galoot of a citizen gambler that we tossed in a blanket down there by Nashville, and then rid out o' camp on a rail, learned him how to finger the dice. I was sure some o^ them Maumee Smart Alecks 'd git on to Jed, but they didn't. I declare they wouldn't see a six-mule team if it druv right acrost the board afore 'em. But I'm onto him every minit. I told him when he tried to ring in that jack on me that he didn't know enough about cards to play with our Sunday-school_class on Bean Blos- som Crick," "Josiah Klegg," said the Deacon sternly, "do you play cards?'' "I learned to play jest a little," said Si deprecatingly, and getting very red in the face. "1 jest know the names o' the cards, and a few o' the rules o' the game." "I'm surprised at you," said the Deacon, "after the careful way you wuz brung up. Cards are the devil's own picture-books. They drag a man down to hell jest as sure as strong drink. Do you own a deck o' cards?" "No, sir,'^ replied Si. "I did have one, but I throwed it away when we wuz goin' into the battle o' Stone River." "Thank heaven you did," said the Deacon devoutly. "Think o' your goin' into battle with them infernal THE DEACON CONTINUES TO ACQUIRE EZPERIENCE. 183 tilings on you. They'd draw death to you jest like iron draws lightnin'." "That's what I wuz afeared of/' Si confessed. "Now, don't you ever touch another card/' said the Deacon. "Don't you ever own another deck. Don't you insult the Lord by doin' things when you think you're safe that you wouldn't do when you're in danger and want His protection." "Yes, sir," responded Si very meel^ly. The Deacon was so excited that he pulled out his red bandana, mop- ped his face vigorously, and walked out of the door to get some fresh air. As his back was turned, Si reached slily up to a shelf, pulled down a pack of cards, and flung them behind the back-log. "I didn't yarn to Pap when I told him I didn't own a deck," he said to Shorty. "Them wuzzent really our cards. I don't exactly know who they belonged to." The good Deacon was still beset with the idea of as- tonishing the boys with a luxurious meal cooked by him- self, without their aid, counsel or assistance. His failure the first time only made him the more determined. While he conceded that Si and Shorty did unusually well with the materials at their ccmm.and, he had his full share of the conceit that possesses every man born of woman that, without any previous training or experience, he can prepare food better than anybody else who attempts to do it. It is usually conceded that there are three things which every man alive believes he can do better than the one who is engaged at it. These are: 1. Telling a story; 2. Poking a tire; 3. Managing a woman. ... Cooking a meal should be made the fourth of this cate- One day Si and Skorty went with the rest of Co. Q oa 184 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. fatigue duty cn the enormous fortifications, the building of which took i p so much of the Army of the Cumber- land's energies during its stay around Murfreesboro' from Jan. 3 to June 24, 1863. Rosecrans seemed suddenly seized with McClellan's mania for spade work, and was piling up a large portion of Middle Tennessee into para- pet, bastion and casemate, lunet, curtain, covered- way and gorge, according to the system of Vauban. The 200th Ind. had to do its unwilling share of this, and Si and Shorty worked off some of their superabundant energy with pick and shovel. They would come back at night tired, muddy and mad. They would be ready to quarrel with and abuse everybody and everything from President Lincoln down to the Commissary-Sergeant and the last issue of pickled beef and bread— especially the Commis- sary-Sergeant and the rations. The good Deacon sor- rowed over these manifestations. He was intensely loyal. He wanted to see the soldiers satisfied with their ^ officers and the provisions made for their comfort. He would get up a good dinner for the boys, which would soothe their ruffled tempers and make them more satisfied with their lot. He began a labored planning of the feast. He looked over the larder, and found there pork, corned beef, pota- toes, beans, coffee, brown sugar, and hardtack. "Good, substantial vittles, that stick to the ribs," he muttered to himself, "and I'll fix up a good mess o' them. But the boys ought to have something of a treat once in a while, and I must think up some way to give it to 'em." He pondered over the problem as he carefully cleaned the beans, and set them to boiling in a kettle over the fire. He washed some potatoes to put in the ashes and roast. But these were commonplace viands. He wanted something that w^ould be luxuries. "I recollect," he said to himself finally, "seein' a little THE DEACOX C0XTIXUE5 TO ACQUIEE EXPEEIEXCE. 185 store, Vr-liicli some feller's set up a little ways from here. It's a board slianty, and I expect lie's got a lot o* things in it that the hoys "d like, for there's nearly ahvays'a big crowd around it. I'll jest fasten up the house^ and walk over there while the beans is a seethin", and see if I can't pick up something real good to eat."^ DEACON KLLJG LOOKS OVEPc THE LAEDEK. He made his way through the crowd, which seemed to him to smell of vrhisky, until he came to the shelf across the front, and took a look at the stock. It seemed almost wholly made up of canned goods, and boxes of half* Spanish cigarS; and playing-caida 186 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "Don't seem to be mucli of a store after all," solilo- quized the Deacon, after he had surveyed the display. "Aint a patehin' to 01 Taylor's. Don't see anything very invitin' here. 0, yes, there's a cheese. Say, Mister, gi' me about four pounds o' that there cheese." " Plank down your $2 fust, ole man," responded the vStorekeeper. "This is a cash store, — cash in advance, every time. Short credits make long friends. Hand me over your money, and I'll hand you over the cheese." "Land o' Goshen, four bits a pound for cheese," gasped the Deacon. "Why, I kin git the best full-cream cheese at home for a bit a pound." "Why don't you buy your cheese at home, then, ole man?" replied the storekeeper. "You'd make money, if you didn't have to pay freight to Murfreesboro'. Guess you don't know much about gettin' goods down to the front. But I haint no time to argy with you. If you don't want to buy, step back, and make room for some- one that does. Business is lively this mornin'. Time is money. Small profits and quick returns, you know. No time to fool with loafers who only look on and ask questions." "Strange way for a storekeeper to act/' muttered the Deacon. "Must've bin brung up in a Land OfiSce. He couldn't keep store in Posey County a week. They wouldn't stand his sass." Then aloud; "You may gi' me tw^o pounds o' cheese." "Well, why don't you plank down the rhino?" said the storekeeper impatiently. "Put up your money fust, and then youQl git the goods. This aint no credit concern with a stay-law attachment. Cash in aain. "I'm not goin' to let go o' you till I'm safe back in our own place," he said. "My gracious! think of havin' my head shaved and marched off the way that feller's bein'." He'walked into the cabin and stirred up the beans. *'The wartei's biled off," said he to himself, "but they 102 (SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. haint been in nigh as hot a place as I have. I guess the boys '11 have to do with a plain dinner to day. I'm not goin' to stir out o' this place agin unless they're with me." He put his hand into his pocket for his bandana and felt the roll of bills, which he had altogether forgotten in his excitement. His face was a study. TnorBLED WITH A QUESTIOX OF COXSCIEXCE. 193 CHAPTER XIX.. THE DEACOX TROUBLED WITH A QUESTION OF COXSCIEXCE. HE ALSO GOES OUT WITH A FOILIGIXG PAETY. From the door of the cabin the Deacon could see the fort on which the boys were piling up endless cubic yards of the red soil of Tennessee. As he watched them, with an occasional glance at the beans seething in the kettle^ fond memories rose of a woman far away on the AYabash who these many years had thought and labored for his comfort in their home, while he labored within her sight on their farm. It was the first time in their long married life that he had been away from her for such a length of time. ■ '■- ■ - - "I believe I'm gittin' real homesick to see !Mariar/' he said with a sigh. "I'd give a good deal for a letter from her. I do hope everything on the farm's all right. I think it is. I'm a little worried about Brown Susy, the mare, but I think she'll pick up as the weather settles. I hope her fool colt, that I've give Si, won't break his leg nor nothin' while I'm away." Presently he saw the men quit work, and he turned to get read J for the boys. He covered the rough table with newspapers to do duty for a cloth^ he £iad previoiislv scoured up the tinware to its utmost brightness and cleanliness, and while the boys were washing off the ac- cumulations of clay, and liberally denouncing the man who invented fort building, and even West Point for edu- catins: men to pursue the nefarious art, he dished out the s mokin g via n d s . "'Upon my word, Pap," said Si, as he helped himsolf liberally, "you do beat us cookin' all holler. Your beaua 4 194 m . ELJIQG AND SHORTY. . taste almost as good as mpther's. We must, git you to , give us some lessons." , , > "Yes; you're a boss cook/* said Shorty, Avith Ms ijiouth full. "Better not let Gen. Rosecrans find out^hoAv .well^ you kin bile beans, or he'll have you drafted, and keep you with him till the end o' the war." After supper they lighted their pipes and seated them. ^3lves in front of the fire. "How'd you git along to-day, Pap?" asked Si. "I hope you didn't have no trouble?" The Deacon took his pipe out of his .mouth, .blew a cloud of smoke, and considered a moment before reply- ing. He did not want to recount his ; experiences, at least, until he had digested them more thoroughly. He was afraid of the joking of the boys, and still m0i;e that the story >vould get back home. Then,-h,e was si?ill sore- ly perplexed about the disposition of the money. He had not thought that out yet, by a great deal. But the question was pjump aiid direct, and coii,cealment and untruth \vere alike absolutely foreign to liis nature. A-fter a minute's p^use he decided to t©ll the.whoje story. "Well, boys," he began with a shamefaced. look, "1 had the flamboyantest racket to-day I've had yit." The two boys took their pipes out and regarded him with surprise. .. : : "Yes," continued he, with a deep sigh, "it; laid away over my gittin' down here, and my night in the guard- Aiouse, eveu. You see, after you went away ,,! began to ehink about gittin' up something a little extry for you to «iat. I thought about it for awhile, and then recollected seeing a little grcKjery, that'd beeu set up nigh here in a. board shanty." ^ ,. . ^ , : '^X^Sy we know about it,'' said Shorty, exchanging a - look with gi. r — ; - . . , ; , ^ *?Well," continued the Deacon, "I -concluded that I'd ■ ^I^OUBLED WITH A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE, 195 Jest slip over there, aud mebbe I could find something that'd give variety to your pork and beans. He didn't seem to have much but canned goods, and his prices wuz jest awful. But I wuz determined to git something, and I finally bought a jug o' genuine Injianny maple aolassesj a chunk o' cheese, and a can o' peaches. I "HIT MY JUG A WELT WITH HIS SWOKD.'^ had to pay him So for it. He said he had to charge high on account o' freight rates, and I remembered that I had some trouble in gittin* things down here, and so I paid him. He wuz very peart and sassy, and it was take-it- or-leave-it-and-be-plaguey-quick-about-it all the time. But I paid my $5, gathered the things up, and started 196 SI KLEGO AND SHORTY. back to the house. I hadn't got more'n 100 rods away when I met one o' these officers with only one o' them things in his shoulder straps" "A First Lieutenant," interjected Si. "Yes, they called him a Lieutenant. He spoke very %ossy and cross to me, and hit my jug a welt with his sword. He broke it, and what do you suppose was in it?'* "Whisky," said Si and Shorty simultaneously, with a shout of laughter. "That's jest what it wuz. I wuz never so mortified in my life. I couldn't say a word. The Lieutenant abused me for being a partner in sellin' whisky to the soldiers — me, Josiah Klegg, Patriarch of the Sons o' Temperance, and a Deacon. While I avuz try in' to tell him this he jab- bed his sword into the can o' peaches, and what do you suppose was in that?" "Whisky,*' yelled Si and Shorty, with another burst of laughter. "That's jest what it wuz. Then one o' the Lieutenant's inien jerked the chunk o' cheese away and broke it open. And Avhat do you suppose was in that?" "Whisky, of course," yelled the boys in uncontrollable niirtli. "That's jest Avhat it wuz. I wuz so dumbfounded that 1 couldn't say a word. They yanked me around in be- hind the squad, and told me they'd shave my head and driim me out o' camp. The Lieutenant took his men up to the grocery and tore it down, and ketched the feller that wuz keepin' it. They put him alongside o' me, and tuk us up to the guardhouse. On the way he whispered to me that they wuz likely to salt him, 'cause they knowed him, but I'd likely git off easy. He'd made $500 clean out o' the business already, and had it in his clothes. He'd pass it over to me to keep till the racket wuz over, when he'd divide fair and square with me. I TEOTTBLED WITH A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE. 197 told him that I'd rather burn my hand off than tech a dirty dollar o' his money, but he dropt it into my over- coat pocket all the same, and I wuz so excited that I clean forgot all about it, and brung it away with me. "When we got to the guardhouse they tuk all the rest of his money away, shaved his head, and drummed him out o' camp." "Yes, we saw that," said Si; "but didn't pay no atten- tion to it. They're drummin' some feller out camp nearly every day, for something or other. "1 don't see that it does any good," said Shorty. "It'd be a heap better to set 'em to work on the fortifications, That'd take the deviltry out o' 'em." "When they'd got through with him," continued the Deacon, "they turned their attention to me. I never wuz so scared in all my born days. But luckily, jest in the nick o' time, I ketched sight o' Capt. McGillicuddy, and hollered to him. He come up and explained things, and they let me go, with lots o' apologies. When I got back to the house, I felt for my handkerchief, and found that scalawag's roll o' bills, which I'd clean forgot. Here it He pulled out a fat roll of crisp greenbacks. Si took them, thumbed them over admiringly, counted them, and handed them to Shorty, who did the same. "'Yes, there's over §500 there," said Si. "What are you goin' to do with it. Pap?" "That's jest what's worrying the life out o' me," an- swered his father. "By rights I ought to throw the con- demned stuff into the fire, only I hold it a great sin to^ destroy property of any kind." "What, burn all that good money up?" said Shorty with a whistle. "You don^t live in an insane asylum when you're at home, do you?" "'■'Twouldn't be right to b;;rn it, Pap," said Si, who bet- 198 Stjt KLEGG AND SHORTY. ier imdersiood the rigidity of his father's principles. *'It'd do a mighty sight o' good somewhere." "The money don't belong at all to that feller/' mused the Deacon. "A man can't have no property in likker. It's wet damnation, hell's broth, to nourish murderers, thieves, and paupers. It is the devil's essence, with ••PULLED OUT A FAT ROLL OF GREENBACKS." which he makes widows and orphans. Every dollar of it is minted with women's tears and children's cries of hunger. That feller got the money by violatin' the law on the^one hand and swindling the soldiers on the other, and corruptin' them to their ruin. To give the money back to him 'tvould be rewardin' him for his rascality. OUT WITH A FOUAGING PARTY. 199 It'd be like givin' a thief his booty, or a burglar his plunder, and make me his pardner." "You're right there, Pap," assented Si. "You'd jest be settin' him up in business in some other stand. Five hundred dollars 'd give him a good start. His hair '11 soon grow agin." "The worst of it," sighed Shorty, "is that it am't good likker. Otherwise it'd be different. But it's pizener than milk-sick or loco-weed. It's aqua-fortis, fish-ber- ries, tobacco juice and ratsbane. That stuff'd eat a hole in a tin pan." "The Captain' turned the rest o' his money oyer to the hospital," continued the Deacon. "I might do that." "Neyer do in the w^orld. Pap," protested Si. ' "Better burn it up at once. It'd be the next w«rst thing to giyin' it back to him. It'd jest be pamperin' and encouragin' a lot o' galoots thiat lay around the hospitals to keep out o' fights. Non^ o' the wounded or really sick'd git the benefit of a cent of it. They wu2 all sent away weeks ago to Nashyilley Louisyilley and back home. You jest ought to see that bummer gang. Last week me and Shorty wuz on fatigue duty down by one o^ the hospitals. There wuzzent .nobody in the hospital but a few ^sheII-» feyer' shirks, who're too lazy to work on the fortifica- tions, and we sa^v a crowd of ciyilians and men in uni- form set dowir to a finer dinner than you kin git in any hotel. Shorty wanted to light some shells and roll m amongst 'em, but I knowed that it'd jest make a muss that we'd haye to clean up afterward." "But what am I goin' to do with it?" asked the Deacon 4Bspairingly. ^ 'tl don^t want no monfey: inony hands, that 4on.iti-beloi5g to me, and especially sieh money as that, whichi seer^.s to. haye a. curse to eyery: bill. If we cojild only find out the inen he tuk it from'^^--r- - \. 1 "Be about sts easy, as driyiu' a; l(^d o' hay back mto 200 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. the field, and fitting each spear o' grass back on the stalk from which it was cut/' interjected Shorty. "Or I might send it anonymously to the Baptist Board o' Missions," continued the Deacon. "Nice way to treat the little heathens/' objected Si. "Send them likker money." ./ The Deacon groaned. "Tell you what we might do, Pap," said Si, as a bright idea struck him. "There's a widder, a Union woman, jest outside the lines, whose house wuz burned down by the rebels. She could build a splendid new house with $100— better'n the one she w^uz livin' in before. Send her $1C0." "Not a bad idee," said the Deacon approvingly, as he poked the ashes down in his pipe with his little finger. "'And Pap," continued Si, encouraged by the reception of this suggestion, "there's poor Bill Ellerlee, who lost his leg in the fight. He used to drink awful hard, and most * of his money went down his throat. He's got a wife and tw^o small children, and they hain't a cent to live on, except what the neighbors gives. Why not put up $200 in an express package and send it to him, marked 'from an unknown friend' , "Good," accorded the Deacon. "And Jim Pocock," put in Shorty, seeing the drift. *''Hc's gone home with a bullet through his breast. His C^^l" pretty poor.. Why not send him $100 the same way?'^ ' •'^l^^elicnt idee," said the father.' "That leaves $100 yit," said Si. "If you care to, you kin divide it between Shorty and me, and we'll use it among the boys that got hurt, and need something." ; A dubious look came into the Deacon's face. "You needn't be afeard of us, Pap," said Si, with a little OUT WITH A FOEAGING PAET^' 201 blush. "I kin promise you that we won't use a cent ourselves, but give every bit where it is really needed." '1 believe you,my son," said the Deacon heartily, "We'll do jest as you say." They spent the evening carrying theii plan into exe- cution. At the 9 o'clock roll-call the Orderly-Sergeant an- nounced: ' "Co. Q to go out with a forage-train to-morrow morning. This was joyful news — a delightful variation from the toil on the fortifications. "Taps" found everybody get- ting his gun and traps ready for an excursion into the country. "You'd like to go with us. Pap, wouldn't you?" asked Si, as he looked over his cartridge-bos to see what it con- tained. "Indeed I would," replied the father. "I'll go any- where with you rather than spend such another day in camp. You don't think you will see any rebels, do -you?" he asked rather nervously. "Don't know; never kin tell," said Shorty oracularly. ^^Eebels is anywhere you find 'em. Sometimes they're seldomer than a chaw of terbacker in a Sunday-school. You can't find one in a whole County. Then, first thing you know, they're thicker'n fleas on a dog's back. But we won't likely see no rebels to-morrow. There ain't no great passel o' them this side o' Puck Eiver. SiilL ?\vj^'II take our guns along, jest like a man w^ears a ore^st-p'iii on a dark night, because he's used to it-" ■ . "Can't you git me a gun, too? I think it'd be company for me," said the Deacon. : . "Certainly," said Si. - - The Deacon stowed himself in the wagons with the rest the next morning, and rode out with them through the bright sunshine, that gave promise of the soon on- 202 »SI KLEOG^ AND SHORTY. coming of Spring. For miles they jolted orer the exe- crable roads and through the shiftless, run-down country before they found anything worth While putting in ' the wagons. *'Great country, Pap," said' Si suggestively. - "Yes ; it'd be a great country," said his father disdain- fully, *'if you could put a w^agonload o' manure on every foot and import some Injianny men to take care of it. The water and the sunshine down here seem all right, but the land and the people and the pigs and stock seen? to be cuUins throwed out when they made Injiailny." At length the train halted by a double log house of iniich more pretentious character than any they had so far seen. There were a couple of well- lied ccrn-cribs, a large stack of fodder, and other evidences of plenty. "The Deacon's practiced eye noticed that there Avas no- stock in the fields, but Si explained this by saying that every- thing on hoofs had been driven off to supply the rebel army. '^They're now trying to git a corn-crib and a fcd- der-stack with four legs, but hain't succeeded so far.-' ■ The Captain ordered the fence thrown down and tlie wagons driven in to be filled. The surrounding hcrizoli was scanned for signs of rebels, but none appeared any^ where. The landscape was as tranquil, as peacc-brcaih' ing as a Spring morning on the Wabash, and the Deacon's mind reverted to the condition of things on his farm. It was tod wet to plow, but he would like to take a walk over the fields and see how his wheat had come oui, and look over the peacli-buds and ascertain how they had stood the Winter. He noticed how some service-trees, had" already unfolded their white petals, like flags of truqe breaking the long arjray of green cedars and rusiy- brown oaks. 5 Ther company^- stacked arnis in^ the foiad, the Captain went to direct the filling of the wagons, and Si and OLT WITH A FORAGING PARTY. 203 Shorty started on a private rcconnoissance for something for their larder. The Deacon strolled around the yard for awhile in- specting the buildings and farm implements with an eye of professional curiosity, and arrived at very unfavorable opinions, lie then walked up on the porch of the house, where a woman of about his own age sat in a split-bot- tomed rocking-chair knitting and viewing the proceed- imrs with frowning eyes. ''Good day, ma'am," said he. "Warm day, ma'am." ^'"Taint as warm as it orter be for sich fellers as yo'uns, she snapped. "You'd be in the brimstone pit if you had your desserts." The Deacon always tried to be goodliumored with an angry woman, and he thought he would try the effect of a little pleasantry. "I'm a Baptist, ma'am, and they say us Baptists are tryin' to put out that fire with cold water." "Yoti a Babtist?'' she answered scornfully. "The hot place is full o' jest sich Babtists as yo'tms air, and they're making room for more. "We'uns air Babtists our*- selves, but, thank the Lord, not o' your kind. Babtists air honest people. Babtists don't go about tne country robbin' and murderin' and stealin' folkses' corn. Don't tell me you air a Babtist, for I know you air a-lyin', md that's the next thing to killin' and stealin'." "But I am a Baptist," persisted the Deacon, "and havo bin for 30 year — regular, free-will, close-communion, total- immersion Baptist. "We have some Campbellites, a few Six Principle Baptists, and some Hard Shells, but the heft of us air jest plain, straight-out Baptists. But, speakin' o' cold water, kin you give me a drink? I'm powerful dry." "Thai's water down in the crick, thar," she said, with, a motion of her knitting in that diiection. ^'It's as fur 204 BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. for me as it is for you. Go down thar and drink all you like. Lucky you can't carry the crick away with yo'uns. Yo'uns 'd steal it if yo'uns could." "You donH seem to be in a good humor, ma'am," said the Deacon, maintaining his pleasant demeanor and tone. "Well, if you think that a passel o' nasty Yankees is kalkerlated to put a lady in a good humor you're even a bigger fool than you look. But I haint no time to waste jawin' you. If you want a drink thar's the crick. Go and drink your fill of it. I only wish it was a's'nic, to pizen you and your whole army." She suddenly stopped knitting, and bent her eyes eagerly on an opening in the woods on a hill-top whence the road wound down to the house. The Deacon's eyes followed hers, and he saw unmistakable signs of men in butternut clothes. The woman saw that he noticed them, and her manner changed. "Come inside the house," she said pleasantly, "and I'll git you a gourdful of .water fresh from the spring." "Thankee, ma'am; I don't feel a bit dry," answered the Deacon, with his eyes fastened on the hill-top. "Si, Shorty, Capt. McGillicuddy," he yelled. *^Shet your head, and come into the house this min- ute, you nasty Yankee, or I'll slash your fool head off," ordered the woman, picking up a corn-cutter which lay i^n the porch, and starting for hirn. The Deacon was inside the railing around the porch, and he had not jumped a fence for 20 years. But he cleared the railing as neatly as Si could have done it, and ran bareheaded down the road, yelling at the top of his voice. He was not a minute too soon— not soon enough. A full company of rebel cavalry came dashing down out of the woods, yelling like demons- on WITH A foragixct party. 205 ^'itlioiit wailing' to form, ilie men of Co. Q rrai to tlieir guns and l^egan tiring" frc»m fence-c I'lners and beliind trees. Cap:. ]\IcGiliicuddy took tlie first squad ^liat lie came to and. running forward a little way. made a liasty line and opened lire. Others saw the advantage of the position and ran up to him. The Deacon snatched up a gun and joined the Cap- tain. ''I never wtiz subject to the 'buck fever.''' he muttered to himself, ''and I won't allow myself to be now. I re- member iesT how Jineral Jackson told his men to shoot down to Xew Orleans. I'm going to salt one o' them fel- lers as sure as my name's Josiah Iv]eo-g.-' He took a long breath, to steady himself, as he i lined the Captain, picked out a man on a bay horse that seemed to be the rebels" Captain, and caught his breast ftilly through the hindsight before he pulled the trigger. Through the smoke he saw his man tumble from his horse. ''Got him. anyway.''' he muttered; ''now. how in the world kin I load this plaguey gun agin'?"' At that instant a rebel bullet bit a piece out of his ear, btit he paid no attention to it. ''Gi' me that cartridge.''" he said to a man next to him, who had just bitten off the end of one; 'T can't do it.'' The man handed him the cartridge, which the Deacon rammed home, but before he could hnd a cap ;he fight was OTex. and the rebels were seeking the shelter of the woods. The Deacon managed to get a cap on his gtm in time to take a long-distance, ineffective shot at the rebels as they disappeared in the woods. They hastily buried one rebel who had been killed, and picked up those who had beeis \vounded and carried them into the house^ where they weie made as comfortable 206 VITH THE FEEED]^IA^^. 223 '"^All nght,'' assenied tiie Deacon, who was falling into camp ways with remarkable facility. ''But yoirVe got to look OUT for that leamster. His meanei'n dog-fennel. He'll Tell everyTliing.'' ''Good point." said Si. ''ATe mnst 'tend to hrm. See liere. Groimdliog."' he conTinned. walking back to The teamsTer; '''yon dun'r know nothin" abont that old man and nigger rhar gOT on yonr wagon. They slipped off inro the woods Avhen yon wiizn't lookin'^ while yon wiiz bnsv wirli yonr mnles. and yon don't know whether they went to the riaht or rhe lefr. up The road or down It.''" ''T-^ YOU s'pose km goin' to help sreal a nigger, and rb.". -le abonr ir to rhe officers, for you galoots^ and all for nothin'?'' said the teamster. ''You are blamed fools, that's all I've got to say.'"' '•'Look here. Grotindhog." said Shorty, coming up close^ with a portentous doubled fist. ''You know me, and you know Si. You know that either of us can maul the head off you in a minute, whenever we've a mind to, and we're likely any time to have a mind to. We're a durued sight nearer you all the time Than any o' The omcers. and you can't git away from us, though you may from them. They may buck and gag you, as they ought to. 'bout e^-ery day. but that won't be nothin' to the welting one of us ''11 give you, Xow. you tell that story, jest as Si said; and stick to it. or vott won't have a whole b^Tre in vour carcass by the end o' the weeK." AYlien they came up to the entrance there indeed stood the owner of Abraham Lincoln, holding his horse, and by him stood the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2C0th Ind., a big burly man. who had been a drover and an influential jDolitician before he got his commission, and had a high reputation at home as a rough-and-tumble fighter. He had not added to his bellicose repute since entering the _ field, because for sume mysterious reason he had been 994 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. absent every time the regiment went into a ^ght, or was likely to. Consequently he was all the more blustering and domineering in camp, in spite of the frequent repres- sions he got from the modest, quiet little Colonel. "Old Blowhard Billings is there/' said Si. "Now we'll have a gust o' wind." "Didn't know he was in camp/' said Shorty. I've a notion to bust a cap and scare him back to Nashville agin. Don't let him bluff you, Si, even if he is the Lieu- tenant-Colonel." They rode up to the entrance looking as innocent and placid as if bringing in a load from the fields on the Wabash. "Corporal Klegg/' said the Lieutenant-Colonel sternly, *bring out that nigger from the Avagon." ''We ain't got no nigger in the wagon, Colonel," said Si, with an expression of surprise. "Come, now, don't fool with me, sir, or I'll make you very sorry for it. I'm no man to be trifled with, sir. If you ain't got a nigger in the wagon what 've you done >vith him?" "We 5in't done nothin' with him. Colonel," persisted Si. "I h,^*n't had nothin' to do with no nigger since we started out this mornin'; hain't spoken to one. Some- limes j-.jggers jump on our wagons, ride a little ways, aji(i riien jump off agin. I can't keep track of 'em. I L^euerally make 'em git off when I notice 'em." •Corporal Ivlegg, you're lyin' to me," said the Lieu- tenant-Colonel roughly. "I'll settle with you directly. "Groundhog, have you got a nigger in the wagon?" "No. sir," replied the teamster. "Didn't you have one?" Groundhog looked up and caught Shorty's eye fixed unflinchingly on him. ' "1 b'lieve that one did git on," he stammered, ' but he WHAT TO DO WITH THE FREEDMAN. 225 got off agin d'rectly. I didn't notice much about him. My mules wuz very bothersome all the time. They're the durndest meanest mules that ever a man tried to drive. That there off swing-mule 'd" "We don't want to hear nothin' about your mules. AVe'll look in the wagon ourselves." The search developed nothing. The Lieutenant-Colo- nel came back to Si^ angrier than ever. "Look here, Klegg, you're foolin' me, an' I won't stand it. I'll have the truth out o' you if I have to kill you. Understand?" There was a dangerous gleam in Si's and Shorty's eyes, but they kept their lips tightly closed. "This gentleman here," continued the Lieutenant- Colonel, "says, and I believe his story, against all that you may say, that the men wiQi this wagon, which he's bin watchin' all along, took his nigger away from him and drove him off Avith insults and curses. They threat- ened his life. He says he can't reckonize either of you, and likely you have disguised yourselves. But he reckonizes the wagon and the teamster, and is willin' to swear to 'em. I knoAv he's tellin' the truth, because I know you fellers. . You're impudent and sassy. You've bin among them that's hollered at me. You've bin steal- in' other things besides niggers to-day, and have 'em in your possession. You're loaded down Avith things you've stolen from houses. I won't command a regiment of nigger-thieves. I won't have nigger-thieves in my regi- ment. If I've got any in my regiment I'll break 'em of it, or I'll break their infernal necks. I believe you fellers got aw^ay with that nigger, and I'll tie you up by the thumbs till I get the truth out o' you. Sergeant o' the guard, take charge o' these men, and bring 'em along. Take that stuff that they've stolen aAvay from them and send it to my tent." 226 ^ ' SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Si and Shorty got very wltite about the mouth, but Si merely said, as they handed their guns to the guard: "Colonel, you may tie us up till doomsday, but you'll git no he^p out of us to ketch runavray niggers and put 'em back in slavery." "Shut up, you scalav/ag," roared the Lieutenant- Colonel. "If I hear another word out o' you I'll buck- and-gag you." They marched to Regimental Headquarters and halted, and the Lieutenant-Colonel renewed his browbeating, Si and Shorty continued obstinate, and ihe Lieutenant- Colonel, getting angrier every minute, ordered them tied up by the thumbs. While the Sergeant of the Guard, who was a friend of the boys, and had little heart for the work, was dallying with his preparations the Colonel himxself appeared on the scene. "Ah, Colonel, , you've got back, have you?" said the Lieutenant-Colonel, little pleased at the interruption. "I've just caught two of the men in a little job o' nigger- stealin', and I was about to learn them a lesson which will break them of the habit. With your consent I'll go on with the work." "Nigger-stealing?" said the Colonel quietly. "You mean helping a slave to get away? Did you learn whether the owner w^as a loyal man?" "I don't know as that makes any difference," replied the Lieutenant-Colonel surlily. "As a matter of fact, I believe he said he had two sons in the rebel army." "Well, Colonel," said the other, "I'll invite your atten- tion to the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, and the orders from the War Department, which prohibit the return of slaves to disloyal OAvners, and make it the duty of ofhcers and men to assist in their escape. You had better dismiss the men to their quarters." WHAT TO DO T^'ITH THE FEEEDMANV 22? "If tliat's the case — - if I don't resign. I'm no Aboli- tionist. I didn't come into the army to free the niggers." ''I shall take pleasure in forwarding your resignation with a recommendation of its acceptance for the good of the service," said the Colonel calmly. "Alen, go to your "Altogether, Pap, I consider this a mighty good day's work," remarked Si that evening after supper, as they sat around the fire smoking, with Abraham Lincoln snor- ing vigorously on the floor, in his first night's sleep as a free man. 22a 81 K^mG AND SHOKTY. CHAPTER XXII. TBYING TO EDUCATE ABRAHAM LINCOLN— TOO PIIGH-PRESSUEE SCHOOLING— THE BOYS ON PICKET. All three of the men at once became guardians of Abraham Lincoln, and in their several ways heartily interested in his welfare. The Deacon was fired by the missionary spirit of his kind and class. "No use talkin' or thinkin' no more afcout the heathen ^On Greenland's icy mountains, Or India's coral strand. Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their golden sand," he communed with himself that evening, as he sat and smoked, and occasionally glanced at the ebon face of the sleeper in the corner. "Providence has cut out a job for me, and sent it home. Rather, He sent me where I couldn't help stumblin' upon it, and recl^onizin' it. The responsibility to Him is clear. I've got heathen enough to last me for a 'coon^s age, to lift that poor, ignorant soul up, and bring it to a knowledge of Christian ways. He's not nice nor purty; never heard of a pagan that wuz. Wouldn't be pagans if they wuz. But he's a man and a brother, and the Bible says that I'm my brother's keeper. I'll keep him agin fifty-'] even o' that old snortin' rebel and Copperhead Blowhard Billings. I wuzzent brung up in the woods to be scared by the hootin' of an oavI." "We might take him along with us. Si," said Shorty, in a low tone, with a nod toward Abraham Lincoln. "We could make a bully cook out of him. We could have no end of fun with him. We could learn him lots o' tridka. TRYIXG TO EDUCATE ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 22y He's as strong as an ox, and after I'd give him a few les- sons in puttin' up liis hands , he'd knock out that sassy nigger o' the Colonel's." "1 think so too/' acquiesced Si, with an estimating glance at the sleejDer. Abraham Lincoln's iducation began bright and early the next morning, when Shorty kicked and shook him into v>^akefulness at the sound of the rereille. "Git up; git up," said Shorty, '"'u'ash your hands, comb your hair, cut some wood and put it on the hre, and bring a kettle o' water from the spring." "Wash my hands and face," said the negro, in a dazed way. "Wha'fo? Don't got nufin on dem. Comb my ha'r? Kebber did dat in my life." "'Well, you've got to do it now every mornin', and be spry about it, too. Come, don't move around as if sawed out o' basswood. This ain't nigger-quarters. Git some springs in your feet." , , And he emphasized his injunctions with a vigorous push. ' . The negro's face looked as if he began to have doubts as to whether freedom was all that had been represented to him. To have to get up early etery morning, and wash his face and hands and comb his hair, seemed at the moment to be a high price to pay for liberty. "Does I hab tuh do dat ebbery mornin'. Boss?" he said, turning with a look of plaintive inquiry to the Deacon. "Why, certainly," said the Deacon, who had just fin- ished his own ablutions, and was combing his hair. "Every man must do that to be decent." Abraham Lincoln gave a deep sigh. "Washes himself as if he's afraid the water'd scald him," said the Deacon, watching the negro's awkward efforts. "He'll have to take more kindly to water, if he comes into a Baptist total immersion family. There's 230 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. no salvation except by water, and plenty of it, too. Now," he continued, as the black man finished, "pick up that ax and cut some wood to get breakfast with." Abraham Lincoln took the ax, and began belaboring the wood, while the Deacon studied him with a critical eye. There w^as little that the Deacon prided himself on more than his skill as a wood chopper. People who think that the ax is a simple, skill-less tool, dependent for its efficiency solely upon the strength and industry with which it is wielded, make a great mistake. There is as much difference in the way men handle axes, and in the result they produce, as there is in their playing the violin. Anybody can chop, it is true, as anybody can daub with a paint brush, but a real axman of the breed of the Deacon, who had gone into the wilderness with scarcely any other tool than an ax, can produce results with it of which the clumsy hacker can scarcely imagine. The Deacon watched the negro's work with disgust and impatience. "Hadn't oughter named sich a clumsy pounder as that 'Abraham Lincoln,'" he mused. "Old Abe could handle an ax with the best of 'em. This feller handles it as if it was a handspike. If Si couldn't 've used an ax bet- ter'n that when he was 10 years old, I'd 'a felt mortally ashamed o' him. Gracious, what a job I have before me, o' makin' a first class man out o' him." He took the ax from the negro's hand, and patiently showed him how to hold and strike with it. The man apparefntly tried his best to learn, but it was a perspiring effort for him and the Deacon. The negro presently drop- ped his ax, sat down on the log, and wiped his forehead with his shirtsleeve. " Fore God, Boss, dat's de hardest way ob cuttin' wood dat I ebber seed. Hit'll kill me done daid to chog ^^ood dat a-way/' TPtYINa TO EDUCATE AER1HA:\I LINCOLN. 231 'Tsliavr!^' said the imiDatient Deacon. ^'You're simply stuj^id; that's all. That's the only way to handle an ax. You kin cut with half the work that way." He was discovering what so many of us have found out, that among the hardest things in life is that of getting people to give up clumsy ways for those that are better. THE DEACON GIVES ABE A LESSON IN Y>'OOD CHOPPING. In the meanwliile the boys had gotten breakfast^ and they called the Deacon in. Abraham Lincoln was given a liberal allowance of fried pork, soft bread, and coffee with an abundance of brown sugar in it,[ and for the while looked -as if Jie:had discovered that there were real, unmistakable blessings about freedom. But he 232 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. was no sooner through his meal than the liys put him through a course of tuition in washing the dishes, clean- ing the house, and making the front tidy. Their quick, positive, exact ways of working were a new and sore trial to the slouching, dilatory field-hand, and he looked very wretched. Then Shorty, who was dying to train their new acquisi- tion for a winning fight with the ColonePs negro, took him out behind the house for a little private instruction in boxing. The field-hand had never even heard of such a thing before, but Shorty was too much in earnest to care for a little thing like that. He went at his task with a will, making the negro double his fists just so, strike in a particular way, make a certain "guard," and hit out scientifically. Shorty was so enthusiastic that he did not stop to think that it was severe labor for the poor negro, and when he had to stop his lesson at the end of half an hour to go on battalion drill he left his pupil in a state of collapse. The negro sat down on a log, and began to wonder dimly if he went back to his master he would shoot him after all. May be he would be merciful enough to only give him a good thrashing, and then let him go and do his work his own way in the fields. Ignorant of the new ordeal through which his charge had been going, the Deacon went out in search of him. He had just finished reading the news in the Cincinnati Commercial, endijig up with an editorial on "Our Duty Toward the Freedmen," which impelled him to think that he could not begin Abraham Lincoln^s education too soon. "Now, Abe," said he briskly, "youVei had a good rest, and it's time that you should be doin' something. You ought to learn to read as soon as possible, and you might as well begin to learn your letters at once. I'll " TOO HIGH-PRESSUEE SCHOOLIKa. 233 give you your first lesson. Here are some nice large let- ters in this newspaper head, that you kin learn very easily. Now, that first one is T. You see it is a cross." "Afo' de Lawd, Boss/' wailed the desperate negro, "I jest can't I'arn no mo', now, nohow. 'Deed I can't. SHOETY INSTRUCTS THE NEGRO IN THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE. Hit's bin niiffin but I'arn, Parn, ebbery minnit sence I got up dis mawnin', an' my haid's jest bustin', so hit is. A nigger's got no bizniss wid I'arnin'. Dat's only fob white people. A nigger's biziness is tuh wuk. I a'most wisht I wuz back wid my ole mas'r, who didn't want tuh larn me nulfiu^'* SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. The aslonisliecl Deacon paused and refleetGd *^Mebbe we've bin tiyin' to force this plant too fast. There's danger about puttin' new wine into old bottles. It's not the right way to train anything. The way to break a colt is to hang the bridle on the fence where he kin see it and smell it for a day or two. I'll go a little slow with him at first. Would you like something more to eat, Abe?" "Yes, Boss. 'Deed I would/' answered the negro with cheerful promptness, forgetting ail about the pangs of the "new birth of freedom." Some days later. Si had charge of a picket-post on the Heady ville Pike, near Cripple Deer Creek. The Deacon went with them, at their request, which accorded with his own iiiGlinations. .The weather was getting warmer every day, which made him fidgety to get back to his own fields^ though Si insisted that they were still under a foot of snow in Indiana. Rut he had heard so much about picket-duty that, next to a battle, it was the thing he most wanted to see. Abrahapi Lincoln was left be- hind to care for the "house." He had been a disappoint- ment so far, having developed no strong qualities, except for eating and sleeping, of which he could do unlimited quantities. "No use o' takin' him out on picket," observed Shorty, '^unless we kin git a wagon to go along and haul rations for him. I understand now why these rebels are so poor; the niggers eat up everything they kin raise. I'm afraid, Deacon, he'll make the Wabash Valley look sick when vou turn him loose in it." *'I guess my farm kin stand him," said the Deacon proudly. "It stood Si when he was a grOwin' boy, though he used to strain it sometimes." They found a comfortable fence -corner facing south for TOO HIGH-PRESSURE SCHOOLING. 285 tlieir "tent," \Yhich they constructed by niakhig a roof of cedar boughs resting on a rail running from one angle to another. They laid more boughs down in the corner, and on this placed their blankets, making a bed which the Deacon pronounced very inviting and comfortable. They built a fire in front, for warmth and for cooking, and so set up housekeeping in a very neat and soldier-like way. , -r/ MR. KLEGG ENJOYS SOLID COMFORT. The afternoon passed without special incident. Snony came in with a couple of chickens, but the Deacon had learned enough to repress any questions as to where and how he got them. He soon became more interested in 236 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. liis preparations for cooking tliem. He had built a big fire in a hole in the ground, and piled a quantity of dry cedar on this. Then he cut off the heads and legs of the chickens, and getting some mud from the side of the road, proceeded to cover each, feathers and all, with a coating nearly an inch thick. "What in the world do you mean by that. Shorty?'' asked the Deacon in surprise. "He's all right, Pap," assured Si. "He'll show you a new wrinkle in chicken-fixin' that you kin teach mother when you go home. She knoAvs more about cookin' than any other woman in the world, but I'll bet she's not up to this dodge." The fire had by this time burned down to a heap of glowing embers. The hoys scraped a hole in these, laid on it their two balls of mud, then carefully covered them with live coals and piled on a little more wood. "I'll say right now," said the Deacon, "that I don't think much o' that way. Why didn't you take their feathers off and clean out their innards? Seems to me that's a nasty way." "Wait and see," said Shorty sententiously. bi had mixed some meal into a dough in the half-can- teens he and Shorty carried in their haversacks. He spread this out on a piece of sheet-iron, and propped it up before the fire. In a little while it was nicely brown- ed over, Avlien Si removed it from the sheet-iron, turned it over, and browned the other side. He repeated this until he had a sufficiency of "hoe cakes" for their sup- Der. A kettle of good, strong coffee had been boiling on the other side of the fire while this v;as going on. Then they carefully raked the embers off, and rolled out two balls of hard-baked clay. Wailing for these to cool a little, they broke them. The skin and feathers came off with the pieces and wt)ale€l deliriously s^^^^'ory, sweei THE BOYS GO ON PICKET. 237 meat, roasted Just to a turn. The intestines tiad shriv- eled up with the heat into little, hard balls, which ^Yere throvrn away. "Yum — yam — yum/' said Shorty, tearing one of the chickens in two, and handing a piece to the Deacon, while Si gave him a sweet, crisp hoe cake and a cup of strong coffee. "Now, this's what you might call livin'. Never beat that cookin' in any house that had a roof. Only do that when you've stars in the roof of your kitchen." "It certainly is siDlendid," admitted the Deacon. "1 don't think Maria could've done better." It was yet light when they finished their supper, filled their pipes, and adjusted themselves for a comfortable smoke. One of the men came back and said: i* "Corporal, there's a rebel on horseback down the road a little ways who seems to be spying on us. We've noticed him for some little time. He don't come up in good range, and we haven't fired at him, hopin' he'd come closer. Better come and take a look at him." "Don't do anything to scare him off," said Si. "Keep quiet. "i\Ie and Shorty'il sneak down through the field, out of sight, and git him." They picked up their guns and slipped out under the cover Oi the undergrowth to where they could walk along the fence, screened by the heavy thicket of sumach. Catching the excitement of the occasion, the Deacon fol- lowed them at a little distance. Without discovery Si and Shorty made their way to a covert within an easy 50 yards of where the horseman sat rather uneasily on a fine, mettled animal. They took a good look at him. He was a young, slender man, below medium hight, with curly, coal-black hair, short whiskers, a hooked nose, and large, iuil eyes. He wore a gray suit of lather better make and material than was customary 238 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. in the rebel army. He had a revolver in his belt and a carbine slung to his saddle, but showed no immediate intention of using either. His right hand rested on his thigh, and his eyes were intently fixed on the distant picket-post. "A rebel scout," whispered Si. "Shall we knock him over, and then order him to surrender, or halt him first, and then shoot?" "He can't git away," said Shorty. "I have him ki^- vered. You kivver his hoss's head. Then call him down." Si drew his sights fine on the horse's head and yelLd, "Surrender, there, you dumbed rebel." The man gave a quick start, a swift glance at the blue uniforms, and instantly both hands went up. "Dat ish all righd, poys. Ton't shood. I'm a friendt,'' he called in a strong German accent. "Climb down off o' that hoss, and come here, and do it mighty sudden," called out Si, with his finger still on the trigger. The horse became restive at the sound of strange voices, but the man succeeded in dismounting, and tak- ing his reins in his hand led the horse up to the fence. "Ferry gladt to see you, poys," said ne, surveying their blue garments with undisguised satisfaction, and putting out his other hand to shake. "Take off that revolver, and hand it here," ordered the wary Shorty, following the man with the muzzle of his gun. The man slipped his arm through the reins, un- buckled his revolver, and handed it to Shorty. Si jump- ed over the fence and seized the carbine. "Who are you, and where did you come from?" asked Si, starting the man up the road toward the post. "What richimint do you pelong to," asked the stranger, warily. THE EOYS GO OX PICKET. , 239 "'\^''e belong to Co. 200tli Injianny, the best regiment in Gen. Eosecrans's arniv/' answered Si proudly , that tlie captive migiit understand where the honor of his taking belonged. . ■ "Dat ish all righd/' said the stranger, with an air of satisfaction. "The 200th Intianny is a ferry goot richi- "surrender; there, you dumbed rebel!" mint. I saw dem vhip Chohn Morkan's gavalry at Kreen Kiffer. Glumsy farmer poys, but shoot like porn teffils." "But who are you, and where did you come fi'om?" re- peated Si impatiently. "I'm all righd. I'm Levi Rosenbaum, of Gen. Kose- crans's segret serfice. I got some news for him," 240 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "You have?" said Si suspiciously. "Why didn't you ride right in and tell it to him? What'veyou bin hangin' around here all afternoon, watchin' our post for?'' "1 vasn't sure you yass dere. I vass toldt dat de Yankee bickets vass koing to be pusht oud to Kripple Teer Greek to-day, put I titn't know it for sure. I vass afrait dat de reppels vass dere yet. Chim Chones, off de segret serfice, had akreed to ccme out dis afternoon and wave a flag if id vass all righd. I vass vaiting for his sign. Put he is brobably trunk. He alfays kets so vhen he reaches gamp." The Deacon joined them in the road, and gave a searching look at the prisoner. "Ain't you a Jew^?" he inquired presently. "Ain't your name Rosenbaum? Didn't you go through Posey Coimty, Ind., a year or two ago, with a wagon, sellin' packs o' cloth to the farmers?" "Pm an American citizen," said the man proudly, "de same as de rest of you. My relichion is Hebrew. I ton't know andt ton't gare what your relichion iss. Efery man hass vhat relichion dat suits him. My jiame is Rosenbaum. I tit sell gloth in Posey County, unt all ofer Intianny. Id vass goot gloth, too, unt I soldt id ad a ^jargain/' ^'It certainly was good cloth, ano ^xicap," admitted the Deacon. "What in the world are you doin' down here in them clothes?" "Pm toing yoost vhat dese men air toing here in teir gloze," answered Rosenbaum. "Pm drying to serfe de gountry. Pm toing id different from dem because Pm built different from dem. I hope Pm toing it as veil. Put Pm awful hungry. Kot anything to eat? Yoost a gup of coffee and a gracker? Ton't gare for any bork." f "Yes, we'll give you something to eat," said Shorty. THE BOYS GO ON PICKET. 241 "I think iliere's some of our chicken left. You'll fmd that good." "How tit you gcok dat?" said Eosenlaum, looking at the teiiiptiug morsel suspiciously. Shorty explained. "Danks, 1 gan't ead id," said Roscnbaum ^^ilh a sigh. '^Id ain'd kosher." "What the devil's that?" asked Shorty. ' • "Id's my relichion. I gan't eggsplain. Sent for te Officer ob de Guard to dake me to Headquarters " an- swered Eosenbaum, sipping his coffee. 242 SI KLEGG AND RHORTY. CHAPTER XXIII. THE JEW SPY TELLS HIS THRILLING STORY. The Officer of the Guard was a long tune m coming, and Mr. Rosenbaum grew quite chatty and communica- tive, as they sat aroxmd the bright fire of cedar logs and smoked. ^ "Yes," he said, "I haf peen in de segret serfice effer since de peginning off de war — in vact, pefore de war, for I pegan ketting news for Frank Plair in de Vinter pefore de war. Dey say de Chews haff no batriotism. Dat^s a lie. Thy should dey haff no batriotism for gountri^s vhere dey yhere dreated like togs? In Chermany, vhere I vass porn, dey dreated us vorse than togs. Dey made us lif in a liddle, nasdy, big-ben of! an alley; ve hat to go in ad suntown, unt shtay dere; ve hat to wear a tifferent gloze from other volks, unt ve titn't tare say our souls vere our own to any tirty loafer dat insulted us. "Here ve are dreated like men, unt vhy shouldn't ve help keep de gountry from preaking up? Chews ought to do more dan anypody else, unt I mate up my mint from de fery virst dat I vass koing to do ail dat I gould, De Chenerals haf tolt me dat I gould do much petter for de gountry in the segret serfice dan as a solcher; dey gould ket blenty of solchers, unt put vew sbies." "Now you're shoutin'," said Shorty. "They kin git me to soldier as long as the war lasts, for the askin', but I wouldn't be a spy 10 minutes for a corn-basket full o' greenbacks. I have too much regard for my neck. 1 need it in my business." "You a spy," said Si derisively. "You couldn't spy for sour apples. Them big feet o' your'n'd give you dead away to anybody that'd ever seen you before." THE JEW SPY TELLS HLS STORY. 243 "Spyin' isn't the business that any straightfor'rd man/' — the Deacon began to say in tones of cold disapproval, and then he bethought him of cruelty to the stranger, and changed hastily— "that Fd like to do. It's entirely too resky." "0, it's jest as honorable as anything else, Pap," said Si, divining his father's thought. "All's fair in love and war. We couldn't git along without spies. They're as necessary as muskets and cannon." "Inteed dey are," said Mr. Eosenbaum earnestly; "you rouldn't know vhat to do mit your muskets ant gannon if de spies titn't dell you vhere de reppels vere, unt how many dere vass off dem. I ko oud unt ket information dad id vould gost hundrets off lifes to ket, unt may save tousants off lifes, unt all dat id gosts is vun poor liddle Chew's neck, vhen hey drop on to him, some day, unt ieafe him swinging vrom a dree. But vhen dat dime gomes, I shall make no more gomplaint dan dese odder poor poys do, w^ho ket deir heads knockt off in paddle. I'm no petter dan dey are. My life pelongs to de gountry de same as deirs, unt dis free Government is vorth all our lifes, \mi more too," His simple, sincere patriotism touched the Deacon deeply. "Fd no idee that there was so much o' the man in a Jew," he said to himself. Then he asked the strang^er: "How did you come to go into the spy business, Mr. Eosenbaum?" **YelI, I vas in St. Louis in de gloding pizniss, unt you know it vass purty hot dere. All de Chermans vass for de Union, unt most off de Amerigans unt Irish seemed to be Secessionists. I sided mit de Chermans, put as no- potty seemed to think dat a Chew hat any brincibles or gared for anything put de almighty tollar, efferypoty dalked righd oud £efore me, unt by geepin' my ears wite 244 iJ KLEGG AND SHORTY. open I kot hold off lots off news, vich I took straight to Cheneral Lyon. I kot veil ackvainted mit him, unt he used to sent me here unt dere to vind oud dings for him. I'd sell gray uniforms unt odder dings to de Secession- ists, dey'd talk to one anodder righd pefore me as to vhat vass peing done, unt I'd keep my ears vide open all de dime, though I seemt to pe only dinking apout de fit unt de puttons unt de kold lace. "Den Cheneral Lyon vanted to find oud chust eggsackly how many men dere vass in Gamp Chackson — no kuess- vork— no subbose. I dook 2,000 off my pizniss kards, brinted on vhite, unt 1,000 brinted on gray baper. I vent troo de whole camp. To effery man in uniform I gif a vhite gard; to effery man w^iddout a uniform, who seemed to pe dere for earnest, I gif a gray gard. Yhen I got pack I gounted my gards in Cheneral Lyon's office, unt fount I'd gif oud 500 vhite gards unt 200 gray vuns. Den Chen- eral Lyon dook oud apout 3,000 men, unt prot de whole crowd back mit him." "Great man that Gen. Lyon," sighed the Deacon. "Too bad he was killed so soon." "Den Cheneral Lyon," continued Ilosenbaum, "sent me out vrom Sbringfielt, Mizzoori, too see how many men olt Bap Brice unt Pen McCullough had gaddered up akenst him from Mizzoori, Argansaw, Dexas unt de blains. Holy Moses, I vass scared vhen I see de pile of dem. De whole vorldt seemt out dar, yipping unt yelling vor Cheff Tavis, trinking raw sod-corn vhisky, making, secession speeches, unt shooding ad marks. "I rode rightd into dem, unt bretendet dat I vass look- ing vor Megzican silfer tollars to dake to Megzico to puy bowder unt leadt vor de reppel army. I hat a lot of new Gonfedrit notes dat I'd kot vrom my gousin, who vass in de topacco pizniss in Memphis). Dey vass kreat guriosi- THE JEW SPY TELLS HIS STORY- 245 ties, uut effery man who had a Megsican tollar vanted to drade it vor a Confedrit tollar. "Dere vass no use dryin' to gount de men — might as veil have dried to gount de leafs on de drees, so I pegun to gount de rechiments. I stuck a pin in my righd lapel for effery Mizzoori rechim^nt, vun in my left lapel for effery Argansaw rechiment, ant vun in my vest for effery vun vrom Dexas. I hat plack pins for de gannons. 1 vass ketting along very veil, vhen I run agross Bob Smiles, a tirty loafer, who had been a gustomer in St. Louis. He vouldn't bay me, unt I hat to ket oud a writ unt levy on his gloze yoost as he vass dressing to ko to a quadroon ball. "1 left him mit only a neckdie, vhich vas vorth nutting to me, as id hat peen vorn and soiled. lie vass very sore akenst me, unt I vass not surbrized. It made me zick ad my sdcmaeh vhen I saw him gome up. "'Hello, you tamt Tutch Chew,' he said. ^Yhat are you toing here?' "I dried to pe very bleasant, unt I but oud my hant un- said, mit my pest smile ■ "'Koot kracious, Fob, how glat I am to see you. Vhen tit you ket here? Are you veil? How are de udder poys? Who's here? Vhere are you sdopping?' "Tut I mighd as veil haf dried to make vriends mit a pull tog in vront of a varm house vhere all te people hat kone afay.' "^Ko to plazes,' he said. ^None of your pizniss how^ I am, or how I got here, or how de iidder poys are. Fetter not let dem vind oud you're here. Dey'll dake it oud of your CheAV hide for de vay you ust to skin dcm in St. Louis. I vant to knowM'hat de teffel you are toing here'? "^Now, Misder Smiles,' I said, bleasant as a May morn- ing, ^dot's nod de vay to dalk to me. You know I got ub de stjlishest gloze unt de pest vits in St. Louis. Ye hat 241 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. a little druable, it is drue. It vass nutting, tnougn, Yoost a little pizness disbute. You know 1 alfays dought you vun of de very nicest men in St. Louis, unt I said so, efen to de Squire unt to de Constable.* ""Ko mit de teffel, you Savior-killing CheAv/ said he. 'Shut up your mouth, or Fll stuff a biece of bork in it. I Tant to know ad vonce vhat you are toing town here? Vhere did you gome vrom?' I gome A^rom Memphis/ said I. Tm in de serfice of de Southern Gonfedrisy. Cheneral Billow sent me to gadder up all de Megsican tollars I gould vind, to sent to Megsico to puy ammunition.' "'Id's a lie, of gourse,' said he. 'A Chew'd radder lie dan ead, any tay. Den you're vun of dem St. Louis Dutch — dem imborted ITessians. Dey're all dead akensl us. Dey all ought to be killed. I ought to kill you my- self for peing so cussed mean to me.' "He put his hand on his revolfer in a vay dat made my breakfast sour on my sthomach, but den I knew dat Pob Smiles vass a kreat plowhard, unt his park vase much vorse dan his pite. In St. Louis he vass alfays koing to vite somepody unt kill somepody, put he neffer tone neither. Kvite a growd gaddered roundt, unt Fob plew off to dem, unt dey yelled, *''Hang de Chew sby. Kill de tam rasgal,' unt odder tings dat made me unhappy. Put vhat made my vlesh grawl vass to see a man who vasn't say- ing much ko to a vagon, pull oud a rope unt pegin makin a noose on de ent. Pob Smiles gaught hold of my gollar unt started to trag me dovard a dree. Yoost as I vass gifmg up everything for lost, up gomes Chim Chones — de same man I'm koing to meed here — he gome runnin' up. He vass dressed in vull uniform as a reppel officer — kray goat unt bants, silfer stars on his gollar, high boots, kray slouched hat mit kold gord, unt so on. THE JEW SPY TELLS HIS STOEY. 247 ''^Here, vliat ist madder? That's all dis fuss in gamp?' he said. "•"We've ketched run of dem Tutch Chews vrom St. Louis shying our gamp, Major.' said Fob Smiles,, ledding loose of mr gollar to salute de Major's silfer stars. 'And ve are koing to hang him.' "'A sby? How do you know he's a sby?' asked Chim Chones. TRYING TO SAVE HIS XECK. /'•'Tell, he's Tmch: he's a Chew, unt he's vrom St-. Louis. Tat more do you rant?' asked Fob- Smiles. De growd yelled, unt de man mit de rope vent to de dree unt flung vun end ofer a limb. "'His peing a St. Louis Dutchman iss ake/_j^t him/ 248 BI KLEGd- AND SHOETT said CHim Chones. 'But his peing a Chew iss in his favor. A Chew ton't gare a blame for bolitics. He hain't got no brincibles. He'd radder make a picayune off you in a drade dan haf a vagon-load of brincibles. But you vellers haf got notting to do mit sbies, anyvay. Dat's headquarters pizniss. Fm an officer at Cheneral Brice's headquarters. I'll dake him up dere unt ecksamine him, Pring him along.' "^Ko along, Chew/ said two or dree off dem, gifing me kicks, as Fob Smiles sdarted mit me. De man mit de rope shtood py de dree looking very disappointed. "Vhen ve got near Cheneral Brice's dent, Chim Chones says to de rest: "'You shtop dere. Gome along mit me, Chew.' *"He dook me py de goUar, unt ve valked toward Chen- eral Brice's dent. He vhispered to me as ve vent along: You're all righd, Rosenbaum. I know you, unt I know vhat you're here for. Yoost keeb a sdiff ubber lip, dell your sdory sdraighd, unt Fll see you drough.' "Dat scared me vorse dan effer, but all dat I gould do vass to keep up my nerfe, unt play my karts goolly. Ve vent into de Cheneral's dent, but he vass busy, unt motioned us mit his handt to de Adjutant-Cheneral. "'Vat's de matter?' asked de Adjutant-Cheneral, mo- tioning me to sit down, vhile he vent on making tally marks on a sheet off loose baper, as a man galled off de rechiments dat hat reported. Den he footed dem all up, unt, turning to anodder officer, read vrom it so many Argansas rechiments, so many Louisianny, so many Miz- zoori, so many Dexas, so many patteries of ardillery, unt he said to anodder officer as he laid de paper face down among de odder bapers on his table, 'Yoost as I tolt you, Colonel. We haf vully 22^000 men here ready for pattle.' Den to us : 'Veil, now, vhat gan I do for you?' "'De poys had bicked up dis Chew for a sby. Colonel/ THE JEW SPY TEtLS HIS SfOEY. " - 249 said Chim CHones. pointing to me, ^unt dey vere apout to hang him, yoost to pass avay de afternoon more dan for anything else. I dook him avay from dem, delling dem dat id vass your privileeh to hang sbies, unt yon gould do it aggording to de science of war. I prung him ub here to ket him avay vrom dem. After dey've gone avay or got inderested in something else T'll dake him unt put him Gudside of gamiD.'' . ' "I KNOW YOU, UNT I KXOW VHAT YOU'EE HERE FOR." ; *''A11 righd/ said de Adjutant-General, mitout daking much inderest in de madder. 'Do mit him as you blease. A Chew more or less isn't of any gon sequence. Brobably he deserfes hanging, though, put id isn't well to en- 250 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. gourage de poys to hang men on sight. Dey're quite too ready ito do dat any vay.' "Pie dalked to de udder man a liddle, unt den vhen he Tent away he durned to me, unt said, sort of lazy like, as if he titn't gare anyding apout it: , "^Vhere are you vrom?' ; /"Vrom Memphis, Vsaid 1. "'Kreat blace, Memphis/ said he; 'vun of de thriving suburbs of Satan's Kingdom. Had lots of vun deie, I know effery faro bank in it, which speaks veil for my memory, if not for my morals. _ Vhat pizniss vas you in?' ^ "^Glc^ing,' saidL ' ' ^ J ""That a fool question to ask a Chew vhat piziness he vass in,' said he, yawning. ^Of gourse you vass in de gloding drade. You vass porn in it. All Chews haf pin since dey gambled for de Savior's garments.' "^Dey vassn't Chews vhat gambled for Christ's gloze,^ said I, bicking up a liddle gourage. 'Dey vass Romans-r- Italians— Dagoes.' - "/Vass dey?' said he. ^Vell, meppe dey vas. I have- i n't read my Piple for so long dat I've glean forgot. Say, vhat are you toing mit all dem bins?' "De question gome so unegspegted dat it gome near knocking me off my pase. I hat galgulated on almost effery odder bossible ting, unt vass ready for it, egsept dat vool question. I thought foj a minit dat disappointed man by de dree mit de rope vass koing to ket his chob - after all. But I gaddered myself togedder mit a I'erk, unt galmly said mit a smile: "'0, dat's some of my voolishncss. I gan't ket pfer peing a dailor, and sticking all de bins what I find in my lapel. - I must bick up effery vun I S€5e.' ; "^Queer vhere you .found dem all,' s.aid he^ *Must've brung :dem vrom Memphis mit yoi^. I gan't find vun in de whole gamp. , Our men u^e ;n^jls unt thorns instead THE JEW SrY TELLS HIS STOKY. 251 of bins. I've peen Tantine a lot of bins for my bapers. Let me haf all you got. 1 visb you liacl a paper of clem.' ''l did have two or tbree bapers in my bcckets. unt Tirst I hat a vool idea of offering dem to liim. Den I re- mempered dat disappointed man mat de rope by de dree, unt bulled de bins oud of my lapels vun by vun unt gif dem to him, drying to keep gount in my head as 1 tit so. "'Vhat are you toing here, anyvay?' he asked as he gaddered up de bins unt put dem in a basteboard box. '''I gome here ad Cheneral Billow's orders, to pick up some Megzigan silfer tollars, to puy ammunition in Meg- zigo.' "'Anudder of olt plowhard Billow's fool schemes/ said he. 'I know old Billow. I serfed mit him in Megzigo, Then he dug his ditch on de wrong side of his Tortifica- tion. He's brobably koing to do something else mit de tollars dan puy ammunition. Old Gid Billow's a mighty slick Yun, I dell you, vhen id gomes to villing his own bockets. He's no vool dere, vhatever he may pe in odder Yays. He's vorking some scheme to skin our men, unt making you his bartner, den he'll durn around unt skin you. I'll sdop id koing any furdei by durning you oud of gamp, unt I ought to dake avay vrom you all de money you've gaddered up, but I vont do id on vun gondition.' "'That iss your gondition?' said I, drying not to sbeak too quick. "'You say you are in de gloding bizniss. I vant awfully a nice uniform, yoost like de Alajor's dere. That's such a uniform vorth?' '''Apoud $75,' said I. '''I paid $65 for dis in St. Louis,' said Chim Chones. ""^ *''Vell, $10 iss not much of a skin for a Memphis Chew, laughed de Adiutant-General. 'I tell you vhat I'll do, if you'll sYear py de pook of Deuteronomy, imt Moses, Apraham unt Isaac, to haf me insite of two Yeeks yoost 252 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY, sueh a uniform as de Major's dere, Pll led you off mit ail de money you haf made alretty, un vhen you gome pack mit it I'll gif you written bermission to drade vor effery silfer dollar in gamp.' *"Id iss a pargain/ said I. "'Unt id'll pe a berfect fit/ said he. "'Yoost like de baper on de vail/ said I. 'Led me dake your measure.' had my eye all de dime on de baper he had laid garelessly town unt forgotten. I bulled my tape-meas- ure oud. De olt idee of de dailor gome up. I forgot apoud de disappointed man mit de rope py de dree, unt vass my old self daking de measure of a gustomer. I put all de vigures town on his biece of baper, mitout |his nodicing vhat I vass using. I asked him aboud de lining, de drimming, unt de boekets, unt wrote dem town. Den I voided up de baper imt sduck id in my preast bocket, unt my heart gif a pig chump, though I kept my vace sdraight, unt vent on dalking apout puttons unt silk praid unt kold lace for de sleefes. I bromised him he shoult haf de vinest uniform in de army in two veeks dime. Yoost den some officers gome in, unt Chim Chones hurried me oud. I gould nod understant Chim Chones. He hurried me agross to a blace pehint de voods, vhere ve found some horses. *'^Untie dat one unt ket on, gvick,' he said. 'My Gott, youVe got de thing dead to righds, you've got effery ding on dat biece of baper. My Gott, vhat luck! Smartest ting I effer saw done. Ket that baper in Chen- eral Lyon's hands bevore midnight if you kill yourself unt horse in toing id. I'll dake you oud past part of de guarts, unt show you how to afoid de rest. Den rite as if de teffel vass after you, until you're at Cheneral Lyon's dent.' *'I vas dumffounded. I looked ad Chim Chones. His THE JEW SPY TELLS HIS STORY. ,^25 3 eyes vass like vire. Den it suttenly oggurred to me dat Chim Cliones vass a sby, too. "As I mounted I looked back agross de gamp. I saw de rope still hanging vrom a lim\> of de dree, and de dis- appointed man sitting toAvn peside id patiently yaiting^j EIDING FOR GEN. LYON'S HEADQUARTERS *'Dat nighd de baper vas in Cheneral Lyon's hands, unt de next nighd de army moved oud to vight de pattle of Vilson's Greek. "De Adjutant-Cheneral is still vaiting for dat uniform." "Halt, who comes there?" called out Shorty, whose quick ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps "The Officer of the Guard," responded from the bank of eilifkness in the rear. 254 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "Advance Officer of the Guard, and give tlie counter- sign/' commanded Shcrty, lowering his musket to a charge bayonets. The officer advanced, leaned over the bayonet's point and whispered the countersign. "Countersign's correct," announced Shorty, bringing his gun to a present. "Gocd evening, Lieutenant. We have got a man here who claims to belong to the Secret Service." "Yes," answered the officer. We've been expecting him all afternoon, but thought he Avas coming in on the other road. I'd have been around here long ago only for that. This is he, is it? Well, let's hurry in. They want you at Headquarters as soon as possible." "Kood nighd, poys," called out Mr. Rosenbaum as he disappeared; "sec you again soon " THE BEACON <^ES HOME, CHAPTEE XXR^ THE DEACON GOES HOME— SHOKTY FALLS A VICTIM TO HIS GAMBLING PROPENSITIES. The boys did not finish their tour of picket duty till the forenoon of the next day^ and it was getting toward evening when they reached their oayu camp. "What in the world's going on at the house?" Si askea anxiously, as they were standing on the regimental pa- rade ground waiting to be dismissed. Strange sounds came floating from that direction. The scraping of a fiddle was mingled with yells, the rush of feet, and aughter. "I'll go over there and see," said the Deacon, who had sat down behind the line on a pile of the things they had brought back with them. He picked up the coffee-pot, the frying-pan, and one of the haversacks, and walked in the direction of the house. As he turned into the company street and came in sight of the cabin he looked for an instant, and then broke out: "I'm blamed if they don't seem to be havin' a nigger political rally there, with the house as campaign head- quarters. Where in time could they have all come from? Looks like a crow-roost, with some o' the crows drunk." ^Apparently, all the negro cooks, teamsters, officers' servants, and roustabouts from the adjoining camps had been gathered there, with Groundhog, Pilgarlic, and simi- lar specimens of the white teamsters among them and leading them on. Seated on a log were three negroes, one sawing on an old fiddle, one picking a banjo, and one playing the bones. Two negroes were in the center of a ring, danc- 256 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. ing, while the others patted "Juba." All were more or less intoxicated. Groundhog and Fiigarlic yyeie en- deavoring to get up a fight between Abraham Lincoln and another stalwart, stupid negro, and were plying them with Avhisky from a canteen and egging them on with words. THE NEGEOES MERRYMAKING. The Deacon strode up to Groundhog and catching him by the arm demanded sternly: "What are you doin^, you miserable scoundrel? Stop it at once.'* Groundhog, who haa arunk considerably himself, and w^as pot-valiant, shook him off roughly, saying: "G'way from here^ you dumbed citizen. This haint. THE DEACON GOES HO^IE. 257 none c your bizniss. Go back to your liaymoW; and leave soldiers alone.'' The Deacon began divesting himself of liis burden to prepare for action, but before he could do so Shorty rushed in, gave Groundhog a vigorous kick, and he and Si dispersed the rest of the crowd in a hurry with sharp cuffs upon all that they cotdd reach. The meeting broke up without a motion to adjourn. The Deacon caught Abraham Lincoln by the collar and shook him vigorously. ^'Yoti black rascal," he said, ^VhatVe you bin up to?" ''Didn't 'spect you back so soon. Boss," gasped the negro. "Said you wouldn't be back till ter-morrer." "Xo matter when you expected us back," said the Deacon, shaking him still harder, while Si winked mean- ingly at Shorty. ''IVhat d'ye mean by sich capers as this? You've bin a-drinkin' likker, yoti brute." ''Cel'brattm my freedom," gasped the negro. '^Ground- hog done tole me to." '■'I'd like to celebrate his razzled head offen him," ex- ploded the Deacon. "I'll welt him into dog's-meat hash if I kin lay my hands on him. He's too mean and wtith- less to even associate with mules. If I'd a dog on my place as ornery as he is I'd ^ive him a btitton before night. He's not content with bein' a skunk himself, he wants to drag everybody else down to his level. Learnin' you to drink whisky and fight as scon as you'ie out o' bondage. Xext thing he'll be learnin' you to steal sheep and vote for Vallandigham. I'd like to put a sf.ons arotmd his neck and feed him to the cathsh."' There ^^ as something so strange and earnest about the Deacon's wrath that it impressed the negro more than any of the most lerrible exhibitions of wrath that he had 5 C 258 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. seep Ills master make. He cowered down, and began crying in a maudlin way and begging : , "Pray God, Boss, don't be so hard on/a poqr nigger. Si, who had learned something more of the slave nature than his father, ended the unpleasant scene by giving Abraham Lincoln a sharp slap across Ae laips with a piece of clapboard and ordering: "Pick up that camp-kettle, go to the spring and fill it, and git back here in short meter." The blow came to the negro as a welcbm^ relief. It was something that he could understaiid. He sprang to his feet, grinned, snatched up the camp-kettle, and rail to the spring. "I must get that man away from here witlibut aelay," said the Deacon. "The influences here are awful. They'll ruin him. He'll lose his soul if he stays Here. I'll start home with him to-morrow." "He'll do worse'n lose his soul," griihiBled Shorty, who had been looking over the provisions. "He'll lose the top of his woolly head if he brings another gang o' coons around here to eat us out o' house and home. I'll be gosh durned if I don't believe they've et' u]^ eveii all the salt and soap. There aint a crumb left of anything. Talk about losin' his soul. I'd give sii bits for some- thing to make him lose his appetite." ' I'll take him home to-morrow," reiterated the D^acoii. "I raised over 'leven hundred bushels o' torii last year, 'bout 500 o' wheat, and just an even ton o' pork. I kin feed him awhile, anyway, but I don't know aS I'd chance two ol hmi.^' "What '11 jou do if you have him and the irf as shoppers the same y^ar. Pap?" inquired Si. ■ - ^ ' That night the Deacon began his preparations for re- ' turning home. He had gathered up many relics from the battlefield to distribute among his fi-fendS M home j THE DEACON GOES HOME, 259 and decorate the family mantlepiece. There were frag- ments of exploded shells, some canister, a broken bayo- net, a smashed musket, a solid 12-poiind shot, and a quart or more of battered bullets picked tip in his walks over the scenes of the heavy fightine. ''Looks as it you were ^''^iji'" into the iunk Inisiness, Pap."' commented Si, as the store was gathered on the Hoor. The faithful old striped carpotsack was brou^rht out, and its handles repaiied witli stout s:raps. The thrifty Deac'On insisted on takiiv^^ heme some of Si's and Shorty's clothes to be mended. The boys protesied. '■"\Vo don't mend clothes in the army. Pap." said Si. ''They aiiit wuth it. We iust wear 'em out_, throw 'em aAvay. and draw new ones.'' The Deacon held out that his ni'^ther and sisters woidd fake great pleasure in workir.g cn such things, from the feeling that they were helping' the war cilong. Finally the matter was ccmprcmised by putting in seme socks to be darned and shirts to be mended. Then the buIletSj canister, round-shot. iraj;mcnts uf shell, etc.. were iilled in. ''I declare.'' said the Deacon dubiously, as he hefted the carpeisack. ''It's goin' to be a job to lug that thin;,^ back home. Better hire a mule-team. But I'll try ir. Mebbe it'll help woik seme o' the stupidity out o' Abra- ham Lincoln.'' The whole of Co. Q and most of the regiment had grown very fond of the Deacon, and when ir W21> noised around that he was going, they c rowded in to say good- by. and give him letters and money to take koioe. The remaining space in the carpetsack and all th^it m the Deacon's many pockets were filled with these. The next morning the company turned out tc a man and escorted hut\ the train, with Si and his father 260 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. marcbing arm-in-arm at the headj the company fifers playing '^Aint I glad to get out of the Wilderness^ ^ Way down in Tennessee,'* flind Abraham Lincoln, laden with the striped carpetsack, the smashed musket and other relics, bringing up the rear, under the superAasion of Shorty. Tears stood in the old man's eyes as he stood on the platform of the car, and grasped Si's and Shorty's hands in adieu. His brief iarewell was characteristic of the strong, self-contained Western man: "Good-by, boys. Gcd bless you. Take care o' your- selves. Be good boys. Come hojue safe after the war." The boys stood and watched the train with sorroAvful eyes until it had passed out of sight in the woods be- yond Overall's Creek, and then turned to go to their camp with a great load of homesickness weighing down their hearts. "Just think of it; he's going straight back to Gcd's, country,'" said someone near. A sympathetic sigh went up from all "Shet up," said Shorty savagely. "I don't want to hear a word o' that kind." He pulled his cap down over his eyes, rammed his hands deep in his pockets, and strode off, trying to whistle "When this cruel war is over, but the attempt was a dismal failure. Si separated from the crowd and joined him. They took an unfrequented and roundabout way back to camp. ''1 feel all broke up, Si," said Shorty. "I wish that we were goin' into a fight, or some1:hing to stir us up." Si understood his partner's mood, and that it was likely to result in an outbreak of some kind. He tried to get SHORTY FALLS A VICTIM TO GAMBLING. 261 him over to the house, so that he could get him inter- ested in work there. They came to a little hidden ravine, and found it filled with men playing that most fascinating of all gambling games to the average soldier — chuck-a~luck. There were a score of groups, each gathered around as many "sweat- MR. KLEGG STARTS FOR HOME. boards/ oume of the men "running'' the games were citizens, and some were in uniform. Each had before him a small board on which was sometimes painted^ sometimes rudely marked with charcoal, numbers from 1 to 6. On some of the boards the numbers were indi- 262 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. cated by playing-cardsj from ace to six-spot, tacked down. The man who "ran" the game had a dice-box, with three dice. lie would shake the box/ turn it upside down on the board, and call upon the group in front of him to make their bets. The.players would deposit their money on the numbers that they fancied, and then, after the inquiry, "All down?" the "banker" would raise the box and reveal the dice. Those who had piit their money on any of the three num- bers which had turned up, w^ould be paid, while those who bet on the other three would lose, i Chuck-a-luck was strictly prohibited in camp, but it was next to impossible to keep the men from playing it. Citizen gamblers would gain admittance to camp under Various pretexts and immediately set up boards in se- cluded places, and play till they Avere discovered and run out, by which time they would have made enough to make it an inducement to try again whenever tliey could find an opportunity. They followed the army in- cessantly for this purpose, and in the aggregate carried off immense sums of the soldiers' pay. Chuck-a-luck is one of the fairest of gambling games, Avhen fairly played, which it rarely cr never is by a professional gambler. A tolerably quick, expert man finds little difficulty in palm- ing the dice before a crowd oi careless soldiers so as to transfer the majcrity of their bets to his pocket. The regular citizen gamblers were reinforced by numbers of insatiable chv:k-a-luckers in the ranks, who would set up a "board" at the k-ast chance, even under the enemy's tire, while waiting the order to move. Chuck-a-luck was Shorty's greatest weakness, lie found it as difficult to pass a chuck-a-lack board as an incurable drunkard does to pass a dram-shop. Si knew this, and shuddered a little as he saw the "layouts," and tried to get his partner past them. But it was of no SHORTY FALLS A VICTIM TO GAMBLING. 263 use. Shorty was in an intractable mood. He must liave a strong distraction. If he could not %ht he would gamble. *Tm goin' to bust this feller's bank before I go another step," said he, stopping before one. ''I know him. He's the same feller that, you remember, I busted down before Nashville, I kin do it agin. He's a bum citizen gam- bler. He thinks he's the smartest chuck-a-lueker in the Army o' the Cumberland, but I'll learn him different.'- *'Don't riskmore'n a dollar," begged Si as a final ap- peal, ' " '^'^ ■], V ' *^A11 down?" called the ^'banker." • - - -'^ ^ "Allow doublin'?" inquired. Shorty "Double as much as you blamed please^ so long's you put your money down," answered the "banker" defiantly. "Well, then) here goes a dollar on that five-spot," said Shorty, "skinning" a bill from a considerable roil. "Don't allow'more'n 25 cents bet on single cards, first bet," said^the "banker," dismayed by the size of the roll. "Thought you had some sand," remarked Shorty con- temptuously. "Well, then, here's 25 cents on the five- spot, and 25 cents on the deuce," and he placed shin- plasters, on the numbers . Now,' throw them dice straight, and no fingerin.' I'm a-watchin' you. • "Watch and be durned,"' said the banker, surlily. "Watch your own btisihess, and I'll watch mine. I'm as honest as' you "are any day." ^ ' :l The banker" lifted the box, and showed two sixes and ttay up. He raked in the bets on the ace, deuce, four and five-spots,- and" paid the others. "Fifty cents on the deuce; 50 cents on the five," said • Shorty, laying down the fractional currency. ^ ; Again they lost. "A dollar on the deuce; a dollar on the fire/' said Shorty*- • - ■ 2G4 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. The same ill luek. 'Tvro dollars on the deuce; t-^vo dollars on the five/'' said Shorty, though Si in vain plucked his sleeve to get him away. The spots remained obstinately down. "Four dollars on the deuce; four dollars on the five," said Shorty. No better luck ''Eight dollars on the deuce; eight dollars on the five," said Shorty. "Whew, there goes more'n a month's pay," said the other players, stopping to watch the dice as they rolled out, with the deuce and five spot somewhere else than on top. "And his roll's beginning to look as if an ele- phant had stepped on it. Now we^ll see his sand." "Come, Shorty, yovi've lost enough. You've lost too much already. Luck's agin you," urged Si. "Come away." "1 aint goin'," said Shorty, obstinately. "Novv's my chance to bust him. Every time them spots don't ccme up increases the chances that they'll come up next time. They've got to. They're not loaded; I kin tell that by llie way they roll. He aint fingerin' 'em; Estopped that when I made him give 'em a rollin' throw, instead o' keepin' 'em kiyyered with the box." He fingered over his roll carefully and counted out two piles of bills, saying: "Sixteen dollars on the deuce; sixteen dollars on the five-spot. And I aint takin' chances o' your jumpin' the game on me, Mr. Banker. 1 want you to j^lank down |32 alongside o' mine." Shorty laid dovvm his money and put his fists on it. "Now put yours right there." "0, Eve got money enough to pay you. Don't be SHORTY FALLS A VICTIM TO GATJBLIXG. 265 skeered;'' sneered tlie banker^ "and you'll git it if you win it." "You bet I will/"' answered Shorty. "And I'm goin' to make sure by bavin' it right on the board alongside mine. Come down, now." The proposition met the favor of the other players, and the banker was constrained to comply, "'Xow/" said Shorty, as the money was counted down, "I've got jest S20 more that says that I'll win. Put her up alongside." The "banker" was game. lie pulled out a roll and said as he thumbed it over: ^T'll see your $20, and go you $50 better that I win." Shorty's heart beat a little faster. All his money Avas up, but there was the $50 which the Deacon had intrust- ed to him for charitable purposes. He slipped his hand into his bosom, felt it, and looked at Si. Si was not looking at him, but had his eyes fixed on a part of the board where the dice had been swept after the last throw. Shorty resisted the temptation for a moment, and with- drew his hand. "Come down, now," taunted the "banker." "Yoti've blowed so much about sand. Don't weaken over a littli^ thing like $50. I'm a thoroughbred, myself, I am. The man don't live that kin bluff me." The taunt was too much for Shorty. He ran his hand into his bosom in desperation, pulled out the roll of the Deacon's money, and laid it on the board. Si had not lifted his eyes. He was wondering why the flies showed such a liking for the part of the board where the dice wore lying. Numbers of them had gathered there, apparently eagerly feeding. He was trying to un- derstand it. He had been thinking of trying a little shy at the four- spot himself, as he had noticed that it had never won, 266 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. and two or three times he had looked to it b^tee the dice wore put in the box, and had seen the "banker" turn it down on the board before picking the -dic^ #p. A thought flashed into his mind. The "banker" picked up the dice with seeming care- lessness, dropped them into the box, gave Ihem a little shake, and rolled them out. Two threes and a six came up. The "banker^s" face lighted up -w^ith 'triumph, and Shorty^s deadened into acute despair. - ' r , "I guess that little change is mine," said the ""banker" teaching for the pile. ' ..,::r "Hold on a minnit, Mister," said Sij covering the pile with his massive hands. "Shorty, look /at them dice. He's got molasses r^r, one side. You kih'see there where the flies are eatin' it." " ■ • ' ' f^horty snatched Lip the dice, felt thein, arid touched his tongue to one side. ' "That's so, sure's you're a foot high," said he sententiously.i V Just then someone yelled: — m*., "Scatter! Here come the guards!" . All looked up. A company coming at tjie double-quick wa^ almost upon them. The *''banker" made a final des- perate claw for the money, but was met by the h eavy fist of Shorty and knocked on his back. Shorty grabbed what money there was on the board, and he and Si made a burst of speed which took them out of the reach of the *'provos" iri a few seconds. Looking back from a safe distance they could see the ^'bankers" and a lot of th^ more luckless ones being gathered together to march to the guard^house. "Anothei detachment of horny-handed laborers for the fortifiiiations," said Shorty grimly, as he recovered his' breathy watched them and sent up a yell of triumph and derision* Another contributioa to the charity fund," he SHORTY FALLS A VICTIM TO GAMBLING. $67 continued, looking clown at the bunch of bills and frac- tional currency in his hands. "Shorty/'' said Si earnestly, "promise me solemnly that you'll never bet at chuck-a-luck agin as long as you live," , -. ■ . . . , ''Si, don't ask me impossibilities. But I >yant 70U to take every cent o' this money and keep it. Don't you ever give me more'n $0 at a time, under any considera- tion. Don't you do it, if I git down on my knees and ask for it. Lord, how nigh I come to Igsin' that ^oO o^' your father's." 268 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTER XXV. ' SOME MORE OF MR. LEVI ROSENBAUM'S ADVENTURES. Mr. Rosenbaum became a frequent visitor to the Hoos- ier's Eest, and greatly interested Si and Shorty with his stories of adventure. "How did you happen to come into the Army of the Cumberland?" asked Si. "I'd a-thought you'd staid where you knowed the country and the people." "Hat vass yoost de drouble," replied liosenbaum. "I got to know dem ferry veil; but dey got to know me a gonfounded sight bedder. Ven I vass in de gioding pis- niss in Saint Louis I dried to haff eferypoddy know me. I atverdised. I vanted to pe a krate pig sunflower dat eferypoddy nodiced. But vhen I got to pe a sby I vanted to pe a modest liddle violet dat hid unter de leafes, unt nopoddy saw. Den efery man vhat knowed me pecome a danger, unt it got so dat I shuddered efery dime dat I see a limp running oud vrom a dree, for I didn't know how soon I might be hung from it. I hat some awful narrow escapes, I d^ll you. "But vhat decided me to leafe de gountfy unt skip ofer de Mississippi Riffer yas someding dat habbened down in de Postern Mountains yoost pefore de pattle of Bea Ridge. I yas down . dere vatching Van Horn unt Pen McCullough for Cheneral Curtis, unt vas ketting along all righd. I vas sdill playing de olt racket apout puying up Megzigan silfer tollars to sent to Megzico to puy am- munition. Vun night I vass sidding at a campfire mit two or three udders, vhen a growd of Dexans gome up. Dey vas yoost trunk enough to pe devilish, tint had a rope mit a noose on de endt, yich I nodiced vixst ding. I LEVI ROSENBAUM'S ADVEXTUEE3. 269. hat gotten to keep a sharp lookoud for such dings. My flesh ereeped rhen I saw dem. I dried to dink vat hat sdirred dem up all at vonce, but couldn't for my life rec- ollect, for efferyding had been koing on all righd^fpl seferal days A CLOSE CALL FOR EOSENBAUM. "De man mit de rope— a pig^ ugly prute, mit red hair unt Yun eye— says : "'You're a Chew, aind you?' '"Yes/ says vas porn dat vay/ "'Veil/ says he; 've're koing to hang you righd off.' Unt he put de noose arouni my neck unt pe^an drying to throw de uddei endt ofei a limb*^ 270 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "^Vhat for?' I yelled, drying to pull de rope off my neck. 'I aind done nuttingf.' "'Haint eh?' said de man mit vun eye. 'You hook- nosed Chews grucified our Safior/ "'Vhy, you red-headed vool/ said I, ketehing holt off de rope mit both hands, J^^^ habbened more as 1,800 years ako. Let me go.'j "^I ton't gare if it did/ said de vun-eyed man, gedding de endt of de rope ofer de limb, Ve didn't hear apout it til de Chaplain tolt us dis morning, unt den de poys said ve'd kill effery Chew ve gome agross. Ketch holt of de endt dere. Bowers/ , "De udder vellers arount me laughed at de Dexans so dat dey finally akreed to let me ko if Fd bromise not to do it again, holler for Cheff Davis, unt dreat all around. Id vas a vool ding, but id sgared me vorso'ji anydii^g eJse, unt I resolfed to ket oud of dere unt ko veie de peoples read deir Bibles unt de newsbabers." "How did you manage to keep Geri. Curtis posted as to the number of rebels in front of him?" asked Si. "You couldn't always be running back and forth from one army to the other,'' "0, dat vas easy enough. You isee, Cheneral Curtis vas; advancing, unt de rp jpels vailing pack most of de dime- Dcie vass eabir*':: affery liddle vays along de roadt. All dese haf krate big fireblaces, built of smoot rocks, vhich dey pick up uorl of do creek unt wherever dey gan nnd dem. "I'd ko into dese houses unt dalk mit de people unt blay mit de chiltren. I'd sit by de lire unt bick up a dead ©oal unt mark on dese smoot rocks. Sometimes I'd draw horses unt vagcns unt men to amuse the chilt- ren. Sometimes I'd dalk to de olt folks apout how long -doy'd peen in de gountry, how many bears unt deers de man hat killed, how far it vas to de next blace, how de LEVI ^bSENBAUM'S ADVENTtllE3. 271 roads "rtin, uiit so 6n, unt Fd make marks on de jam of de fireplace to help me understand. "De next daiy our scouts vould come in unt see de marks unt understand dem yoost as veil as if Td v.rote dem a letter. Fd fixed id all up mit dem pefbre I left gamp. ' I kin draw ferry veil mit a piece of charcoal. I'd make pictures of men vat vould make de chiltren unt olt folks open d'eir byes. Our scouts would understand vhich vun' meant Pen McCullough, vich vun Van Dorn, which 'vuh Hap Brice, unt so on. Udder marks vould show vhich viiy each vun vas koing unt how many men he hat mit him. De reppels neffer dropt on to it, but dey game so glose to it 'vuuce or twice dat my hair stood on endt.'» "That curly mop of yours^d have a time standing on end," ventured Shorty. "I should think it'd twist your neck off dry in' to." "Veil, somedings gif me a qu^r feeling apout de throat vun day ven I saw a reppel Colonel sdop unt look ferry.hard at a long letter vhich I'd wrote dis Vay on a rock. . • -V V "'Who done dat?' he asked. "'Dis man here,' says de olt voman. "He done it vhile he vas gassing mit de olt man unt vooling mit de chiltren. Lot o:' pesky nonsense, marking up the vails dat-a-vay.' "Tooks like very systematic nonsense,' said de Colonel very stern unt sour. 'There may be something in it. Did you do this?' said he, turning to me. •^'Yes, sir,' said L 'I haf a pad habit of marking vhen Tm dalking. I alvays done it, efen vhen I vas a child. My mudder used to often slap me for sboiling de vails, but she gould iiefer preak me of it.' "''Humph/ said he, nod at all sadisfied mit my story, 272 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. unt looking ac de scratches harder dan effer. 'Who are you, unt vhat are you doing here?' "I toldt hmi my story apout puying Megzigan silfer tol- lars, unt showed him a lot of tie tollars I'd pought. "'Your story ain'd reasonable/ said he. 'You hafn't done pizness enough to pay you for all de time you've spend arount de army. I'll gut you unter guard till ^ can look into your case.' THE SPY IN CUSTODY. "lie galled to de Serchent of de Quart, unt ordered him to dake charge of me. De Serchent vas dat same tirty loafer, Pob Smiles, d^t I hat de droubles mit py Vil- son's Crick. He kicked me unt pounded me, unt put me on my horse^ mit my hants tied behint me, unt my feet LEY! EOSENBAOI'S ADVENTUEES. tied iinter de horse's pellv. I vas almost tead py night, Then ve reached Headquarters. Dev gif me somedings to ead; uiit I laid down on de floor of de cabin, yishing I yas Pontius Pilate, so dat I gould grucify efery man in de Southern Gonfederisy. Especially Pob Smiles. An hour or Uyo later I heard Pob Smiles swearing again, x^. '''■]\Iake oud de names of all de brison^s I haf,' he ras saying, ^mit yhere dey pelong unt de cllarges against dem. I gan't. Do dey take me for a counter-jumping clerk? I didn't gome into de army to be a yhite-yaced bookkeeper. I sbrained my thumb de udder tay, ^iiit I gan't wride efen a little bit. Vhat am I to do?' ■ ''Dat yas all nioonshine apout his sbraining his thumb. He yas ignorant as a chackass. If he hat 40 thumbs he gouldn't wride efen his own name so's anypoddy gould reat id. ^ ^'''l don't pelieye dere's a man in a mile of here dat gan make oud such a list,^ he yent on. 'Dey're all a set of hominy-eating plockheadts. Berhaps dat hook-nosed Chew might. He's de man. T'll make him do it, or preak his schwindling headt.' • . ■ ' '*He gome in, kicked me, unt made me get up, unt den dook me out unt set me down at a dable, yhere he hat baber, ben unt ink, unt ordered me to dake down de names off de brisoners as he prought dem up. He'd look ofer my shoulter as I wrode, as if he yas reading yhat I set down, but I knowed dat he gouldn'd make oud a letter. I yas dempted to wride all sorts of things apout hini; but I didn't, for I yas in enough droubles alretty. Vhen 1 gome to my own name, he said : "'Make de charge, a spy, a thief, unt a Dutch traitor to the Southern Gonfederisy.' '•'I yoost wrode: ' Lefi Hosenbaum, ITemphis, Tenn. Merchant. No charge.' 274 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "He scowled very wisely ad id, unt bretended to read idj uut said: "'Id's lucky for you dat you wrode id yoost as I told you. rd a' proke effery pone in your poddy if you hadn't. "I'd yoost got done vhen an officer gome down from Headquarters for it. He looked it ofer unt said: "Who mate dis oud?" "Vhy, I mate id oud," said Pob Smiles, pold as prass.^ "^But wdio wrode id?' said de officer. "'0, I sbrained my thumb, so I gouldn't wride very veil, unt I mate a Chew brisoner gopy id,' said Pob Smiles. "'Id's de pest wriding I haf seen,' said de officer. I Tant de man vhat wrode id to go mit me to Headquarters at vunce. I haf some gopying dere to pe done at vunce, unt not vun of dem gorn-grackers dat I haf up dere gan wride anydings fit to read. Pring dat man cud here unt ^ vill dake him mit me.' "Pob Smiles hated to led me go, bud he gouldn't help himself, unt I vent mit de officer. I vas so dired I gould hartly move a sdep, unt I felt I ^ould nod wride a vora. But I seemed to see a chance ad Headquarters, unt I datermined to make efery efford to do somedings. Dey gif me a sdiff horn of vhisky unt sed me to vork. Dey vanted me to make oud unt gopy a gonsolidated re- bort off de army. "I almost forgot I vas dired when I found oud vat dey vanted, for I saw a chance to get somedings of kreat value. Dey'd peen drying to make up a rebort vrom all sorts of scraps unt sh'^^ds of baper sent in from de tiffer- ent Headquarters, unt dey had sboiled a half-dozen pig sheeds of baper after dey'd got dem bartly done. If I do say id myseliuf, I gan wride bedder unt faster unt vigure g^yi^Jke^ dan most any man you efer saw. Dose reppela LEY! ROSENBAUM'S ADYENTUREg. 275 thought dey hat got hold of a vonder— a lighdning galgu- lator unt lighdning benman togedder. "As vast as I vould gopy yun baper, unt it vould prove to be all righd, I vould void it up unt stick it into a pig yaller envelope. 1 also voided up de sboiled reborts, unt stuck dem in de envelope, saying dat I vanted to ket rid of dem — put dem vhere seeing dem vouldn't bodder me. I garefully slipped de envelope unter de edge of a bile of bapers near de edge of de dable. I hat anodder big yaller envelope dat looked yoost like it lying in de mittle of de dable^ into vhich I sduck bapers dat didn^t amount to noddings. I vas very slick apout it, unt didn't led dem see dat I hat two envelopes. "Id vas bast midnight vhen I got de gonsolidated re* bort made oud, unt de reppels vas tickled to death mit id. Dey'd nefer seen anyding so veil done pefore. Dey vanted a gopy made to keep, unt 1 said I'd make vun, though I vas nearly dead for sleep. I really vasn't, for de eggscitement made me forget all apout peing dired, *'l vass determined, pevore I slept, to haf dat yellow envelope, mit all dose bapers, in Cheneral Curtis's hands, though he vas 40 miles afay. How in de vorldt 1 vas ko- ing to do id I gould not think, but I vas koing to do id, if I tied a drying. De virst thing vas to ket dat envelope off de dable into my glothes; de next, to ket oud of dat cabin, afay vrom Pob Smiles unt his guards, through de reppel lines, unt ofer de mountains to Cheneral Curtis '3 gamp. Id vas a dark, vindy nighd, unt dings vere lu gonfusion apout de gamp — yoost de kind of a dime vhen anypody mighd kill a Chew pedler, unt no questions vould pe asked. {"I hat got de last gopy vinished, unt de officers vas go- ing ofer id. Dey hat deir heads togedder, nod 18 inches vrom me, agross de dable. I hat my vingers on de en- velope, but I didn't dare slib id oud, though my v?>igers 276 BI KLEGG AND SHOETY. itelied. I vas in hopes dat dey'd turn aroundt, or do somedings dat'd gif me a chance. "Suttenly Pob Smiles opened de door vide, nnt valked • in/mit a dispatch, in his hand. De vind svept in, plew de gandles oud, unt sent de bapers vlying apout de room. Some vent into de vire. De officers yelled unt svore at him, unt he shut de door, but I hat de envelope in my preast-bocket. "Den, to ket afay. How in the name of Moses unt de Den Gommandments vas I to do dat? "Vun of de officers said to Pob Smiles: 'Dake dis man afay unt dake goot gare of him until do-morrow. Ve'll vant him again. Gif him a goot bet, unt blenty to ead, unt dreat him veil. Ve'll need him do-morrow.' "^Gome on, you bork-hating Chew,' said Pob Smiles erabbedly. "I'll gif you a mess of spare-ribs unt gorn- dodgers for subber.' "'You'll do noddings of de kind,' said de officer. tolt you to dreat him veil, unt if you don't dreat him veil, I'll see apout id. Gif him a ped in, dat house vhere de orderlies sday.* "Pob Smiles crumbled unt svore ad me, after ve vent oud, but dere vas noddings to do but to opey orders. He gif me a goot place,|unt some coffee unt pread, unt I lay down, bretending to go to sleep. I snored afay like a goot feller, unt bresently I heard some vun gome in. I looked a little oud de gorner of my eye, unt see py de light of de vire dat id vas Pob Smiles sneaking pack. He vatched me for a minnit, unt den put his hand on me. "I vas sgared as I nefer vas, for i thought he vas after mj brecious fsAlex envelope. But I dought of my bowie knife, vhich I alfays garried oud of sight in my posom, unt resolfed dat I vould sdick id in his heart, if he dried to dake afay my bapers. But I nefer moved. He felt ofer undil he gome to de bocket vhere I hat de sillei LEVI KOSENBAUM'S ADYENTURESv 27? tollars^ unt den slipped his vingers in, unt bulled dem oudp Yun pj ynn, yoost as chently as if he vas smooth- ing the hair on a cat. I led him dake dem all, mitout moving a muscle. I vas glat to haf him dake dem. I knowed dat he vas blaying boker somevhere, unt hat xun oud of gash, unt vould dake my money unt go pack to his game. *'As soon as I heard his vootsteps tisabbear in de dis* tance, I kot up unt sneaked down to vhere de Head- quarter horses were died. I must get a fresh vuu, pe- kause my own vas blayed nearly oud. He vould nefer do to garry me ofer de rough roads I must rite pefore morn- ing. But vhen I got dere I saw a guart bacing up unt down in vront of dem. I hat not gounted on dis, unt for a minnit my heart stood still. Dere vere no odder horses anyvheres arount. "I hesidaded, looked up at Headquarters, unt saw de lighds sdill purning dere unt made up my mind at vunce to risk eferything on vun desperate chance. I remem- pered dat I hat but in my envelope some piank sheeds of baper, mit ^Headquarters Army of de Vrontier,' unt a reppel vlag on dem. Dere vas a pig vire purning ofer to de righd, mit no one near. I vent up in de shadow of a tree, vhere I gould see by de virelight, dook oud vun off de sheeds of baper unt wrote on id an order to have a horse saddled for me at vunce. Den I slipped paciv so dat id vould look as if I vas goming sdraight vrom Head- quarters, unt valked up to de guart unt handed him de order. He gouldn't read a vord, but lie recognized de heading on de baper, unt I tolt him de rest. He thought dere vas noddings for him to do but opey. "Vhile he vas getting de horse I wrote oud, by the vire, a bass for myself through de guards. 1 vas in a hurry, you bet, unt id vas all done mighty qvick, unt I vas on iat horses' pack und sdarted. I hat lost ell direr-ion. BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. luit I knowed dat I hat to go chenerally to de northeast to get to Cheneral Curtis. But I got gonfused again, unt found I vas riding around unt around in de gamp mitout ketting oud at all. I efen gome up again near de pig vire, yoost vhere I wrote oud de pass. "Yoost den what should I hear but Pob Smile's voice. He had lost all his money — all my money — at boker, unt vas damning de fellers he hat been blayingmitas cheats. He vas nod in a demper to meet, unt I knowed he vould see me if I vent py de pig vire, but I vas desperate, unt I sduck de spurs into my horse unt he shot ahead. I heard Pob Smiles yell: '*'Dere is dat Chew. Vhere is he koing? Halt, dere! Sdop him V "I knov. ed dat if I shtopped now I vould be hung sure. De only safety vas to go as fast as I gould. I dashed afay, where, I didn't know. Direckly a guard halted me, but I showed him my bass, unt he led me go on. Vhile he vas looking at it I sdrained my ears, unt gould hear horses galloping my vay. I knowed it vas Pob Smiles after me. My horse vas a good vun, unt I determined to get on de main road unt go as vast as I gould. I gould see by de gampvires dat I vas now ketting afay from de af?tij, unt I pegin to hope dat I vas going north. I kept my horse running. Pretty soon de pickets halted me, but I didn't sdop to answer deM. I yoost bolted ahead. De chances of deir ghooding me vasn't as treadful as of Pob Smiles catch- ing me. Dey vired at me, but I galloped right through dem, unt through a rain of pullets dat dey sent after me. I velt petter then for I vas gonfident dat I vas oud in de open gountry, but I kept my horse on de run. Id seemed to me dat I vent a hundret miles. "Yoost as de tay vas preaking in de east, I heard a voice, mit a sdrong Cherman agcent call oud de prush; ' LEVI ROSENBAIBI'S ADYENTUEES. 279 "Halt. Who gomes dere?" I Tas so glat dat I almost vainted, for I knowed dat Vd reached Cheneral Sigel's bickets. I gouldnH ket my lips to answer. Dere game a lot of shots, unt vun of dem sdruck my horse in de head, unt he veil in de road, throwing me ofer his head. De pickets run oud unt bicked me up. De Cherman language sounded de sweetest I efer heard it. EOSEXBAUM RUNS INTO SIGEL'S PICKETS.. *'As soon as I gould make myself dalk, I answered dem m Cherman, unt tolt dem who I vas. Den dey gouldn't do enough for me. Dey helped me pack to vhere dey gould get an ambulance, in vhich dey sent me to Her.d- 280 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. quarters^ for I vas too veak to ride or valk a sdep. 1 handed my yellow envelope to Cheneral Curtis, got a dram of vhisky to keep me up vhile I answered his questions, unt den vent to sleep unt slept through de whole pattle of Bea Eidge. "After de pattle, Cheneral Curtis vanted to know how much he ought to bay me, but I tolt him dat all I vanted vas to serfe de gountry, unt I vas alretty baid many dime^fer, py helping him vin a victory. But I gongluded dat dere vas to much Pob Smiles in dat gountry for me, unt I hat better leave for some parts vhere I vas not likely to meed him. So I grossed de Mis- sissippi Riffer, unt choined Chenerl Rosecrans's Head- quarters. OUT ON AN EXPEDITION WITH ROSENBAUM. 281 CHAPTER xxvi. .. : THE BOYS GO OUT ON AN EXPEDITION WITH MR. LEVI ROSEN- BAUM. ■ ■ Mr. Roseiibaiim's stories of adventure were not such as to captivate the boys with the career of a spy. But the long stay in camp was getting very tedious^ and they longed for something to break the monotony of camp guard and of work on the interminable fortifications. Therefore, when Mr. Rosenbaum came, over one morning with a proposition to take them out on an expedition, he found them ready to go. He went to Eegimental Head- quarters, secured a detail for them, and returning to the Hoosier's Rest found the boys lugubriously pulling oyer a pile of homespun garments they had picked up among the teamsters and camp-followers. "1 suppose we've got to we^lt^ em, Shorty," said Si, looking very disdainfully at a butternut-colored coat and vest. "But I'd a heap rather wear a mustard plaster. It'd be a heap comfortabler." "I aint myself finicky about clothes," answered Shorty. "I aint no swell—never was. But somehow I've jot a prejudice in favor of blue as a color, and agin gray and brown. I only like gray and brown on a corpse. They make purty grave clothes. I always like to bury -x maD what has butternut clothes on." "Vhat are you doing mit dem tiriy rags, poys?'' aske^ Rosenbaum, in astonishment, as he surveyed the scene. "Why, we've got to vrear 'em, haven't we, if we go out with you?" asked Si. "You vear dem vhen you ko oud mit me— you tisguise yourselfs." said Rosenbaum, with fine scorn. "You'd 282 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. blay ter teffel in tisguise. You can't tisguise your ton- gues. Dat's de vorst. Anypody'd catch on to dat Inti- anny lingo virst thing. YouVe kot to sbeak like an etchucated man— sbeak like I do— to keep beoples vrom vinding oud vhere you're from. I sbeak gorrect English alfays. Nopody gan dell vhere I'm vrom." The boys had hard work controlling their risibles over Mr. Rosenbaum's self-complacency. "What clothes are we to wear, then?" asked Si, much puzzled. "Vear vhat you blese; vear de glothes you haf on, or anything else. Dis is nod koing to be a vull-dress affair. Gentlemen p-^n aiitend in deir vorking glothes if dey vant to." "I don't understand," mumbled Si. "Of gourse you don't," said Rosenbaum gaily. *'If you did, you vould know as much as I do, unt I vouldn't haf no advantage." "All right," said Shorty. "We've decided to go it blind. Go ahead. Fix it up to suit yourself. We are your huckleberries for anything that you kin turn up. It all goes in our $13 a month." "0. K.," answered Rosenbaum. "Dat's de righd vay. Drust me, unt I vill pring you oud all sdraighd. Now led me dell you somedings. Vhen you gapchured me, after a hard struggle, as you rememper (and he gave as much of a wink as his prominent Jewish nose would admit), I ras an offitier on Cheneral Roddey's staff. It vas, unt sdill is^ my pizness to keep up express lines py vhich de repels are subblied mit qvinine, medicines, gun-gaps, ledders, gifing invormation, unt odder things. Unt I do id." The boys opened their eyes wide, and could not re- strain an exclamation of surprise. ."J^Q\Y^ holt jour horses; don'd ket eggscited," said OUT ON AN EXPEDITION WITH EOgENBAUlVI. 283 Rosenbaum calmly. "You don'd know as much apout Tar as I do— not py a hundred per cent. Dese things are alfays done in efery var, unt Cheneral Eosecrans unter- stands de dricks of yar pedder as any man in de army. He peads dem all yhen id gomes to gedding inyormation apout de enemy. He knows dat a dog dat yetches must garry^ unt dat de pest yay is to led a sby take a liddle to de enemy, unt pring a goot deal pack. "De droubles at de pattle of Sdone Bifer was dat de sbies took more to Cheneral Pragg dan dey prought to Cheneral Rosecrans. But Cheneral Rosecrans vas new to de vork den. Id won'd pe so in future. He knows a kreat deal more apout de reppels now dan dey know apout him, danks to such men as me."'. "I don't know as we ought to haye anything to do wilk this, Shorty/' said Si dubiously. "At least, we ought to inquire of the Colonel first." "Dat's all righd — dat's all righd," said Rosenbaum quickly. "I'ye got de order yrom de Colonel which vill sadisfy you. Read id yourselfs." He handed the order to Si, who looked carefully at the printed heading, "Headquarters, 200tli Ind., near Mur- freesboro', Tenn.," and then read the order aloud to Shorty: Corporal Josiah Klegg and one priyate, whom he may select, will report to Mr. Leyi Rosenbaum for special duty, and will obey such orders and instructioiis as h« may giye, and on return report to these Headquarters. By ordar of the Colonel. Philip Blake, Adjutant." "That seems all straight. Shorty," said Si, foldiiig up the order, and putting it in his pocket. "Straight as a string," assented Shorty. "I'm ready^ anyway. G-o ahead, Mr. Cheap Clothing. I don't care much what it is, so long's it aint shoyelin* and dig~in' i^s. the fortifications. I'll go down to Tullahoma and pull 284 BT KLEGG AND SHOETV old Bragg out of his tent rather than handle a pick and shovel any longer." "Veil, as I vas koing to dell you, I have peen pack to Tullahoma seferal dimes since you gaptured me, unt I haf got de exbress lines between here unt dere running bretty veil. I haf hat to dell dem all sorts of sdories how I got afay vrom de Yankees. Luckily, I haf a bretty goot imagination, unt can vurnish dem mit virst-giass narra- tives. "But dere is vun veller on de staff dat I'm avraid of. His name is Poke Bolivar, unt he is a derrible veller, I dell you. Alfays vull of vight, unt desperate vhen he kets into a vight. I've seen him pluff all dose odder Tellers. He is a red-hot Secessionist, unt vants to kill efery Yankee in de gountry. Of late he has seemed very suspicious of me, unt has said lots of dings dat sgared me. I vant to seddle him, either kill him or take him prisoner unt keep him avay, so's I gan veel at ease vhen I'm in Cheneral Pragg's gamp. I gan't do dat so long as I know he's- :aroundt, for I veel dat his eyes are on me, unt dat he's hunting some vay to drip me up. "I'm koing oud now to meet him. at a house apoud five miles vrom de lines. I haf my bockets unt de bockets on my saddles vull of ledders unt dings. Yoost outside de lines I vill ket some more. He vill meet me unt ve vill ko pack to Tullahoma togedder — dat is, if he don't kill me pefore ve get dere. I haf prought a gouple of levolfers, in addition to your guns, for Poke Bolivar's a d^ihle veller to vight, unt I vant you to make sure of him. I'd dake more'n two men oud, but I'm avraid he'd get on to so many." "I guess we two kin handle him," said Shorty, slipping his belt into the holster of the revolver and buckling it on. "Give us a fair show at him, and v/e don't want no OUT ON AN EXPEDITION WITH HOSENBATO. 285 help. I wouldn^t mind having it out with Mr. Bolivar all by myself." ^'Vell, my blan is for you to ko oud by yourself s to dat blace vhere you vere on bicket. Den dake de right-hand road through the crick bottom, as if you vere koing for- aging. Apout two miles vrom de crick you vill see a pig hewed-log house sdanding on de left of de road. You vill know it py its having brick outside chimneys, unt de doors bainted plue and yaller. Dere's no odder house in dat gountry like id. "You're to keep oud of sight as much as you gan. Directly you vill see me gome riding oud, vollered py a nigger riding anodder horse. I vill ko up to de house, chump off, die my horse, ko inside, unt bresently gome oud ant die a vhite cloth to a post on de borch. Dat vill pe a sicknal to Poke Bolivar, who vill pe vatching vrom de hill a mile ahead. You vill see him, gome in, ket off his horse, unt ko into de house, "Py dis dime it vill pe dark, or nearly so. You slip up as quietly as you gan, righd py de house, hiding your- self s behint de lilacs. If de dogs run at you payonet dem. You gan look through de vinders, unt see me unt Bolivar sidding py de vire dalking, unt kettlng ready to sdart for Tullahoma as soon as de nigger who is gooking our subber in de kitchen oudside kets id ready unt ve ead id. i.You gan vait dill you see us sit down to ead sub- ber, unt den chump us. Petter vait until ve are bretty near through subber, for Fll pe very hungry, unt vant all I gan ket to keep me up for my long ride. "You run in unt order us to surr enter. Fll chump up unt plaze afay mit my revolver, but you needn't bay much attention to me— only pe gareful not to shood me. Vhile you are tending to Bolivaf Fll ket on my horse unt skip oud. You gan kill Bolivar, or dake him pack to gamp mit you, or do anything dat you blease, so long's 286 SI ELEGa AND SHORTY. you geep liim afay from TuUahoma. You understandt, now?" "Perfectly/' said Shorty. "1 think we can manage it, and it looks like a pretty good arrangement. You are to git away, and we're to git Mr. Bolivar. Those two things are settled. Any change in the evening's program will depend on Mr. Bolivar. If he wants a fight he kin git whole gobs of it." Going over the plan again, to make sure that the boys understood it, and cautioning them once more as to the •sanguinary character of Polk Bolivar, Mr. Posenbaum started for his horse. He had gone but a little ways when he came back with his face full of concern. "I like you poys bedder as I gan dell you," he said, taking their hands affectionately, "unt I nefer vould for- gif myself if you got hurt. Do you dink dat two of you'll pe aple to manage Poke Bolivar? If you're nod 6 are I'll ket annoder man to help you. I dink I had ped- der, anyfay." "0, go along with you," said Shorty scornfully. "Don't worry about us and Mr. Bolivar. I'd stack Si Klegg up against any man that ever wore gray, in any sort of a scrimmage he could put up, and I'm a better man than Si. You just favor us with a meeting with Mr. Bolivar, and then git out o' the way. If it wasn't for dividing up fair with my partner here I'd go out by myself and tackle Mr. Bolivar. You carry out your share of the plan, and don't worry about us." Ilosenbaum's countenance brightened, and he hast- ened to mount and away. The boys shouldered their guns ixrA started out for the long walk. They followed Posenbaum's directions carefully, and arrived in sight of the house, which they recognized at once, and got into a position from which they could watch its front. Pres- ently they saw Rosenbaum come riding along the road OUT AX EXPEDITIO^' WITH ROSENBaUM. 287 and stop in front of the house. He tied his horse to a scrag- gy locust tree, went in and then reappeared and fastened the signal to a post supporting the roof of the porch. WATCHING THE HOUSE. They had not long to wait for the answer. Soon a horseman was seen descending from the distant hilL As he came near he was anxiously scanned, and ap- peared a cavalier so redoubtable as to fully justify E-osen- baum's apprehensions. He was a tall, strongly-built young man, who sat on his spirited horse with easy and complete mastery of him. Even at that distance it could be seen that he was heavily armed. 238 gl KLEGG AND SHORTY. *Tooks like a genuine fighter, and no mistake," said Si, examining the caps on his revolver. "He'll be a stiff one to tackle." "We must be mighty careful not to let him get the drop on us," said Shorty. "He looks quicker'n lightnin', and iVe, no doubt that he kin shoot like Dan'l Boone. We might drop him from here with our guns," he added, sug- gestively. "No," said Si, "that wouldn't be fair. And it wouldn't be the way Rosenbaum wants it done. He's got his reasons for the other way. Besides, I'd be a great deal better satisfied in my mind, if I could have it out with him, hand-to-hand. It'd sound much better in the regi- T.eiit." "Guess that's so," assented Shorty. "Well, let's sneak up io the house." AVhen they got close to the house they saw that it had bpen deserted; there were no dogs or other domestic ani- mals about, and this allowed them to get under the shade of the lilacs without discovery. The only inmates were Rosc-:baum and Bolivar, who were seated before a fire, which Rosenbaum had built in the big fireplace in the main room. The negro was busy cooking supper in the outbuilding which served as a kitchen. The glass was broken out the window, and they could hear the conver- sation between Rosenbaum and Bolivar. It appeared that Rosenbaum had been making a report of his recent doings, to which Bolivar listened with a touch of disdain mingled with suspicion. The negro brought in the supper, and the men ate it sitting by the fire "I declare," V-Aivar, stopping with a piece of bread and meat in one hand and a tin-cup of coffee in the other, "that for a man who is devoted to the South OUT ON AN EXPEDITION WITH EOSENBAU:^!. 289 VOu can mix up ys'hh. these Yankees with less danger to yourself and to them than anv man I ever knew. You never get hurt, and you never hurt any of them. That's a queer thing for a soldier. AVar means hurting people, and getting hurt yourself. It means taking every chance to hurt some of the enemy. I never miss any opportu- nity of killing a Yankee, no matter what I may be doing, or Avhat risk it is to me. I can't help myself. When- ever I see a Yankee in range I let him have it. I never go near their lines without killing at least one.'' Shorty's thumb played a little with his gunlock, but Si restrained him with a look. ' ' LOLIYAR AND ROSEXBAUM. ^Tell.'' said Rosenbaum, "I hates de enemy as padly as anv vun gan, but I alfays haf pizness more imbortant at de dime dan killing men. I vant to get through mit 290 SJ KLEGG AND SHORTY. vhat I haf to do, unt led odder men do de killing. Dere'g enough chentlemen like you for dat vork.'* "No, there's not enough/' said Bolivar savagely. "It's treasonable for you to say so. Our enemies outnumber us everywhere. It is the duty of every true Southern man to kill them off at every chance, like he would rat- tlesnakes and wolves. You are either not true to the South, or you haint the right kind of grit. Why, you have told me yovirself that you let two Yankees capture you, without firing a shot. Think of it; a Confederate officer captured by two Yankee privates, without firing a shot.'' "Dey hat de dead drop on me," murmured Eosenbaum. "If I hat moved dey'd killed me sure." "Dead drop on you!" repeated Bolivar scornfully. "Two men with muskets have the dead drop on you! And you had a carbine and revolver. Why, I have ridden into a nest of 10 or 15 Yankees, who had me covered with their guns. I killed three of them, wounded three others, and run the rest away with my empty revolver. If I'd had another revolver, not one w^ould've got away alive. I al- ways carry tAvo revolvers now." "I think our guns'll be in the way in that room," said Shorty, setting his down. His face bore a look of stern determination, "They're too long. I'm itching to have it out with that feller hand-to-hand. We'll rash in. You pretend to be goin' for Eosenbaum and leave me to have it out with Mr. Bolivar. Don't you mix in at all. If I don't settle him he ought to be allowed to go." "No," said Si decisively. "I'm your superior officer, and it's my privilege to have the first shy at him. I'll 'tend to him. I want a chance single-handed at a man that talks that way. You take care of Eosenbaum." "W^e mustn't dispute," said Shorty, stooping down and picking up a couple of straws, ^'Here, pulL The feller OUT ON AX EXPEDITION WITH ROSENBAUM. 291 that gits the longest Hends to Bolivar; the other to Eosenbaiim." Si drew and left the longer straw in Shorty's hand. They drew their revolvers and rushed for the room, Shorty leading. Eosenbaum and Bolivar sprang up in alarm at the sound of their feet on the steps, and drew their re- volvers. THE SUEPEISE. "Surrender, you infernal rebels/' shouted the boys, as they bolted in through the door. With the quickness of a cat, Eosenbaum had sidled near the door through which they had come. Suddenly 292 81 KLEGG AND SHORTY. he fired two shots into the ceiling, and sprang through the door so quickly that Si had merely the chance to fire a carefully-aimed shot through the top of his hat. Si jumped toward the door again, and fired a shot in the air, for still further make-believe. He would w^aste no more, but reserve the other four for Bolivar, if he should need them. Shorty confronted Bolivar with fierce eyes and leveled revolver, eagerly watching every movement and expres- sion. The rebel was holding his pistol pointed upward, and his eyes looked savage. As his eyes met Shorty's the latter was amazed to see him close the left with a most emphatic wink. Seeing this was recognized, the rebel fired two shots into the ceiling, and motioned with his left hand to Si to continue firing. Without quite un- derstanding, Si fired again. The rebel gave a terrific yell and fired a couple of shots out the window. "Do the same," he said to Shorty, who complied, as Si had done, in half-comprehension. The rebel handed his revolver to Shorty, stepped to the window and listened. There came the sounds of two horses galloping away on the hard, rocky road. "He's gone, and taken the nigger with him," he said contentedly, turning from the window, and giving an- other fierce yell. "Better fire the other two shots out of that pistol, to hurry him along." Shorty fired the remaining shots out of the rebel's re^ volver. "What regiment do you belong to, boys?" asked Boli- var calmly. "The 200th Ind.," answered Si, without being able to control his surprise. "A very good regiment," said the r^Jjel. "What's your company?" fCo. Q," answered SL OUT OX AX EXPEDITIOX \V1TH EOSEXBAOI 293 "'\Tlio's your Colonel?'' '•'Col. Duckworth." /Triio's your Captain?" "Capt. ITcGillicudy." '•'AH right/'' said the rebel, Vvuth an air of satisfaction. "I asked you those cjuestions to make sure you were genuine Yankees. One can't be too careful in my busi- ness. I'm in the United States Secret Service, and hare to be constantly on the watch to keep it from being played on me by men pretending to be Yankees when they are rebels, and rebels when they are Yankees. I always make it the first point to ask them the names of theii officers. I know almost all the officers in command on both sides." ^ ^'x ' "You in the Secret Service?" exploded the boys. They were on the point of adding ''too/" but something whisper- ed to them not to betray Eosenbaum. ''Yes/'' answered Bolivar. "I've just come from Tulla- homa^ vrhere I've been around Bragg's Headquarters. I wanted to get inside our lines^ but I vras puzzled how to do it. That Jew you've just run of! bothered me. I wish to the Lord you'd killed him. I'm more afraid of him than any other man in Bragg's army. He's smart as a briar, always nosing around where you don't want him, and anxious to do something to commend him to Headquarters, Jew like. I've thought he suspected me, for he'd been paying special attention to me for some weeks. Two or three times I've been on the point of toll- ing him out into the woods somewhere and killing him, and so get rid of him. It's all right now. He'll go back to TuUalioma with a fearful story of the fight I made against you, and that I am probably killed. I'll turn up there in a week or two with my own story, and I'll give Tlim £ts for having skipped out and left me to fight you t 294 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. two alone. Say, it's a good ways to camp. Let's start at once, for I want to get to Headquarters as soon as possible." "You've got another revolver there/' said Si, who had prudently reloaded his own weapon. "That's so," said Bolivar, pulling it out. "You can take and carry it or I'll take the cylinder out, if you are not convinced about me." "You'd better let me carry it," said Shorty, shoving the revolver in his own belt. "These are queer times, and one can't be too careful with rebels who claim to be Yankees, and Yankees who claim to be rebels." They trudged back to camp, taking turns riding the horse. When the rebel rode, however, one of the boys walked alongside with the bridle in his hand. All doubts as to Bolivar's story were dispelled by his in- stant recognition by the Provost-Marshal, who happen- ed to be at the picket-post when they reached camp. "The longer I live," remarked Shorty, as they made their way along to the Hoosier's Rest, "and I seem to live a little longer every day, the less I seem to understand about this ww." Shorty spoke as if he had had an extensive acquaint- ance with wars. ||"The only thing that I've come to be certain about," assented Si, "is that you sometimes most always can't generally tell." I And they proceeded to g^t themselves some supper, accompanying the work with denunciations of the Com- missary for the kind of rations he was drawing for the regiment, and of the Orderly-Sergeant for his letting the other Orderlies eucher him out of the company's fair share. ' SI EECEIYES A LETTER FROM HIS FATHER. 295 CHAPTER XXVII. • - EECEWES A LETTER FROM HIS FATHER AND THE FAMILY. TROUBLES IN GETTING HOME WITH ABRAHAM LINCOLN. MATTERS ON THE OLD FARM. ' One morning tlie Orderly-Sergeant handed Si the fol- lowing letter: Deer Son: I got hoam safely a vreke ago, thanks 2 all- protecting Providens ; likewize 2 about 175 pound of tuff & helthy Josiah Klegg. Providens helpt rite along, but it tuk 50-year-old Injianny hickory & v/hit-leather 2" pull through sum ov the tite plasis. Abraham Lincoln is as strong as an ox, but I never thought that anything that diddent wear horns or chew the cud could be so measly dumb. He kin eat as much as Buck, our off-steer, & I declare I don't believe he knows any more. ■ - We had only bin on the train long enuff for Abe to finish up the whole of the 3 days rations you provided us with 2 last us home, when I notist that Blowhard Bill- ings was on board. He was still dressed in full uniform, & playin off officer yit, but I happened 2 recolleck that he was no officer no more, & it wuz lucky that I done so. He wuz lookin at me & Abe hard with them mean, cat- fish ize ov hizn. Jest as a matter ov precaushon, I made Abe change seats with me & taik the inside. Billings caim up. You know^ what I thought ov him ov old, & there's" never bin any love lost betwixt us sence I stopped him cheatin poor Eli Mitchell outen his plow-team. I told him then that the coppers on a dead nigger's eyes wuzzeAt saif when he w^uz around, & I ^'oulddent trust him ez fur ez I 29G SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. could sling a bull by the tale. He got mad at this & never got over it. I never encouraged him to. I would- dent feel satisfied with myself if he wuzzent mad at me. I coulddent change my opinion even when he tried to steal into respectability by goin into the army. I knowed he'd do anything but fite, & woulddent've bin supprized any day by hearing that him and all the mules in camp had disappeared together. Presently Billings he cum up very corjil like & says: "Howdy J Deacon. I hope you air very well." I told him I wuz tollable peart, and he says : "I see a man in the third car forward that wuz in- quiring for you, and wanted to see you pow^erful bad." "That so?" says I, unconcernedlike. m- ■ "Yes," says he. "He wuz awful anxious to see you, and I said I'd send you to him if I cum acrost yovi." Somehow, I dropped onto it in a minnit that he wuz schemin' to git me aw^ay from Abraham Lincoln. "Well," says I, "it's about ez fur for me forward to him as it is for him back here to me. I don't know as I want to see him at all. If he wants to see me so bad let him cum back here." "I think I'd go forward and see him," said Billings, sort ov impatient-like. "You'll have no trouble finding him. He's in the third car from here, up at the front end, right-hand side, next to the water-cooler. He in- quired most partickerlerly for you." "Probably wants 2 borry money," says I, without stir- ring '^Men that w^ant particularly 2 see you always do. Well, I haint got none 2 lend — haint got no more'n'll taik mehoa]}!." "You'd better go forward & see him," he said very bossy like, as if he Avas orderin me. "I'd better stay right here, & I'm a-goin' to stay," says I, so decided ik^i Billins's see that it was no use. SI RECEIVES A LETTER FROM HIS FATHER. 297 His patience gave clean away. ''Look here, Klegg," said he, mad as a hornet^ ''I'm after that ere nigger you're trying to steal away into In- jianny, and by the holy poker I'm goin' to have him! Come along here, you black ape." and ho laid his hand on Abe Lincoln's collar. Abe showed the white or his izes as big as buckeyes, put his arm arotmd the piece betwixt the winders, and held on for deer life. I see by the grip he tuk that the only way 2 git him wuz 2 tear out the side of the car, and I thought I'd let them tussle it out for a minnit or 2. The others in the car, who thought it grate fun to see a Lieutenant-Kiirnel wrastlin" with a nigeer, laffed and yelled: " "Go it, nigger," "Go it, Kurnel," ■ - ' ''Grab a root," "He bet on the nigger if the car is stotit enuf," and sich. Jest then Grotmdhog cum runnin' up to help Billings, and reached over and ketched Abe, but I hit him a good biff with the musket that changed his mind. Billings turned on me^ and called out to the others : "Men, I order you to arrest this man and tie him up.'* Sum ov them seemed a-mind to obey, but I sung out; "Feller-citizens, he ain't no officer — no more'n I am. He ain't got no right to wear shoulder-straps, and he toows it as well as I do." At this they all turjied agin him & begun yellin at him 2 put his head in a bag. He turned 2 me savage as a meat-ax, but I ketched him by the throat, & bent him back over the seat. The Provo-Guard cum up, & I ex- plained it 2 them, & showed my passes for me & Abe. So they made us all sit down & keep quiet. Bineby we got 2 Xashville. Abe Lincoln wuz hungry, & I stopped 2 git him something 2 eat. I^Iy gracious, the 298 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY.' lot ov ham & ^igs at 50 cents a plate & sandwiclies at 25 cents a piece that contraband kin eat. He never seemed 2 git full. lie looked longingly at the pies, but I let him look. I wazzent runnin no Astor House in connexion with the Freedmen's buro. We walked through the city, crost on the ferry, and wuz jest gittin in the cars which wuz about ready 2 start; when up comes Billings agin, with 2 or 3 other men in citizen's cloze. One ov these claps his hand on my shoulder & says : "I'm a Constable, & I arrest you ni the name ov the State ov Tennessee for abductin a slave. Make no trubble, but come along with me." I jest shook him off, & dumb onto the platform, puUin Abe after me. The Constable & his men follered us, but I got Abe Lincoln inside the door, shet it, & made him put his shoulders agin it. The Constable & his 2 assistants wuz buttin away at it, & me grinnin at them when the train pulled out, & they had 2 jump off. I begin 2 think there wuz something good in Abe Lincoln after all^ & when we stopped at an eatin-plais, about half-way 2 Louisville, & Abe looked at the grub as if he haddent had a mouthful sence the war begun, I busted a $2-bill all 2 pieces gittin' him a little supper. If I wuz goin into the bizniss ov freein slaves I'd want 2 have a mule train haulin grub follering me at every step. Abe wuz awful hungry agin when we reached Louis- ville, but I found a place where a dollar would buy him enough pork & beans 2 probably last him over the river. But I begun 2 be afeard that sum nosin pryin Mike Medler might make trubble in gitting Abe safely acrost the Ohio. I tuk him 2 a house, & laid it down strong 2 him that he must stay inside all day, and 2 make sure I bargained with the woman 2 keep him eating as much as she could. It ruined a |5 bill, & even then Abe looked a» TROL"BLES IX GETTING H0M:E. 299 if he could hold some more. I've always made it a pint 2 lend 2 the Lord for the benefit ov the heathen as much as my means would allow, but I be^un 2 think that my missionary contribushons this year would beat what I was layin out on my fambly. After it got dark, me & Abe meandered down through the streets 2 the ferry. There wuzzent many people out except soljers. & I've got 2 feel purty much at home with them. They seem more likely 2 think lawe nearly my way than folks in every-day clothes. There wuz quite a passel ov soljers on the wharf-boat waitin' for the ferry when we got there. They saw at wuns that I had probably bin down 2 the front 2 see my son. (k so sum ov them axed me 2 what rigiment he be- longed. When I told them the 200th Injianny Volunteer Infantry they all made friends with me at wunst, for they said they knowed it wuz a good rijiment. Bineby a big, important-lookin' man, with a club with a silver head for a cane, cum elbowin through the crowd & scowling at everybody as if he owned the wharf-boat & all on it. He stopped in frunt ov Abraham Lincoln & says very sharp & cross: ''Boy, where did you come from?" Abe diddent say nothin'. His ize got all white, he grinned sort ov scared like, showed his white teeth, & looked sickly over at me. I si^oke up & says : ''1 brung him along with me from Murfreesboro." "So I sposed/'' said he. "He's a slave you're tryin 2 steal from his master. You can't do it. I'll jest take charge ov him myself. That's my dooty here/' & he ketched hold ov Abraham Lincoln's collar. Abe, in his scare, put out his arms to ketch hold ov some- thing, & throwed them around the big important man, & lifted him clean offen his feet. I never before realized how strong Abe wuz. The soljers gethered around, purty 300 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. mad^ & then laffiii & yellin when they see the man in Abe's arms. Suddenly sum one hollered: "Throw him overboard; throw him in the river." Abe v/uz wuss scared than ever when he found he had the man in his arms. He wuz af eared 2 hold on & still more afeared 2 let go. He heared them hollerin, & thought he had 2 do jest as they said, & begun edgin to- ward the river. ^ The man got more scared than Abe. He began kickin & wrigglin & hoUerin : ^'Don't let him do it. Help me. I can't swim a lick." At this the men hollered worsen ever: "Throw him in the river! Duck him! Baptize him! Drown him!" Ime a Baptist, but I don't believe in immersion onless the convert has bin prepared for it, & is willin, which neither this man wuz. I stepped forw^ard 2 make Abe let him down, but before I could do anything Abe had got 2 the edge of the wharf-boat & let go, & plunk w^ent the man into about 10 foot ov water. Abe, scared now nearly 2 death, stood . there with his ize biggern sassers and whitern goose-eggs. In a minnit the man cum up, sputterin & hollerin. A big Sergeant, with his left arm in a sling, reached over & ketched him "bv the collar & held his head above water. "If I pull you out will you promis 2 go out ov the nigger- ketchin bizniss forever?" axed the Sergeant. *Tull me out & then I'll talk 2 j^ou," says the man, grabbin for the slippery sides ov the wharf-boat. "No, I won't," says the Sergeant, sousin him under water agiji. "Yes, yes, I'll promise," says the man, when he como up agin. "Will you swear it?" axed the Sergeant. "Yes, I'll swear it before a Justice Ui^ Peace." TROUBLES IN GETTING HOME. 801 "Will you swear 2 support the Constitution oy the United States agin all enemies & opposers whatsumever, & vote for Abraham Lincoln every time?" axed the Ser- geant. "Fll take the oath ov allegiance," says the man. sput- terin the water out ov his mouth/' but I'll never vote for that Abolition ape as long as I live." "Then down you go/" says the Sergeant, sousin him agin. "Yes, yes, Fll vote for Abe Lincoln, & anybody else, if you'll only pull me out," said the man, in a tired tone of voice, when he cum up agin. I begin 2 see that immer- sion had a great deal ov good in it, even if a man isn't prepared & willin. "Will you swear 2 always love a nigger as a man & a brother, until death do you part, & aid & comfort all them who are tryin 2 git away from slavery?" axed the Sergeant. "Dammed if I will," says the man. "No nigger kin ever be a brother 2 me. I'll die first." "Then you'll die right off," says the Sergeant, sendin him dow^n as far as his long arm would reach & holding him there until I wuz scared for fear he wuz really goin 2 drown the man. When he brung him up the man whimpered : "Yes, only pull me out — save my life — & I'll do any- thing you want." By this time the ferry-boat had cum up. We got aboard & crost over 2 Injianny, & I felt so glad at bein on my nativ soil wuns more that I took Abe up 2 the eatin stand, & blowed in a dollar filin up the vacant plaisis in his hide. When we tried 2 git on the train there cum another trubble: The conductor woulddent let him ride in the car with white folks, — not even in the smokin-car. He made him go into the baggage-car. Abe wuz so scared 302 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. about leavin me for a minnit in that strange country that I tried 2 go into the baggage-car with him, but the conductor woulddent let me. He said it wuz aain the rules for passengers to ride in the baggage-cars, but Abe eoxiW go in there, same as dogs, prize poultry, & house- hold pets. I tried 2 joke with him, tellin him that in sum plaisis I wuz considered a household pet, but he said Ide have 2 git another m.ug on me before he could believe it. One of Zeke Biltner's hogs ditched the train jest before we got home, & turned the baggage-car over. Sum crates ov eggs wuz smashed over Abraham Lincoln, & he wuz a sight to behold. He wuz awfully scared though & beg- ged me 2 let him go the rest ov the way on foot. IJe said he wuz a thousand years older than when he left his ole massa, & I could understand w^hat he meant. I found your mother & the girls bright & chipper & jest tickled 2 death to see me safe back They axed me^ so many questions about you & Shorty that my head buz- zed like a bee-hive. It is hard 2 git aw^ay from them 2 tend 2 my Spring work, but Ive made an arrangement 2 giv em an hour mornin & evenin 2 answerin questions. I think this wiii keep me purty busy until the snow llise agin Wheat is lookin suprisinly well, though I found sum bare plasis in the north field. I think we'll have a fair crop ov apples & peaches. Your colt is growin up the purtiest thin^ that ever went on four legs & jumped an eight-rail fence. My hogs wintered in good shape, & pork is risin. They have the measles over on the Crick, & schooPs broke up. Bill Scripp's out agin for Sheriff, & I spose lie have 2 turn 2 agin & beat him. Singler, that he'll never know when he's got enuff. * If anything, Abraham Lincoln's appetite has bin im- proved Wabash air. I wuzzent goin 2 have the wim- MATTEES the old- FAEZiL 303 men folks wear tlieirselTes out cookin for Him. So I fixed li^j a }:Jace for liini" in ilie old lou hcaise. dz tcok him over some sides ov meat, a few bushel or jjertaters. a jug OT sorghum molasses, every time mother bakes she sends over some loaves ov bread. I jest turned him loose there. He seems '2 be very happy. & we hear him singin yellin most all the time when he's by hisself. He's a good worker v-hen I stand right over him. A: he'll lift & dig as patient as an ox. But he haint no more sense about eoin ahead by his self than a steer has. & the moment my back's turned he stops work. Ime afeared I've got a job on my hands makin a first-cdass farmer out ov him. But if that's my share ov the work that Provi- dens has chalked otit for me. there's nothin left for me but - go ahead do it in fear & tremblin. Xo more from your affeckshionate father . ■ ' P. S. Give my best respects 2 Shorty 304 SI ELEGG AND SHOKTY. CHAPTER XXYIII. <'PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL, AND A HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE DESTRUCTION." Si and Shorty got the common feeling of men of some months' servicOj that thev had fully mastered the art of war, and that there was little, if anything, left for them to learn. It did not take some men even so long as months to acquire this pleasant idea of themselves. Some en- tered the army feeling quite capable of giving advice to the oldest General in it, and they were not slow about offering their opinions. Si and Shorty had had successes enough since their enlistment to develop a self-confidence which might be pardoned if it expanded into self-sufficiency and vanity. The 200th Ind. had been sent out on a reconnoissance toward Shelby ville. No sign of relels in force developed in any dhection, and Si and Shorty got permission to go off on a little scout of their own. "No use o' huntin' rebels with a brass band," said Si, who, since his association with Mr. Eosenbaum, had gotten some idea that stealth and cunning were efficient war powers. "We kin jest slip around out here some- where, and if there is any rebels find 'em, and git more information than the whole regiment kin." "I'm not so thirsty for information and rebels as I am for some fresh buttermilk," said Shorty. "Somehow, I've been hankering for buttermilk and cornpone for days. I haint had any for a coon's age, and it'd go mighty good as a change from camp rations. Buttermilk and rebels sometimes grow near together. You look for one^ I'll look for the other. Mebbe we kin git both." "PPJDE GCETH FORin BEFORE A FALL." '^I wouldn't mind liavin' some LutTeriniik an' ccrn- pone myself/'- said Si. '"'But I'd like mucli better to drop on some rebels somewhere, and bring "em into camp, and sliOAv that we kin git more information than the whole regiment kin.-' "All right.'" assented Shorty: ^'ask the Captain to let tis go. I'll be bound we'll lind something worth goin' lor. if it's no more'ii a chicken for the Captain's supper. I'd like to take in one for him. He's been mighty good to me and you in seA'eral ways, and I'd like to show him that we appreciate it.'' As the regiment had gone as far as ordered without discovering anything that in the least threatened the peace in that portion of Tennessee, it would start on its return, after the men had rested and had dinner. Si and Shorty, consequently, had no difficulty in securing the desired permission. They cut off through a side-road, which gave promise of leading into a better-settled part of the country than that they had been traversing. A mile or so of walki.ng brought them in sight of the substantial chimneys of a farm-house showing above the trees. A glimjDse of a well- fenced field roused warm hopes in Shorty's heart. ''Xow, I think we're comin' to a better thing than we've ever struck before." said he, as they stopped and sur- veyed the prospect. ''AVe've got out o' the barren plateaus and into the rich farming country. That's likely a farm jest like they have up in Iniianny. and it's way off where they haint knowed nothin' o' the war. Xo soljer's ever been anigh 'em, and they've jest got lots and plenty o' everything. They've got a great big barnyard full o' chickens and turkeys, pigs and geese and guineas. There, you kin hear the guineas hollerin' now. There's cows layin' iu the shade chawin'' the cud, while their calves SI Ktma AND saoRTY. are cavoitin' around in the svm, hogs rootin' m the woods -pasture, horses and sheep in the medder, and everything like it is at home. And down a little ways from the house there's a cool spring house, with clear, cold water wellin' up and ripplin' out over the clean white sand, with crocks o' fresh milk setting in it with cream a half an inch thick, and big jars o' buttermilk from the last churnin', and piggins o' fresh butter, and mebbe a big crock full o' smearkase. Si, do you like smearkase?" "'Deed I do," answered Si, his mouth watering at the thought. "My goodness, you jest orter eat some o' mother's smearkase. She jest lays over all the women in the country for smearkase. Many's the time I've come in hot and sweatin' from the field, and got a thick slice o' bread clear acrost the loaf from one o' the girls, and went down to our spring-house and spread it with fresh butter, and then put a thick layer o' Smearkase on top o' that, and then got about a quart o' cool milk, that was half cream, from one o' the crocks, and then" "Shet up. Si," shouted Shorty, desperately. "Do you want me to bang you over the head with my musket? Do you 'spose I kin stand everything? But I believe there's jest sich a spring-house doAvn there, and we'll find it plumb-full o' all them sort o' things. Le's mosey on." "Do you think there's any rebels around here?" said Si, the caution which experience had taught him making a temporary r^assertion of itself. "Naw," said Shorty, contemptuously, "there ain't no rebel this side o' the Duck Biver, unless some straggler, who'd run if he saw us. If we ketch sight o' one we'll take him into camp, jest to gratify you. But 1 ain't look- in' for none. Buttermilk and cornpone's what I want." The scene was certainly peaceful enough to iustif)r ''PRIDE GOETH FORTH BEFORE A FALL.'* 307 Shorty's confidence. A calmer, quieter landscape could not have been found in the whole country. A negro was plowing in a distant field, with occasional sonorous yells to his team. He did not seem to notice the soldiers, nor did a gray-haired white man who w^as sitting on the fence superintending him. A couple of negresses were washing the family linen by a fire under a large kettle on the creek bank, at some distance from the house, and spreading the cleansed garments out on the grass to dry and bleach. Cattle and horses were feeding on the fresh Spring grass and sheep browsing on the bushes on the hillside. Hens cackled and roosters crowed; the guineas, ever on the lookout, announced their approach with shrill, crackling notes. Two or three dogs waked up and barked lazily at them as they walked up the path to where an elderly, spectacled woman sat on the porch knitting. She raised her eyes and threw^ her spectacles on top of her head; and looked curiously at them. _ Whatever faint misgivings Si might have had vanished at the utter peacefulness of the scene. It was so like the old home that he had left that he could not imagine that war existed any v here near. It seemed as if the camp at Murfreesboro' and the bloody field of Stone River must be a thousand miles away. The beds of roses and pinks which bordered the walk were the same as decorated the front yard at home. There were the same clumps of snowballs and lilacs at the corners of the house. *'Howdy, gentlemen?" said the woman, as they came It seemed almost a wrong and insult to be carrying deadly arms in the presence of such a woman, and Si and Shorty let their guns slip, down, as if tiiey were rather ashamed of them. L "Good day, ma'am," said Shorty, taking off his hat poHtelj and wiping his face. ''We're lookin' around to 308 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. git some cornpone and buttermilk, and didn't know but wPiat you might let us have some. We're willin' to pay for it." "If you want suthin' to eat," said the woman promptly, ''1 kin gin it to ye. I never turn no hungry man away from my door. Wait a minnit, and I'll bring ye some." She disappeared inside the house, and Si remarked to Shorty: "Your head's level this time, as it generally is. We'll git something that's worth while eomin' after." The woman reappeared with a couple of good-size corn-dodgers in her hand. "This appears to be all the bread that's left over from dinner," she said. "And the meat's all gone. But the wenches '11 be through their washin' purty soon, and then I'll have them cook ye some more, if ye'll wait." "Thankee, ma'am," said Shorty ; "we can't wait. This '11 be a plenty, if we kin only git some buttermilk to go with it. We don't want no meat. We git plenty o' that in camp." "You kin have all the buttermilk ye want to drink," she answered, "if you'll go down to the spring-house thai and git it. It's fresh, and you'll find a gourd right be- side o' the jar, I'd go with you, but it allers gives me the rheumatiz to go nigh the spring-house." "Don't bother, ma'am, to go with us," said Shorty politely." We are very much obliged to you, indeed, and we kin make out by ourselves. How much do we owe you?" And he pulled a greenback dollar from his pocket. "Nothin', nothin', at all," said the woman hastily. "I don't sell vittels. Never thought o' sich a thing. Ye 're welcome to all you kin eat any time." ^ ^'WeU, take the money, and let us ketch a couple of them chickens there," said Shorty, laying down the bill on the banistei rail. "PKIDE GOETH FORTH BEFORE A FALL." 309 After a little demur the woman finally agreed to this, and picked up the money. The boys selected two fat chickens, ran them down, wrung their necks, and, afler repeating their thanks, took their bread and started for the spring-house. They found it the coolest and most in- viting place in the world on a hot, tirescme day — just UNDESIRABLE ACQUAINTANCES. such a bpui; as Shorty had described. It was Duiit oi rough stones, and covered with a moss-grown roof. A copious spring poured out a flood of clear, cool water, which flowed over white pebbles and clean-looking sand until it formed a cress-bordered rivulet just beyond the house. In the water sat crocks of fresh milk, a lar^e jar SIO €1 KLEGG AND SHORTY. of biittermilk, and buckets of butter. The looks, the cool, pure freshness of the place, were delightful con- trasts from the tiresome smells and appearances of the camp kitchens. The boys reveled in the change. They forgot all about war's alarms, stood their rifles up against the side of the spring-house, washed their dust-grimed faces and hands in the pure water, dried them with their handkerchiefs, and prepared to enjoy their meal. How good the buttermilk tasted along with the cornpone. The fresh milk was also sampled, and some of the butter spread upon their bread. I Si even went to the point of declaring that it was al- most as good as the things he used to eat at home, which was the highest praise he could possibly give to any food. Si never found anywhere victuals or cookincr to equal that of his mother. ■ l ^^-rr--Tr.~^^ He was pointing out to Shorty, as they munched, the likenesses and unlikenesses of this spring-house to that on the Wabash, when they were startled by the stern command: ''Surrender, there, you infernal Yankees!" They looked up with startled eyes to stare into a dozen muskets leveled straight at their heads from the willow thicket. Corndodgers and milk-gourds dropped into the water as they impulsively jumped to their feet, "If yo^uns move we'uns '11 blow the lights outen yo'uns. shouted the leader of the rebels. ''Hold up yer hands." : It was a moment of the most intense anguish that cither of them had ever known. Their thoughts were lightninglike in rapidity. The rebel muzzles were not a rod away, their aim was true, and it Avould be madness to risk their fire, for it meant certain death. The slightest move toward resistance was suicide. Si gave a deep groan, and up went his hands at tho same moment with Shorty's. "PRIDE GOETH FORTH BEFORE A FALL.'* 811 The rebels rushed out of the clump of willows behind which they had crept up on the boj^s, and surrounded them. Two snatched up their guns, and the othejLs be- gan pulling off their haversacks and other personal property as their own shares of the booty. In the midst of thiSj Si looked around, and saw the woman standing near calmly knitting. "You ain't so afeared o' rheumatism all at once," he said bitterly. "My rheumatiz has spells, young man, same ez other people's," she answered, j^uHing one of the needles out, and counting the stitches with it. "Sometimes it is bet- ter, and sometimes it is wuss. Jest now it is a great deal better, thankee. I only wisht I could toll the whole Yankee ar^iy. to destruction ez easy ez you wuz. My, but ye w^alked right in, like the fly to the sj^ider. I never had nothin' do my rheumatiz so much good." ' And she cackled with delight. *When you git through," she continued, addressing the leader of the rebels, "come up to the house, and I'll have some dinner cooked for ye. I know ye're powerful tired an' hongry. I s'poso nothin' need be cooked for them," and she pointed her knitting-needle contemptu- ously at Si and Shorty. "Qle Satan '11 be iDurvidin' fur them. I'll take these along to cook fur ye." She gathered up the dead chickens and stalked back to the house. '''Ef we're gwine t' shoot they'uns le's take they'uns over thar on the knoll, whar they'uns won't spile nothin'," said one evil-looking man, who had just ran- sacked Si's pockets and appropriated everything in them. "Hit'd be too bad t' kill they'uns here right in sight o' the house." "Le'me see them letters, Bushrod," said the leader, snatching a package of letters and Annabel's picture 312 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. out of the other's hand. "Mebbe thar's some news in them that the Captam'd like to have." Si gnashed his teeth as he saw the cherished missives rudely torn open and scanned, and especially when the ambrotype case was opened and Annabel's features made the subject of coarse comment. The imminent prospect of being murdered had a much lighter pang. While the letters and ambrotype w^ere being looked over the process of robbery was going on. One had snatched Si's cap, another had pulled off his blouse, and there was a struggle as to who should have possession of his new Government shoes, which w^ere regarded as a great prize. Si had resisted this spoliation, but was caught from behind and held, despite his kicks and struggles, while the shoes Avere pulled ofi. Shorty was treated in the same way. In a few minutes both, exhausted by their vigorous re- sistance, were seated on the ground, with nothing left on them but their pantaloons, while their captors were quarreling over the division of their personal effects, and as to what disposition was to be made of them. In the course of the discussion the boys learned that they had been captured by a squad of young men from the immedi- ate neighborhood, who had been allowed to go home on furlough, had been gathered together when the regiment appeared, and had been watching every movement from sale coverts. They had seen Si and Shorty leave, and had carefully dogged their steps until such moment as they could pounce on them. "Smart as we thought we wuz," said Si bitterly, "we played right into their hands. They tracked us down jest as if we'd bin a couple o' rabbits, and ketched us jest when they wanted us." He gave a groan which Shorty echoed. PPJDE GOETII FOIiTII EEFOPE A FALL." 813 Biisliroci and two others were for killing the two boys then and there and ending the matter. "They orter be killed, Ike^ right here." said Buslircd to the leader. '"'They deserve it, and vre'tins haint got no time to fool. We'iins can't take they'uns back wiih we'uns, ef we wanted to^ and I for one don"t want to. I'd ez soon have a rattlesnake arciind me.'^ THE SPOILS OF ^Yxn. But Ike, the leader, was farther-seeing. Ue represent- ed to the others th<^ vengoajice the Yankees would take on the people of the neighbcrliocd if they murdered the soldiers. This developed another party, who favored taking the prisoners to some distance and killing them there, so as to avoid the contingency that Ike had set forth. Then 314 €1 KLEGG AND SHORTY. there were propositions to deliver them over to the guer- rilla leaders, to be disposed of as they pleased. Finally, it occurred to Ike that they were talking en- tirely too freely before the prisoners, unless they in- tended to kill them outright, for they were giving infor- mation in regard to the position and operations of rebel bands that might prove dangerous. He drew his squad off a little distance to continue the discussion. At first they kept their eyes on the prisoners and their guns ready to fire, but as they talked they lost their wat-^^^d atti- tude in the eagerness of making their points. Si looked at Shorty, and caught an answering gleam. Like a flash both were on their feet and started on a mad rush for the fence. Bushrod saw them start, and fired. His bullet cut off a lock of Si's auburn hair. Others fired as fast as they could bring their guns up, and the bul- lets sang viciously around, but none touched the fugi- tives. Their bare feet were torn by the briars as they ran, but they thought not of these. They plunged into the blackberry briars along the fence, climbed it, and gained the road some distance ahead of their pursuers, who were not impelled by the fear of immediate,death to spur them on. Up the road went Si and Shorty with all the speed that will-power could infuse into their legs. Some of the rebels stopped to reload; the others ran after. A score of noisy dogs suddenly waked up and joined in the pursuit. The old white man mounted his horse and came galloping toward the house. On the boys ran, gaining, it anything, upon the fore- most of the rebels. The dogs came nearer, but before they could do any harm the boys halted for an instant and poured such a volley of stones into them that they ^an back lamed and yelping. The fleetest-footed of the rebels, who was the sanguinary Bushrod, also came within a stone's throwA and received a well-aimed bowlder "PRIDE GOETH FORTH BEFORE A FALL." 315 from Si's muscular hand full in his face. This cheered the boys so that they ran ahead with increased speed and finally gained the top of the hill from which they had first seen the farm-hovise. They looked back and saw their enemies still after them. Ike had taken the old man's horse and was com- AN UNCOMFOrvTABLE SITUATION. ing on a gallop. They knew he had a revolver, and shivered at the thought. But both stooped and selected the best stones to throw, to attack him >vith as soon as he came within range. They halted a minute to get their breath and nerve for a good effort. Jke had reached a steep, difficult part of the road, where his horse had to come down to a walk and pick his way. "Now, Si." said Shortv. ''throw for your life, if you never 316 SI KLEGG AND SHOUTY. did before. Fm goin' to git him. You take his horse's head. Aim for that white blaze in his forehead." Si concentrated his energy into one supreme effort. He could always beat the rest of the boys in throwing stones, and now his practice was to save him. He flung the smooth, round pebble with terrific force, and it went true to its mark. The horse reared with his rider just at the instant that a bowlder from Shorty's hand landed on Ike's breast. The rebel fell to the ground, and the boys ran on. At the top of the next hill they saw the regiment march- ing leisurely along at the foot of the hill. It was so un- expected a deliverance that it startled them. It seemed so long since they had left the regiment that it might have been clear back to Nashville. They yelled with all their remaining strength, and tore down the hill. Co. Q saw them at once, and at the command of the Captain came forward at the double-quick. The rebels had in the meanwhile gained the top of the hill. A few shots were fired at them as they turned from the chase. The Colonel rode back and questioned the boys. Then he turned to the Captain of Co. Q and said: "Captain, take your company over to that house. If you find anything that you think we fieed in camp, bring it back with you. Put these boys in the ambulance." The exhausted Si and Shorty were helped into the am- bulance, the Surgeon gave them a reviving drink of whisky and quinine, and as they stretched themselves out on the cushioned seats Si remarked: "Shorty, we ain't ez purty ez w^e used to be, but we know a durned sight more." "I doubt it," said Shorty surlily. "I think me and you'll be fools as long as we live. We won't be fools the same way agin, you kin bet your life, but we'll find some other way. A PERIOD OF SELF-DISGUST. 317 CHAPTEE XXDC SI AXD SHORTY HAVE A PERIOD OF SELF-DISGUST FOLLOWED BY RECOVERY. It took many days for the boys' lacerated feet to re- coA'er sufficiently to permit their going about and return- ing to duty. They spent the period of enforced idleness in chewing the cud of bitter reflection. The thorns had cut far more painfully into their pride than into their feet. The time was mostly passed in moody silence, very foreign to the customary liveliness of the Hoosier's Rest. They only spoke to one another on the most necessary subjects, and then very briefly. In their sour shame t^ the whole thing they even became wroth with each other. Shorty sneered at the way Si cleaned up the house, and Si condemned Shorty's cooking. Thence- forth Shorty slept on the floor, while Si occujjied the bed, and they cooked their meals separately. The newness of the clothes they drew from the Quartermaster angered them, and they tried to make them look as dirty and shabby as the old. Once they were on the point of actually cominQ' to blows. Si had thoughtlessly flung some dishwater into the company street. It was a misdemeanor that in ordinary times would have been impossible to him. Now almost anything was. Shorty instantly growled: ''You slouch, you ought to go to the guardhouse for that." Si retorted hotly: ''Slouch yourself! Look where you throwed them cof- 318 SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. fee-grounds this morning/' and he pointed to the tell- tale evidence beside the house. "Well, that ain't near so bad/' said Shorty crustily. "That at least pretended to be tidy." "Humph/' said Si, with supreme disdainfulness. "It's the difference betwixt sneakin' an' straight-out. I throwed mine right out in the street. You tried to hide yours, and made it all the nastier. But whatever you do's all right. Whatever 1 do's all wrong. You're a pill." SHORTY AND SI ARE AT OUTS. "Look here, Mister Klegg," said Shorty, stepping for- ward with doubled fist, "I'll have you understand that I've stood all the slack and impudence from you that I'm a-goin to.'* ' A PERIOD OF SELF DISGUST. 819 "Shorty, if you double your fist up at me/' roared the irate Si, "I'll knock your head off in a holy minute.'* The boys of Co. Q were thunderstruck. It seemed as if their world was toppling when two such partners should disagree. They gathered around in voiceless sorrow and wonderment and watched developments. Shorty seemed in the act of springing forward, when the sharp roll of the drum at Headquarters beating the ^'assembly" arrested all attention. Everyone looked eagiarly toward the Colonel's tent, and saw him come out buckling on his sword, while his Orderly sped away for his horse. Apparently, all the officers had been in con- sultation with him, for they were hurrying away to tliei* several companies. "Fall in, Co. Q," shouted the Orderly-Sergeant. "Fall in promptly." Everybody made a rush for his gun and equipments. "Hurry up. Orderly," said Capt. McGillicuddy, coming up with sword and belt in hand. "Let the boys take what rations they can lay their hands on, but not stop to cook ally. We've got to go on the jump." All was rush and hurry. Si and Shorty bolted for their house, forgetful of their mangled feet. Si got in first, took his gun and cartridge-box down, and buckled on his belt. He looked around for his rations while Shorty was jjutting on his things. His bread and meat and Shorty's were separate, and there was no trouble about them. But the coffee and sugar had not been di- vided, and were in common receptacles. He oj:)ened the coffee-can and looked in. There did not seem to be more than one ration there. He hesitated a brief instant what to do. It would serve Shorty just right to take all the coffee. He liked his coffee even better than Shorty did, and was very strenuous abou' having it. If he did take* M Shorty might think that he was either anxi- 820 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. y ous to make up or afraid^ and he wanted to demonstrate that he was neither. Then thfere was a twinge that it would be mean to take the coffee, and leave his partner, senseless and provoking as he seemed, without any. He set the can down, and turning as if to look for some- thing to empty it in, pretended to hear something outside the house to make him forget it, and hurried out. Presently Shorty came out, and ostentatiously fell into line at a distance from Si. It was the first time they had not stood shoulder to shoulder. The Orderly-Sergeant looked down the line, and called out : "Here, Corp'l Klegg, you^'e not fit to go. Neither are you, Shorty. Step out, both of you." "Yes, I'm all right," said Shorty. "Feet's got well. I kin outwalk a Wea Injun." "Must've bin using some Lightning Elixir Liniment," said the Orderly-Sergeant incredulously. "I saw you both limping around like string-halted horses not 15 minutes ago. Step out, I tell you.". "CaiDtain, le' me go along,", pleaded Si. "You never knowed me to fall Out, did you?" "Captain, I never felt activer in my life," asserted Shorty; "and you know I always kept up. I never played sorc-rOot any day." "I don't believe either of you're fit to go," said Capt. McGillicuddy, "but 1 won't deny you. You may start anyAvay. By the time we get to the pickets you can fall out if you find you can't keep uji." "The rebel cavalry's jumped a herd of beef cattle out at pasture, run off the guard, and are trying to get away with them," the Orderly-Sergeant hurriedly explained, as he lined up Co. Q. "We're to make a short cut across the country and try to cut them off. Sir, the company 's formed." A PEEIOD OF SELP-DISGrST. 821 ''Attention, Co. Q!'' shouted Capt. lEcGillic-iiddy. '•'Eight face!— Forward, file left!— ^larch!''-" The compa?iy went off at a terrific pace to get its place with the regiment, which had already started without it. Though every step was a pang. Si and Shorty kept up unfiinchingly. Each was anxious to outdo the other, and to bear off bravely before the company. The Cap- tain and Orderly-Sergeant took an occasional look at them until they passed the picket-line, when other more pressing matters engaged the officers' attention. The stampeded guards, mounted on mules or con- demned horses, or running on foot, came tearing back, each with a prodigious tale of the numbers and ferocity of the rebels. - The regiment was pushecTTorward with all the speed there was in it. going down-hill and over the level stretch at a double- Cjuick. Si felt his feet bleeding, and it seemed at times that he could not go another step, but then he wotild look back down the line and catch a glimpse of Shorty keeping abreast of his set of fours, and he would spur himself to renewed effort. Shorty would long to throw himself in a fence-corner and rest for a week, until, as they went over some rise, he would catch sight of Si's sandy hair, well in the lead, when he would drink in fresh determination to keep up, if he died in the attempt. Presently they arrived at the top of a hill from which they could see the rebel cavalry rounding up and driving off the cattle, while a portion of the enemy's horsemen were engaged in a fight with a small squad of infantry ensconced behind a high rail fence. Si and Shorty absolutely forgot their lameness as Co. Q separated from the column and rushed to the assist- 6 0 822 m KLEGG AND SHORTY. ance of the squad, while the rest of the regiment turned off to the right to cut off the herd. But they were lame all the same, and tripped and fell over a low fence which the rest of the company easily leaped. They gathered themselves up, sat on the ground for an instant and glared at one another. "Blamed old tangle-foot," said Shorty derisively. "You've got hoofs like a foundered hoss," retorted Si. After this interchange of compliments, they staggered painfully to their feet and picked up their guns, which had flown some distance from their hands as they fell. By this time Co. Q was a quarter of a mile away, and already beginning to fire on the rebels, who showed signs of relinquishing the attack. - ■ "Gol darn the luck!" said Si with Wabash emphasis, beginning to limp forward. "Wish the w^hole outfit was a mile deep in burnin' brimstone," wrathfuUy observed Shorty. A couple of lucky shots had emptied two of the rebel saddles. The frightened horses turned away from the fighting line, and galloped down the road to the right of the boys. The leading one suddenly halted in a fence- corner about 30 yards away from Si, threw up his head and began surveying the scene, as if undecided what to do next. The other, seeing his mate stop, began circling o,round. Hope leaped up in Si's breast. He began creeping to- ward the first horse, under the covert of the sumach. Shorty saw his design and the advantage it would give Si, and standing still began swearing worse than ever Si crept up as cautiously as he had used to in the old days when he was rabbit-hunting The horse thrust his head over the fence, and began nibbling at a clump of tall rye growing there. Si thrust his hand out and caught his bridle. The horse made one frightened plunge, but A PERIOD OF SELF-DISGUST. 823 tlie liaiid on his bridle held with the grip of iron, and he settled down to mute obedience. Si set his gun down in the fence-corner and climbed into the saddle. Shorty made the Spring air yellow with profanity until he saw Si ride away from his gun toward the other horse. "When the latter saw his mate, with a rider, coming to- ward him he gave a whinney and dashed forr^-ard. In an instant Si had hold of his bridle and was turning back. His face was bright with tritimph. Shorty stop- ped in the middle of a soul-curdling oath and yelled de- lightedly: "Bully for old Wabash! You're my pardner, after all. Si." He hastened forward to the fence, grabbed up Si's gun and handed it to him, and then climbed into the other saddle'. The rebels were now falling back rapidly before Co, Q's fire. A small party detached itself and started down a side road. Si and Shorty gave a yell, and galloped toward them, in full sight of Co. Q, who raised a cheer. The rebels sjourred their horses, but Si and Shorty gained on them. ^*Come on, Shorty,'' Si yelled. "I don't believe thy'Te got a shot left. They haint fired once since they started." He was risht. Their cartridge-boxes had been emntied. At the bottom of the hill a creek crossing the road made a deep, wide quagmire. The rebels were in too much hurry to pick out whatever road there might have been through it. Their leaders plunged in, their horses sank nearly to the knees, and the whole party bunched "Surrender, you rebel galoots/'' yelled Si, reining up at a little distance, and bringing his gun to bear^ §24 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. , '^Surrender, you offscourings of secession/' added Shorty. The rebels looked back, held up their hands, and said imploringly : "Don't shoot; 'Mister. We'uns give up. We'uns air taylored.'V J . ' ' fil AND SHORTY AS MOUNTED INFANTRY. f "Come back up here, one by one/' commanded Si, "and go to our rear. Hold on to your guns. Don't throw 'em away. We ain't afraid of 'em." One by one the rebels extricated their horses from the mire with more or less difficulty and filed back. Si kept k PEEIOD OF SELF-BISGUST. 825 Iii^ gun on those in the quagmire, while Shorty attended to the others as they came back. Co. Q was coming to Ills assistance as fast as the boys could march. What was the delight of the boys to recognize in their captives the squad which had cajDtured them. The sanguinary Bushrod Y>'as the first to come back, and Si had to restrain a violent impulse to knock him off his horse with his gun-barrel. But he decided to settle with liiin when through with the present business. By the time the rebels were all up, Co. Q had arrived on the scene. As the prisoners were being disarmed and put under guard, Si called out to Capt. McGillicuddy : '"Captain, one o' these men is my partickler meat. I want to 'tend to him.'' "All right, Corporal," responded the Captain. Attend to him, but don't be too rough on him. Eemember that he is an unarmed prisoner.'^ Si and Shorty got down off their horses, and apjoroach- ed Bushrod, who turned white as deaths trembled vio- lently, and began to beg. ^'Gentlemen, don't kill me," he whined. "Fm a poor man, an' have a fambly to support. I didn't mean nothin' by wbat I said. I sw'ar' t' Lord A'miglity I didn't." "Jest wanted to hear yourself talk—jest practicin' your voice," said Shorty sarcastically, as he took the man by the shoulder and pulled him off into the brush by the roadside. "Jest wanted to skeer us, and see how fast we could run. Pleasant little pastime, ehP "And them things you said about a young }&Ay up in Injianny," said Si, clutching him by the throat, "I want to Vvring your neck jest like a chicken's. fThat'jd you do with her picture and letters?" Si thrust his hand unceremoniously into Bushrod's pocket and found the .ambrctype of Annabel. A brief 32^ SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. glance sliowed him that it was all right, and he gave a sigh of satisfaction, which showed some amelioration of temper toward the captive. "What'd you do with them letters?" Si demanded fiercely . *'Ike has 'em/' said Bushrod. BUSHROD PRAYS FOR HIS LIFE. ''You've got my shoes on, you brindle whelp," said ^ Shorty, giving him a cuff in bitter remembrance of his own smarting feet. "If we're goin' to shoot him let's do it right off," said Si, looking at the cap on his gun. "The company's gittin' ready to start back.'*^ A PERIOD OF SELF-DISGUST. S27 "All right," said Shorty, with cheerful alacrity. "Johnny, your ticket for a brimstone supper's made out. noA\ 'd you rather be shot — standin' or kneeiin'?" "0, gentlemen, don't kill me. Ye hadn't orter. Why do ye pick me out to kill? I wuzzent no wuss'n the others. I wuzzent raylly half ez bad. I didn't raylly mean t' harm ye. I only talked. I had t' talk that-a- way, for I alluz was a Union man, and had t' make a show for the others. I don't want t' be shot at all.'' "You aint answerin' my question," said Shorty coolly and inexorably. "1 asked you how^ you preferred to be shot. These other things you mention hain't nothin' to do with my question." He leveled his gun at the unhappy man and took a deliberate sight. "0, for the Lord A'mighty's sake, don't shoot me down like a dog," screamed Bushrod. "Le'me have a chance to pray, an' make my peace with my Maker." "All right," conceded Shorty, "go and kneel down there by that cottonwood, and do the fastest prayin' you ever did in all your born days, for you have need of it. We'll shoot when I count tiiree. You'd better mak® a clean breast of all your sins and transgressions before you go. You'll git a cooler place in the camp down below.* Unseen, the rest of Co. Q were peeping through the bushes and enjoying the scene. Bushrod knelt down with his face toward the cotton- wood, and began an agonized prayei, mingled with con- fessions of crimes and malefactions, some flagrant, some which brought a grin of amusement to the faces of Co, Q. "One!" called out Shorty in stentorian tones. "0, for the love o' God, Mister, don't shoot me," yelled Bushrod, whirling around, with uplifted arms. "I'm too wicked t' die, an' I've got a fambly dependin' on me." ""Turn around theie, and finish your prayin'," sternly 328 BI KLEGa AND SHORTY. commanded Shorty, with his and Si's faces down to the stocks of their muskets, in the act of taking deliberate aim. Bushrod flopped around, threw increased vehemence into his prayer, and resumed his recital of his misdeeds. "Two!" counted Shorty. Again Bushrod whirled! around with uplifted hands and begged for mercy. "Nary mercy," said Shorty. "You wouldn't give it to us, and you haint given it to many others, according to your own account. Your light's flickerin', and we'll blow it out at the next count. Turn around, there." Bushrod made the woods ring this time with his fer- vent, tearful appeals to the Throne of Grace. He was so wrought up by his impending death that he did not hear Co. Q quietly move away, at a sign from the Captain with Si and Shorty mounting their horses and riding off noiselessly over the sod. For long minutes Bushrod continued his impassioned, appeals at the top of his voice, expecting every instant to have the Yankee bullets crash through his brain. At length he had to stop from lack of breath. Everything was very quiet — deathly so, it seemed to him. He stole a furtive glance around. No Yankees could be seen out of the tail of his eye on either side. Then he looked sauarely around. None was visible anywhere. He Jumped up, began cursing savagely, ran into the road, and started for home. He had gone but a few steps wken he came squarely in front of the musket of the Orderly-Sergeant of Co. Q, who had placed himself in conceaknent to see the end of the play and bring him along. "Halt, there," commanded the Orderly-Sergeant; "face the other way and tiot. We must catch with the company.'* JL PEEIOD OF SELF-DISGUST. Si and Shorty felt that they had redeemed themselves, and returned to camp in such good humor with each other, and everybody else, that they forgot that their feet were almost as bad as ever. They went into the house and began cooking their supper together again. Shorty picked up the co:ffee-can and said: '^Si Klegg, you're a gentleman all through, if yon was born on the Wabash. A genuine gentleman is knowej by his never bein' no hog under no circumstances. I .matched you when you looked into this coffee-can, and mad as I was at you, I said you was a thorobredjwheg you left it all to me." 330 SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. CHAPTER XXX. SHORTY BECOMES ENTANGLED IN A HIGHLY IMPORTANT COR- RESPONDENCE. A light spring wagon, inscribed "United States Sani- tary Commission," drove through the camp of the 200th Ind., under the charge of a dignified man, with a clerical cast of countenance, who w'alked alongside, looking at the soldiers and into the tents, and stopping from time to time to hand a can of condensed milk to this one, a jar of jam to another, and bunches of tracts to whomsoever, would take them. Shorty was sitting in front of the house bathing his aching feet. The man stopped before him, and looked compassionately at his swollen pedals. "Your feet are in a very bad way, my man," he said sadly. "Yes, durn 'em," said Shorty impatiently. "I don't seem to git 'em well nohow. MustVe got 'em pizened when I w^as runnin' through the briars." "Probably some ivy or poison-oak, or nightshade among the briars. Poison -oak is very bad, and nightshade is deadly. I knew a man once that had to have his hand amputated on account of getting poisoned by something that scratched him— nightshade, ivy, or poison- oak. I'm afraid your feet are beginning to mortify." "Well, you are a Job's comforter,^" thought Shorty. "You'd be nice to send for when a man's sick. You'd scare him to death, even if there was no danger o' his dyin'." "My friend," said the man, turning to his wagon, "I've here a nice pair of home made socks, which 1 will give SKOPwir ENTANGLED IN COERESPONDENCE. 231 roil; and wliicli come in nicely if you save your egs. If you clon'r^ give them to some needy man. Here are also some valuable tracts, full of religious consola- tion and advice, ^^•llicIl it will do your soul good to peruse and study.'' Shorty took the gift thankfully, and turned over the tracts Avith curiosity. '''On the Sin of Idolatry/'' he read the title of the first. '^Xow. why'd he give me that? What graven image have I bin -worshiijin'? "What gods of wood and stone have I bin bowin' down before in my blindnss? There've bin times when I thought a good deal more of a Commis- sary tent then I did of a church, but I got cured of that as soon as I got a square meal. I don't see where I have bin guilty of idolatry." '•'On the Foil}' of Self-Pride," he read from the next one. ^'Hnniph, there may be something in that that I oughter read. I am very liable to git stuck on myself, and think how purty I am, and how graceful, and how sweetly I talk, and what tine cloze I wear. Especially the cloze. I'll put that tract in my pocket an' read it after awhile." *'0n the Evils of Gluttony," he next read. "Well, that's a timely tract, for a fact. I'm in the habit o' goin' around stuffin' myself, as this says, \\ith delicate viands, and drinkin' fine wines — 'makin' my belly a god.' The man what YTote this must've bin intimately acquainted with IIls sumptuous menoo whicti Unc^ Sam sets bcfor? his nephews. He must've knowed ali about the dolicrate, apetizin' flavor of a slab o' fat poik four inches thick, taken off the side of the hog that's ^up- permost when he's laying on his back. And how I gor- mandize on hardtack baked in the first place for the Eevolutioners, and kept over ever since. That feUer knows jest what he's writiu' about. I'd like to exchange ohotographs with him." 332 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. "Thou Sheih Not Swear." Shorty read a few words, got red in the face, whistled softly, crumpled the tract up, and threw it away. *'0n the Sin of Dancing." Shorty yelled with laughter. "Me dance with these hoofs! And he thinks likely morti- fication'll set in, and I'll lose 'em altogether. Well, he oughter be harnessed up with Thompson's colt. Which'd come out ahead in the race for the fool medal? But these seeip. to be nice socks. Fine yarn, well-knit, and by stretching a little I think I kin get 'em on. I declare, they're beauties. I'll jest make Si sick with envy when I show 'em to him. I do believe they lay over anything his mother ever sent him. Hello, Mdiat's this?" He extracted from one of them a note in a small, white envelope, on one end of which was a blue Zouave, with red face, hands, cap and gaiters, brandishing a red sword in defense of a Star Spangled Banner which he held in his left hand. "Must belong to the Army o' the Potomac," mused Shorty^ studying the picture. "They wear all sorts o" outlandish 'tyiniforms there. That led-headed wood- peckerVl be shot before he'd git in a mile o' the rebels out here. AU that hollyhock business'd jest be meat for their sharpshooters. And what's he doin' with that 'ere svvord: I woitidn't give that Springfield rifle o' mine <5Words that were ever hammered out. When i reach for a feller 600 or even 800 yards away I kin fetch ^Jm every time. He's my meat unless he jumps behind a tree. But as for swords, I never could see no sense in 'em,' except for officers to put on lugs with. I wouldn't pack one a mile for a wagonload of 'em." He looked at the address on the envelope. Straight lines had been scratched across with a pin. On these was written, in a cramped, mincing hand; SHOHTY ENT^'GLED IN COEEESPOXDEXCE 335 *'To tlie brare soljer wlio Gits these Socks." ^'Humpli.'' mused Sliortv, ^"tliat's piobablv for me. I've got tlie socks, and I'm a soldier. As to i>\-lietlier I'm brave or iiot's a matter of opinion. Sometimes I think I am: agin, v.-lien there's a dozen rebel gtins pinted at mv head, not 10 feet away, I think I'm not, Btit we'll play that I'm brave enough to have this intended for me. and ril open it."' On the sheet of paper inside was another valorous red- and-blue Zouave defending the flag with drawn sword. On it was Avritten; "Bad Ax. T^'iseonsin. '■Janooaiy the lith, 1SG3. ^'Braiv Solier: I doant know who you air, or whair you may bee: I only know that you air serving your country, and that is enui to intitle to the gratitude and affection of every man and woman who has the breath of patriot- ism in their bodies. ''1 am anxious to do something all the time, very little thought it may be, to help in some way the men who air fiting the awful battles for me^ and for every man and woman in the country. ^'T send these socks now as my latest contribtition. They aint much, but I've put my best work on them, and I hoap the}' will be useful and comfortable to some good, braiv w.&xk^ ^'How good you may be I doant know, but you air sert- ingly a much better man than you would be if you was not fitins; lor the Union, I hoap you air a regler. con- sistent Christian. Ide prefer you to be a 5iethodist Episcopal, but any church is much better than none. '•Jle be glad to heer that you have received these things all rite. ^SinceieU' your friend and well-wisher, if'Jertisha iHIen Briggs.." 834 SI KLEGG AND SHOKTY, Although Shorty was little inclined to any form of reading, and disliked handwriting about as much as he did work on the fortifications, he read the letter over several times^ until he had every word in it and every feature of the labored, cramped penmanship thoroughly imj^rinted on his mind. Then he held it off at arm's length for some time, and studied it with growing admira- tion. It seemed to him the most wonderful epistle that ever emanated from any human hand. A faint scent of roses came from it to help the fascination. ^ril jest bet my head agin a big red apple," he solilo- quized, ''the woman that vrrit that's the purtiest girl in the State o' Wisconsin. I'll bet there's nothin' in In- jianny to hold a candle to her, purty as Si thinks his Annabel is. And smart — my! Jest look at that letter. That tells it. Every word spell ad correckly, and the grammar away up in G. AnnabePs a mighty nice girl, and purty, too, but I've noticed she makes mistakes in spelling, and her grammar's the Wabash kind— home- made." He drew down his eyebrows, pursed his lips, and as- sumed a s«^verely critical look for a reperusal of the let- ter and jud^'ment upon it according to the highest literary standards. "iS'o, sir." he said, ?vit!i an air of satisfaction, "not a blamed mistake in it, from beginnin' to end. Every Avord spelled jest right, the grammar straight as the Ten Com- mandments, every t crossed and i dotted aecordin' to regulashuns and the Constitushun of the United States. She must be a school-teacher, and yit a school-teacher couldn't knit sich socks as them. She's a lady, every inch of her. Religious, too. Belongs to the Methodist Church. Si's father's a Baptist, and so's my folks, but 1 always did think a heap o' the Methodists. I think SHORTY ENTANGLED DT COERESPONTDENCE. - 835 tliey have a little nicer girls tlian the Baptists. I think I'd like to marry a Methodist wife.'' Then he blushed vividly, all to himself, to think how fast his thoughts had traveled. He returned to the let- ter, to cover his confusion. * ''Bad Ax, Wis. What a queer name for a place. Xevei heard of it before. Wonder where in time it is? I'd iil^e awfully to know. There's the 1st and 21st Wis. in Ptousseau's Division, and the 10th Wis. Battery in Pal- mer's Division. I might go over there and ask some o' them. !Mebbe some of 'em are right from there. I'll bai it's a mighty nice place." He turned to the signature with increased interest, ^^Jerusha Ellen Briggs. Why, the name itself is reg'Iar poetry. Jerusha is awful purty. Your Hollies and Sal- lies and Emmies can't hold a candle to it. And Anna- bel—pshaw ! Ellen—- why that's my mother's name. Briggs? I knowed some Briggs es once-^way-up, awfully nice people. Seems to me they wtiz Presbyterians, though, and I always thought that Presbyterians wuz stuck-up, but they wuzzent stuck-up a mite. I wonder if Miss Jerusha Ellen Briggs — ^she must be a Miss— haint some beau? But she can't have. If he wuzzent in the army she wouldn't have him; and if he was in the army she'd be sending the socks to him, instead of to whom it may concern." This brilliant bit of logic disposed of a sudden fear which had been clutching at his heart. It tickled him so much that he jumped up, slapped his breast, and grin- ned delightedly and triumphantly at the whole land- scape. "What's pleasln' you so mightly. Shorty?" asked Si, who had just come up. ''Got a new system for beatin^ chuck-a-luck, or bin promoted?" *^Xo; nothin'l Nothin's hag^sned," said Shortj curtlj, SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. as he hastily shoved the letter into his blouse pocket. "Will you watch them beans bilin' while I go down to the spring and git some water?" He picked up the camp-kettle and started. He wanted to be utterly alone, even from Si, with his new-born thoughts. He did not go directly to the spring, but took another way to a clump of paivpaw bushes, which would hide him from the observation of everyone. There he sat dow^n, pulled out the letter again, and read it over care- fully, word by word. *'Wants me to write whether I got the socks," he mused. "You jest bet I will. I've a great mind to ask for a fur- lough to go up to Wisconsin, and find out Bad Ax. I wonder how fur it is. I'll go over to the Sutler's and git some paper and envelopes, and write to her this very afternoon." He carried his camp-kettle back to the house, set it down, and making some excuse, set oil for the Sutler's shop. "Le'me see your best paper and envelopes," he said to the pirate who had license to fieece the volunteers. "Awfully common trash," said Shorty, looking over tli6 assortment disdainfully, for he wanted something superlatively fine for his letter. "Why don't you git something fit for a gentleman to vrite to a lady on? Something with gold edges on the paper and envelopes, and perfumed? I never wrii© co a lady except on gilt- edged paper, smellin' o' bergamot, and musk, and citro- nella, and them things. I don't think it's good taste." "Well, think what you please," said the Sutler. "That's all the kind I have, and that's all the kind you'll git. Take it or leave it." Shorty finally selected a quire of heavy letter paper and a bunch of envelopes, both emblazoned with patri- otic and warlike designs in brilliant red and blue. SHORTY ENTANGLED IN CORRESi'aNDENCE. 337 "Better take enough lie said to himself. "Pre been Iiandlin' a pick and shovel and gun so mueh that Fm af eared my hand isn't as light as it used to be, and have to spile several sheets before I git it jest right.* On his way back he decided to go by the camp of one e>f the Wisconsin regiments and learn what he could of Bad Ax and its people. "Is there a town in your State called Bad Ax?" he asked of the first man he met with "Wis." on his cap. "CertV was the answer. "And another one called Milwaukee, one called Madison, and another called Green Bay. Are you studying primary geography, or just get- ting up a post-office directory?" "Don't be funny, Skeezics," said Shorty severely. '^Know anything about it? Mighty nice place, ain't it?" "Know anything about it? I should say so. My fol'ks live in Bad Ax County. It's the toughest, orneriest little hole in the State. Eun by lead-miners. More whisky- shanties than dwellings. It's tough, I tell you." "I believe you're aa infernal liar," said Shorty, turning away in w^ath. Not being fit for duty, he could devote all his time to the composition of the letter. He was so wrought up Qver it that he could not eat much dinner, which alarmed Si. "What's the matter with your appetite, Shorty?'^ asked. "Haint bin eatin' nothin' that disagreed with you, have you?" "Naw," answered Shorty impatiently; "nothin' wuss'r« army rations^ They always disagree with me when I'm layin' around doin' nothin'. Why, in the name of goodness, don't the army move? I've got sick o' the sight o' every cedar and rocky knob in Middle Tennes- see. We ought to go down and take a look at things around Tullahoma, where Mr. Bragg is.'* 838 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. It was Si's turn to clean up after dinner, and, making an excuse of going over into another camp to see a man who had arrived there, Shorty, with his paper and en- velopes concealed under his blouse, and Si's pen and wooden ink-stand furtively conveyed to his pocket, picked up the checkerboard when Si's back was turned, and made his way to the pawpaw thicket, where he could be unseen and unmolested in the greatest literary under- taking of his life. He took a comfortable seat on a rock, spread the paper on the checkerboard, and then began vigorously chewing the end of the penholder to stimulate his thoughts. It had been easy to form the determination to write; the desire to do so was irresistible, but never before had he been confronted with a task which seemed so over- whelming. Compared with it, struggling with a mule- train all day through the mud and rain, working with pick and shovel on the fortifications, charging an enemy's solid line-oi-battle, appeared light and easy performances. He would have gone at either, on the instant, at the word of command, or without waiting for it, with entire confidence in his ability to master the situation. But to write a half-dozen lines to a strange girl, whom he had already enthroned as a lovely divinity, had more terrors than all of Bragg 's army could induce. But when Shorty set that somewhat thick head of his c^ptfn the doing ei a thing, the thing was tolerably cer- tain to be done in some shape or another. **I believe, if I knowed where Bad Ax was, I'd git a fur- lough, and walk clean there, rather than write a line," he said, as he wiped from his brow the sweat forced out by the labor of his mind. "I always did hate writin'. rd rather maul rails out of a twisted elm log any da^ than fill up a copy book. But it's got to be done, and SHOETY ENTANGLED IN COEEESPONDENOIL 339 the sooner I do it the sooner the agony '11 be over. Here goes." He began laboriously forming each letter with his lips, and still more laboriously with his stiff fingers, adding one to another, until he had traced out: "Headquarters Co. Q, 200th Injianny Volunteer Infantiy„ Murfreesboro, Aprile the 16th eighteen hundred & sixty- three." The sweat stood out in beads upon his forehead after this effort, but it was as nothing compared to the strain of deciding how he should address his correspondent. He wanted to use some term of fervent admiration, but fear deterred him. He debated the question with him- self until his head fairly ached^ when he settled upon the inoffensive phrase : "Eespected Lady." The effort was so exhausting that he had to go down to the spring, talvc a deep drink of cold water, and bathe his forehead. But his determination was unabated, and be- fore the sun went down he had produced the following : *'i talk mi pen in hand 2 inform U that ive reseeved the SOX U so kindly cent, & i thank U 1,000 times 4 them. They are boss sox & no mistake. They are the bossest SOX that ever wuz nit. The man is a lire who sez they aint. He dassent tel Me so. U are a boss nittei. Even Misses Linkun can't hold a candle 2 U. 'The SOX fit me 2 a t, but that iz becaws they are nit so wel, & stretch." "I wish I knowed some more real strong words to praise her knitting," said Shorty, reading over the laboriously- written lines. "But after I have said they're boss what more is there to say? I spose I ought to say something about her health next. That's polite." And he \vrote: * "ime in fair helth, except my feet are locoed, & i weigh 176 gounds, & hope U are injoyinp- the saim blessing," 840 SI KLEGG Am> SHOETY. "I expect I ought to praise lier socks a little more," said he, and wrote : ^The SOX are jest boss. They outrank anything in the Army of the Cumberland." After this effort he was compelled to take a lon£ rest. Then he communed with himself: "When a man's writin' to a lady, and especially an educated lady, he should always throw in a little poetry. It touches her." There was another period of mtense thought^ and then he wrote : "Dan Elliot is my name, ' . & single is my station, Injianny is mi dwelling place, & Christ is mi salvation." * "Now," iie said triumphantly, "that's neat and effect- ive. It: tells her a whole lot about me, and makes her think I know Shakspere by heart. Wonder if I can't Jhink o' some more? Hum— hum, Yes, here goes: "The rose is red, the vilet's blue ; ime 4 the Union^ so ara y." Shorty was so tickled over this happy conceit that ne fairly hugged himself, and had to read it over several times to admire its beauty. But it left him too ex- hausted for any further mental labor than to close up with : *No moar at gresent, from ^onrs til death* "Dan Elliott, . "Co. Q, 200th Injianny Volunteer Infantry." He folded up the missive, j^ut it into an envelope, care- fully directed to Miss Jerusha Ellen Briggs, Bad Ax, Wia., and after depositing it in the box at the Chaplain's tent, plodded homeward, feeling more tired than after a day's digging on the fortifications."^ Yet his fatigue was ill lami- nated by the siiiimnering H^hyt of a fasconatia^ ho^e* J. FEIENDLY COMMERCE WITH REBEL PICKETS. S41 CHAPTER XXXI. SI AXD SHORTY HAVE SOME FRIENDLY COMMERCE WITH THE REBEL PICKETS, The 200tli Ind. Volunteer Infantry Iiad been pushed out to \vatch the crossings of Duck River and the movements of the rebels on the south bank of that narrow str.?am. The rebels, vho had fallen into the incurable habit of objecting to everything that the "Yankees" did, seemed to have especial and vindictive repugnance to being watched. Probably no man, except he be an actor or a politician, likes to be Vv^atched, but few ever showed themselves as spitefully resentful of observation as the rebels. Co. Q was advanced to picket the north bank of the river, but the moment it reached the top of the hill over- looking the stream it had to deploy as skirmishers, and Enfield bullets began to sing viciously about its ears. "Looks as if them fellers think we want to steal thei^ old river and send it North," said Shorty, as he reloadexi his gun after firing at a puff of smoke that had come out of the sumach bushes along th^ fence at the foot of the hill. "They needn't be so grouty. We don't want theii yiyer._only to use it awhile. They kin have it back agip after we're through with it." "Blamed if that feller didn't make a good line shot/' said Si, glancing up just above his head to where a t-r:^ had been clipped off the persimmon tree behind ^^-hich he was standing. "He put up his sights a little too fur, or he'd 'a' got me." Si toolc careful aim at where he supposed the lurking marksman to be and fired. M2 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY There was a waving of the tups of the bushes, as if the men concealed there had rushed out. "Guess we both landed mighty close," said Shorty- triumph antly. "They seem to have lost interest in this piece o' sidehill, anyway." He and Si made a rush down the hill, and gained the covert of the fence just in time to see the rails splintered by a bunch of shots striking them. "Lay down, Yanks!" called out Shorty cheerily, drop- ping into the weeds. "Grab a root!" To the right of them they could see the rest of Co. Q going through similar performances. 5i and Shorty pushed the w^eeds aside, crawled cauti- ously to the fence, and looked through. There was a road on the other side of the fence, and beyond it a grove of large beech trees extending to the bank of the river. Half concealed by the trunk of one of these stood a tall, rather good-looking young man, with his gun raised and intently peering into the bushes. He had seen the tops stir, and knew that his enemies had gained their cover. He seemed expecting that they would climb the fence and jump down into the road. At a little distance to his fjgnt could be seen other men on the sharp lookout. Shorty put his hand on Si to caution and repress him. With his eyes fixed on the rebel. Shorty drew his gun toward him. The hammer caught on a trailing vine, and, forgetting himself, he gave it an impatient jerk. It went off, the bullet whistling past Shorty's head and the powder burning his face. The rebel instantly fired in return, and cut the leaves about four feet above Shorty. "Purty good shot that, Johnny," called out Shorty as he reloaded his gun; "but too low. It went between my ^egs. You haint no idee how tall I am." "If I couldn't shoot no better'n you kin on a sneak/* FRIENDLY CO^IMEECE WITH EEBEL PICKET3. 343 answered the rebel, his rammer ringing in his gun-barrel, "1 wouldn't handle firearms. Your bullet went a mile over my head. Must've bin shootin' at an- angeL But you Yanks can't shoot nary bit — you're too sheered." ... . "1 made you hump out o' the bushes a few minutes ago.-' replied Shorty, putting on a caD. "lYho was sheered then? You struck for tall timber like a cotton-tailed rabbit." "I'll rabbit ye, ye nigger-lovin' whelp/' shouted the rebel. "Take that/' and he fired as close as he could to the sound of Shorty's voice. Shorty had tried to anticipate his motion and fired first, btit the limbs bothered his aim, and his bullet went a foot to the right of the rebel's head. It was close enough, however, to make the rebel cover himself care- fully with the tree. , ^ "That was a much better shot, Yank," he called out. "But ye orter do a powerful sight better'n that on a sneak. Ye'd never kill no deer, nor rebels nuther, with that kind o' sliootin'. You Yanks are great on the sneak, but that's all the good it does yet ye can't shoot fer a handfull o' huckleberries." "Sneaks! Can't shoot I" roared Shorty. ^'1 kin out- shoot vou or any other man in Jeff Davis's kingdom. I dare vou to come out from behind your tree, and take a shot with me in the open, according to Hardee's tactics. Your gun's empty; so's mine. My chum lierel] see fai.T play; and you kin bring your chum with you. Comt? aur> vou skulkin' brindle pup, and shoot man-fashion, if you dare." "Ye can't dare me, ye uigger-stealin' blue-belly," shouted the rebel in return, coming out from behind his tree. Shorty climbed over the fence and stood at the edge of the road, with his gun at order arms. Si came gut on Shorty's left, and a rebel appeared to the right of S44 m ELEGG im> 6H0BT7. the first. For a minute all stood in expectancy. Then Shorty spoke: "I want mothin' but what's fair. Your gun's empty; so's miuQ, You probably know Hardee's tactics as well as I do." ^'m ug in Hardee," said the rebel with a firm voice. THE DUEL. '*Well, then," 6o»iinued Shorty, "let my chum here call off the orders for loadin' and firin', and we'll both go through 'em, and shoot at the word.'' "Go ahead— I'm agreed," said the rebel briefly Shorty nodded to Si. FEIENBLY COmiERCE WITH REBEL PICKETSc S45 "Carry arms," commanded Si. . Both brought their guns ug to their right sides.] 'Tresent arms." Both courteously saluted. *Toad in nine times — Load," ordered SI. Both guns came down at the same instant, each man grasped his muzzle with his left hand, and reached for his cartridge-box, awaiting the next ord^. ^^andle cartridges," *'Tear cartridges," "Charge cartridges," repeated Si slowly and distinctly. The rebel's second nodded approval of his knowledge of the drill, and sang out, ■ '^Good soldiers, all of yo'uns." . • "Draw rammer," continued Si* "Turn rammer," "Ram cartridge." ^ Shorty punctiliously executed the three blows oJi the cartridge exacted by the regulations, and paused a breath for the next word. The rebel had sent his car- tridge home with one strong thrust, but he saw his op- ponent's act and waited. "Return rammer," commanded Si. He was getting a little nervous, but Shorty deliberately withdrew his ram- rod, turned it, placed one end in the thimbles, deliberatelj covered the head with his little finger, exactly as m'e tactics prescribed, and sent it home with a single move- ment. The rebel had a little trouble in returning ram- mer, and Shorty and Si waited. . ^^Cast about," "Prime!" Both men capped at the same instant* "Ready r 346 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Shorty cocked his piece and glanced at the rebel, whose gun was at his side. ^ "Aiml" Both guns came up like a flash. Si's heart began thumping at a terrible rate. lie was far more alarmed about Shorty than he had ever been about himself. Up to this moment he had hoped that Shorty's coolness and deliberation would "rattle" the rebel and make him fire wildly. But the latter, as Si expressed it afterward, "seemed to be made of mighty good stuff/' and it looked as if both woul/ be shot down. "Fire!" shouted Si, with a perceptible tremor in his roico. Both guns flashed at the same instant. Si saw Shorty's cap fly off, and him stagger and fall, while the rebel dropped his gun, aild clapped his hand to his side. Si ran toward Shorty, who instantly sprang up again, rub- bing his head, from which came a faint trickle of blood. "He aimed at my head, and h^sl scraped my scalp," he said. "Where'd I hit him? I aimed at his heart, and had a good bead." "You seem to'ye struck him in the side," answered Si? . looking at the rebel. "But not badly, for he's stiii standih' up. Mebbe you hi&isie a rib though." "Couldn't, if he's still up. I must file my trigger. Gun pulls too hard. I had a dead aim on his heart, but I seem to'v^e pulled too much to the right," "Say, I'll take 4, turn with you," said Si, picking up his gun and motioning with his left hand at the other ''All right," answered the other promptly. "My gun ain't loaded, though." "I'll wait for you," said Si, looking at the cap on his gun. A loud cheer was heard from far to the right, and Co. Q was seen coming forward on a rush, with the rebels FEIEXDLY COMMEECE WITH REBEL PICKETS. 847 m front running back to tlie river bank. Several were seen to be overtaken and forced to surrender. The two rebels in front of tlie boys gave a startled look at their comrades, then at the boys, and turned to run. Si raised his gun to order them to halt. "No," said Shorty. ''Let 'em go. It was a fair bargain, and I'll stick to it. Skip out, Johnnies, for every cent you're worth." The rebels did not wait for the conclusion of the sen- tence, but followed their comrades with alacrity. The boj'S ran forward through the woods to the edge of the bank, and saw their opponents climbing up the op- posite bank and getting behind the sheltering trees. Si waited till his particular one got good shelter behind u large sycamore, and then sent a bullet that eut closely above his head. This was the signal for a general and spiteful fusilade from both sides of the river and all along the line. The rebels banged away as if in red-hot wrath at being run across the stream, and Co. Q retorted with such earnest- ness that another company was sent forward to its as* sistance, but returned when the Irish Lieutenant, who had gone forward to investigate, reported: "Faith, it's loilve the divdl shearing a hog— all cry smd no wool at all." So it was. Both sides found complete shelter behind the giant trunks of the trees, and each fired at insig* nificant portions of the anatomy allowed to momentarily protrude beyond the impenetrable boles After this had gone on for about half an hour thos^ across the river from Si and Shorty called out: "Say, Yanks, ye can't shoot down a beech tree with h Springfield musket, nohow ye kin do hit. If we'uns haiut killin' more o' yo'uns than yo'uns is a-killin' o' we'uns, we'uns air both wastin' a powerful lot o' powder an' lead 348 61 KLEGG AND SHOETY. and good sliootin'. What d' jo'uns say to Kings' excuse for awhile?" "We're agreed," said Si promptly, stepping from be- hind the tree, and leaving his gun standing against it. THE OVERTURE FOR TRADE. "Hit's a go," responded the rebels, coming out dis- armed. "We'uns won't shoot no more till ordered, an' then'il gire yo'uns warnin' fust." rigiit; we^ii give you warning before we shoot," coiiieided Si. "Say, have yo'uns got any Yankee coffee that you'll trade for a good plug o' terbacker?" inquired the man whom Si had regarded as his paiticulai' staxUiffomsU . FRIE^TDLY OOmrERCg WITH REBEL PICKETS. 349 "Yes," aiiSAvered Si. "We've got a little. We^l give you a cupfal for a long plug with none cut off." "What kind of a cupful?" asked the bartering "Johnny." "A good, big, honest cupful. One o' this Idnd," said Si, showing his. "All right. Hit's to be strike measure," said the rebeL "Here's the plug," and he held up a long plug of "natural leaf." *^0. E:.," responded Si. "Meet me half-way." The truce had quickly extended, and the firing sus- pended all along the line of Co. Q. The men came out from behind their trees, and sat down on the banks in open view of one another. Si filled his cup "heaping-full" with coffee, cKmbed down the bank and waded out into the middle of the water. The rebel met him there, while his companion and Shorty stood on the banks above and watched the trade. "Y're givin' me honest measure, Yank," said the rebel, looking at the cup. "Now, if ye haint filled the bottom o' yer cup with coffee that's bin biled before, I'll say y^re all right. Some o' yo'uns air so dog-gasted smart that T?' poke off on we'uns coffee that's bin already biled, and swindle we'uns." "Turn it out and see," said Si. The rebel emptied the cup into a little bag, carefully scrutinizing the stream as it ran in. It was aU fine, fragrant, roasted and ground coffee. "Lord, thar's enough t' last me a month witli keer^"* said the - rebel, gazing unctuously at the riek brown grains. "I won't use more'n a spoonful a day, an' hit over twice. Yank, here's yer terbacker. I've made a good trade. Here's a Chattanooga paper I'll throw in to boot. Got a Northern paper about ye anywhar?" 1^ Si produced a somewhat frayed Cincinnati Gazette. 850 SI KLEGG AND SHORTZt 'I cauH read myself," said the rebel, as he tucked the paper away. "Never I'arned to. Pap wuz agin hit. Said hit made men lazy. He got erlong without readin', and raised the biggest fambly on Possum Crick. But thar's a feller in my mess kin read everything but the big words, and I like t' git a paper for him to read to the rest o' we'uns." "Was your partner badly hurt by mine's shot?" asked Si. "iS^o. The bullet jest scraped the bone. He'll be likely to have a stitch in his side for awhile, but he's a very peart man, and won't mind that. I'm s 'prised he didn't lay your partner out. He's the best shot in our company." "Well, he was buckin agin a mighty good shot, and I'm surprised your partner's alive. I wouldn't 've given three cents for him when Shorty drawed down on him; but Shorty's bin off duty for awhile, and his gun's not in the best order. Howsumever, I'm awful glad that it come out as it did. His life's worth a dozen rebels." "The blazes you say. I'd have you know, Yank, that one Conferderit is wuth a whole rijimint o' Lincoln hire- lings. I'll" "0, come off — come off — that's more o' your old five- to-one gas," said Si irritatingly. "I thought we'd wal- loped that dumbed nonsejfise out o' your heads long ago. We've showed right along that, man for man, we're a feight better'n you. We've always licked you when we've had anything like a fair show. At Stone Eiver you had easy two men to our one, and yit we got away with you." "'Taint so. It's a lie. If hit wuzzent for the Dutch and Irish you hire, you couldn't fight we'uns at all." "Look here, reb," said Si, getting hot around the ears, •I'm neither a Dutchman nor an Irishman; we haint a FEIENDLY CO:\niERCE WITH REBEL PICKETS. Sf>l half dozen in our company. I'm a better man tlian youVe got in your regiment. Either me or Shorty kin lick any man you put up, Co. Q kin lick your company single-handed and easy, the 200th Injianny kin lick any regiment in the rebel army. To prove it, I kin lick you right here." ^ — tnrust tne plug of tobacco into his blouse pocket and began rolling up his sleeves. The rebel did not seem at all averse to the trial ^nd squared off at hiiu. Then Shorty saw the belligerent at- titude and yelled : ''Come, Si. Don't fight there. That's no place. If you're goin' to ii^ht, come up on level ground, where it 352 BI KLEGG AND SHOETY. kin be fair and square. Come up here, or we'll go over tkere." "0, come off," shouted the rebel on the other side. "Don't be a fool, Bill. Fis't-foutin' don't settle nothin'. Come baick here and git your gun if ye want to fout. But don^t le's fout no more to-day. Thar's plenty of it for ter-morrer. Le's keep quiet and peaceful now. I want powerfully to take a swim. Air you fellers agreed?" "Yes; yes," shouted Shorty. "You fellers keep to your side o' the river, and we will to ours." The agreement was carried into instantaneous effect, and soon both sides of the stream were filled with laughing, romping, splashing men. There was something very exhilarating in the cool, clear, mountain water of the stream. The boys got to wrestling, and Si came off victorious in two or three bouts with his comrades. "Cock-a-doodle-doo," he shouted, imitating the crow of a rooster. "I k»in duck any man in the 200th Injianny." The challenge reached the ears of the rebel with whom Si had traded.. He was not satisfied with the result of his conference. "You kin crow over your fellers, Yank," he shouted; "but you xiassent come to the middle an' try me two falls outeu three." Si immediately made toward him. They surveyed each other warily for a minute to get the advantages of the first clinch, when a yell came from the rebel side: "Scatter, Confedsl Hunt yer holes, Yanks I The Kunnel's a-comin'." BHh sides ran up their respective banks, snatched up iheir OL111.S. took their places behind their trees, and opened a noisy but harmless fire. SHORTY GETS A LETTER. 353 CHAPTEE XXXn. BHOETY GETS A LETTER FROM BAD AX, WIS. Shorty had always been conspicuously lacking in the general interest which his comrades had shown in the mails. Probably at some time in his life he had had a home like the rest of them, but for some reason home now played no part in his thoughts. The enlistment and muster-rolls stated that he was born in Indiana, but he was a stranger in the neighborhood when he enrolled himself in Co. Q. His revelations as to his past were confined to memo- ries of things which happened "when I was cuttin' wood down the Mississippi/' or "when I was runnin' on an Ohio stern wheel." lie wrote no letters, and received none. And when the joyful cry, "Mail's come," would send everybody else in the regiment on the run to the Chaplain's tent, in eager anticipation, to jostle one another in impatience, until the contents of the mail -pouch were distributed, Shorty would remain indifferent in his tent, without an instant's interruption in his gun-cleaning, mending, or whatever task he might have in hand. A change came over him after he sent his letter to Bad Ax, Wis. The cry, "Mail's come," would make him start, in spite of himself, and before he could think to maintain his old indifference. He was ashamed, lest he betray his heart's most secret thoughts. The matter of the secure transmission of the mails be- tween camp and home began to receive his earnest atten- tion. He feared that the authorities were not taking 354 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. sufficient precautions. The report that John Morgan^s guerrillas had captured a train betAveen Louisville and Nashville, rifled the mail-car, and carried off the letters, filled him with burning indignation, both against Morgan and his band and the Generals who had not long ago exterminated that pestiferous croAvd. He had some severe strictures on the slovenly way in which the mail was distributed from the Division and Brigade Headquarters to the regiments. It was a matter, he said, which could not be done too carefully. It was a great deal more important than the distribution of ra- tions. A man w^ould much rather lose several days' rations than a letter from home. He could manage ih some way t.o get enough to live on, but nothing Avould re- place a lost better. Theu, he w-ould have fits of silent musing, sometimes when alone, sometimes when with Si in the company, over thjB personality of the fair stocking-knitter of Wis- consin and .the letter he had sent her. He Avould try to recall the exact wording of each sentence he had labori- ously penned, and wonder how it imi^ressed her, think how it might have been improved, and blame himself for not having been more outspoken in his desire to hear from her again. He would steal off into the brush, j)ull out the socks and letter, which he kept carefully wrap- ped up in a sheet of the heavy letter paper, and read over the letter carefully again, although he knew evci-y word of it by heart. These fits alarmed Si. "I'm af eared," he confided to some cronies, "that rebel bullet hurt Shorty more-n he'll let on. He's not actin' like his self at times. That bullet scraped so near his thinkery that it may have addled it. It was an awful close shave." "Better talk to the Surgeon," said they. "Glancinof bullets sometimes hurt worse'n thev seem to." SHORTY GETS A LETTER 355 ^^o, the bullet didn't hurt Shorty, any more than make a scratch," said the Surgeon cheerfully when Si laid the case before him. "1 examined him carefully. That fel- low's head is so hard that no mere scraping is goins' to affect it. You'd have to bore straight through it, and I'd want at least a six-pounder to do it with if I was going to undertake the job. An Indiana head may not be partic- ularly fine, but it is sure to be awfully solid and tough. No; his system's likely to be out of order. You rapscal- lions Avill take no care of yourselves, in spite of all that I can say, but will eat and drink as if you were ostriches. He's probably a little off his feed, and a good dose of bluemass followed up with quinine will bring him around all right. Here, take these, and give them to him " The Surgeon was famous for prescribing blueiytass and quinine for every ailment presented to him, from sore feet to ''shell fever." Si received the medicines with a proper show of thankfulness, saluted, and left. As he passed through the clump of bushes he was tempted to add them to the collection of little white papers which marked the trail from the Surgeon's tent, but solicitude for his comrade restrained him. The Surgeon was prob- ably right, and it was Si's duty to do all that he could to bring Shorty around again to his normal condition. But how in the world was he going to get his partner to take the medicine? Shorty had the resolute antipathy to drugs common to all healthy men. It was so grave a problem that Si sat down on a log to think about it. As was Si's way, the more he thought about it, the more determined he became to do it, and when Si Klegg deteirmined to do a thing, that thing was pretty nearly as good as done. 'T kin git him to take the quinine easy enough," he mused. "All I've got to do is to put it in a bottle whisky, and he'd drink it if there wuz 40 doses o' quinine S56 fil KLEGG AND SHOETY. in it. But the bluemass's a very different thing. He's got to smaller it in a lump, and wliat in the world kin I put it in that he'll swaller whole?" Si wandered over to the Sutler's in hopes of seeing something there that would help him. He was about despairing when he noticed a boy open a can of large, yellow peaches. 'The very thing," said Si, slap^nng his thigh. "Say you man, gi' me a can o' j)eaches jest like them." Si took his can and carefully approached his tent, that he might decide upon his plan before Shorty could see him and his load. He discovered that Shorty was sitting at a little distance, with his back to him, cleaning his gun, which he had taken apart. "Bully," thought Si. "Just the thing. His hands are dirty and greasy, and he won't want to tech anything to eat." He slipped into the tent, cut open the can, took out a large peach with a spoon, laid the pellet of blue mass ill it, laid another slice of peach upon it, and then came around in front of Shorty, holding out the spoon. *'Open your mouth and shut your eyes. Shorty," he said. "I saw some o' the nicest canned peaches down at the Sutler's, and I suddenly got hungry for some. I bought a can and brung ^em up to the tent. Jest try 'em." He stuck the spoon out towards Shorty's mouth. The latter, with his gunlock in one hand and a greasy rag in the other, looked at the tempting morsel, opened hi;s mouth, and the deed was done. "Must've left the stone in that peach," he said, as he gulped it down. "Mebbe so," said Si, with a guilty flush, and pretend- ing to examine the others. "But 1 don't fuid none in the rest. Have another?'* SHOETY GETS A LETTEE. 857 Sliorfy swallowed two or tliree spoonfuls more, and then gasped: ''TlievTe awful nice, Si, but I've got enougii. Keeg tlie rest for yourself.'' Si went back to tlie tent and finished the can with mingled emotions of triumph at having succeeded, and of contrition at glaring a trick on his partner. He decided SI GIVES SHOETY BLUEMISS. to make amends for the latter by giving Shorty an un- usually large quantity of v^hisky to take with his quinine. Si was generally very rigid in his temperance ideas. He strongly disapproved of Shorty's drinking, and al- ways interposed all the obstacles he could in the way of it. But this was an extraordinary case, — it would be 358 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "using liquor for a medicinal purpose /'—and his con- science was qiiieted. Co. Q had one of those men — to be found in every company— who can get whisky under apparently any- and all circum ->'ances. In every company there is al- ways one m^in who seemingly can lind something to get druiik on in the midst of the Desert of Sahara. To Co. Q's representative of this class Si went, and was piloted to where, after solemn assurances against "giving away," he procured a half-pint of fairly good applejcick, into which he put his doses of quinine. In the middle of the night Shorty woke up with a yell. "Great Cesar's ghost!" he howled, "what's the matter with me? I'm sicker'n a dog. Must've bin them dod- gasted peaches. Si, don't you feel nothiu'?" "No," said Si sheepishly; "I'm all right. Didn't you eat nothin' else but them?" "Naw," said Shorty disgustedly. "Nothin' but my usual load o' hardtack and pork. Yes, I chawed a piece o' sassafras root that one of the boys dug up." "Must've bin the sassafras root," said Si. He hated to lie, and made a resolution that he would make a clean breast to Shorty — at some more convenient time. It was uot opportune now. "That must've been a sockdologer of a dose the Surgeon gave me," he muttered to himself. Shorty continued to writhe and howl, and Si made a hypocritical offer of going for the Surgeon, but Shorty vetoed that emphatically. "No ; blast old Sawbones," he said. He won't do nothin' but give me bluemass and quinine, and I never couid nor would take bluemass. It's only fit for horses and hogs." Toward morning Shorty grew quite weak, and corre- spondingly depressed. SHORTY GETS A LETTER. 359 "Si," said lie, "I may not git over this. This may be the breaki]!' out o' the cholera that the folks around here say comes every seven 3-ears and kills off the strangers. Si, ril tell you a secret. A letter may come for me. If I don't git over this, and the letter comes, I want you to burn it up without reading it, and write a letter to Miss Jerusha Ellen Briggs, Bad Ax, Wis., tellin' her that I died like a man and a soldier, and with her socks on, defendin' his country." Si whistled softly to himself. "I'll do it, Shorty," he said, and repeated the address to make sure. The crisis soon passed, however, and the morning found Shorty bright and cheerful, though weak. Si was puzzled how to get the whisky to Shorty. It Vv'ould never do to let hiui know that he had gotten it especially for hijii. That would have been so contrary to Si's past as to arouse suspicion. He finally decided to lay it wliere it would seem that someone passing had dropped it, and Shorty could not help finding it. The plan worked all right. Shorty picked it up in a few min- utes after Si had deposited it, and made quite an ado over his treasure trove. "Splendid appieiack/' he said, tasting it; "little bitter, but that probably comes from their using dogwood in the fires when they're 'stillin'. They know that dogwood'll make the liquor bitter, but they're too ail -fired lazy to go after any other kind o' wood." He drank, and as he drank his spirits rose. After the first dram he thought he would clean around the tent, and make their grounds look neater than anybody else's. After ihe second he turned his attention to his arms and accouterments. After the third he felt like going out on a scout and finding some rebels, to vary the monotony of the camp-lifc. After the fourth, "Groundhog," unluckily S60 BI KLEGa AND SHORTY. for himself, came along, and Shorty remembered that he had long OAved the teamster a lickmg, and he felt that the debt should not be allowed to run any longer. He ordered Groundhog to halt and receive his dues. The teamster demurred, but Shorty was obdurate, and began prepara- tions to put his intention into operation, when the Orderly* Sergeant came down through the company street dis- tributing mail. BHORTY WANTS TO FIGHT GEOUNDHOG. "Shorty," he said, entirely ignoring the bellicosity of the scene, "here's a letter for you." Shorty's first thought was to look at the postmark. Sure enough, it was Bad Ax^ Wis. Instantly his whole SHORTY GETS A LETTER, ' 861 demeanor clianged. Here was something a hundred times more important than licking any teamster that ever lived. "Git out, you scab," he said contemptuously, "I haint no time to fool with you now. You^ll keep. This won't." Groundhog mistook the cause of his escape. "0, you're powerful anxious to fight, ain't you, till you find Fm ready for you, and then you quile down. I'll let you know, sir, that you mustn't give me no more o' your sass. I won't stand it from you. You jest keep your mouth shet after this, if you know when you're well off." The temptation would have been irresistible to Shorty at any other time, but now he must go off somewheres where he could be alone with his letter, and to the amaze- ment of all the spectators he made no reply to the team- ster's gibes, but holding the precious envelope firmly in his hand, strode off to the seclusion of a neighboring laurel thicket. His first thought, as he sat down and looked the en- velope over again, was shame that it had come to him when he was under the influence of drink. He re- membered the writer's fervent Christianity, and it seemed to him that it would be a gross breach of faith for him to open and read the letter while the fumes of whisky were on his breath. He had a struggle with his burning de- sire to see the inside of the envelope, but he conquered, and put the letter back in his pocket until he was thor- oughly sober. But he knew not what to do to fill up the time till he could conscientiously open the letter. He thought of go- ing back and fulfilling his long-delayed purpose of thrash- ing Groundhog, but on reflection this scarcely com- mended itself as a fitting prelude. He heard voices approaching— one sympathetic and encouraging, the other weak, £ain-breathing; almost de- 362 BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. spairijig. He looked out ancr saw the Cliaplal]i liel ping back to the hospital a sick man who had o^'er-ostimated his strength and tried to reach his company. The man sat down on a rock^ in utter exhaustion. Shorty thrust the letter back into his blouse -pocket, Sprang for^vaid, picked the man up in his strong arms, and carried him bodily to the hospital. It taxed his strength to the utmost, but it sobered hinij and cleared his brain. SHORTY READING THE LETTER. He returned to his covert, took out his letter, and again scanned its exterior carefully. PTe actually feared to open it, but at last drew bis knife and carefully slit one side. SHOr^TY GET^ A LETTEI?. 5G3 He LiD folded the hicloiiure as caret uily as if it iiad been a rare flower, and with palpitating heart slowly spelled out. the words; one after another: "Bad Ax, Wisconsin, "April the Twenty-First, 1803. "Mister Daniel Elliott, Company Q, 200th Indiana Volun- teer Infantry. "Eespeeted Sir: I talk my pen in hand toe inform you that I am wel, and hoap that you aire in joying the saim blessing. For this, God be prazed and magnified forever." "Goodness, how religious she is," said he, stopping to ruminate. "Uow much nicer it makes a woman to be pious. It don't hurt a man much to be a cuss — at least while he's young— but I want a woman to be awfully re- ligious. It sets her off more'n anything else.'* He continued his spelling exercise: "I am verry glad that my sox reached you all rite, that they fell into the hands of a braiv, pious Union soldier, and he found them nice." "Brave, pious Union soldier," he repeated to himself, with a whistle. "Jewhilikins, I'm glad Bad Ax, Wis., is so fur away that she never heard me makin' remarks when a mule-team's stalled. But I must git a brace on myself, and clean up my langwidge for inspection-day." He resumed the spelling: done the best I could on them, and moren that no one can do. Wimmen cant fite in this cruel war, but they ought all to do what they can. I only wish I could do more. But the wimmen must stay at home and watch and wait, while the men go to the front." "That's all right, Miss Jerusha Ellen Briggs," said he, with more satisfaction. "You jest stay at home and watch and wait, and I'll try to do fightin' enough fo7 I 864 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. both of us. I'll put in some extra licks iu future on your account, and they won't miss you from the front.'* The next paragraph read: "I should like to hear more of you and your regiment. The only time I ever heared of the 200th Indiana regi- ment was in a letter writ home by one of our Wisconsin boys and published in the Bad Ax Grindstone, in which he said they wuz brigaded with the 200th Indiana, a good fighting regiment, but which would stele even the shoes off the brigade mules if they wuzzent watched, and sumtimes when they wuz. Ime sorry to hear that any Union soldier is a thief. I know that our boys from Wis- consin would rather die than stele." "Steal! The 200th Injianny steal!" Shorty flamed out in a rage. "Them flabbergasted, knock-kneed, wall- eyed Wisconsin whelps writin' home that the Injiannians are thieves! The idee o' them long-haired, splay-footed lumbermen, them chuckle-headed, wap-sided, white-pine butchers talking about anybody else's honesty. Why, they wuz born stealin'. They never knowed anything else. They'd steal the salt out o' your hard-tack. They'd steal the lids off the Bible. They talk about the 200th Injianny! I'd like to find the liar that writ that letter. I'd literally pound the head offen him." It was some time before he could calm himself down sufficiently to continue his literary exercise. Then he made out: "Spring's lait here, but things is looking very well. Wheat wintered good, and a big crop is expected. We had a fine singing- school during the Winter, but the pro- tracted meeting drawed off a good many. We doant complain, however, for the revival brought a great many into the fold. No moar at present, but beleave me .| *'Sincerdy Your Friend, "Jerush^JfcUen BriggStt*® SHORTY GETS A LETTER. 865 Sliorty's xieart almost choked him when lie finlslied. It was tlie first time in his life that he had received a letter from any woman. It was the first time since his mother's days that any woman had shown the slightest interest in his personality. And, trne man like, his im- pulses were to exalt this particnlar woman into some- thing above the mere mortal. Then came a hot flush of indignation that the Tvis- consin men shonld malign his regiment, which, of course, included him, to the mind of such a being. He burned to go over and thrash the first Wisconsin man he should meet, ' - . "Call us thieves; say we'll steal," he muttered, as he walked toward the Wisconsin camg. "ril learn 'em dif- ferent." He did not see anybody in the camp that he could properly administer this needed lesson to. Ail the vigor- our, able-bodied members seemed to be out on drill or some other duty, leaving only a few sick moping around the tents. Shorty's attention was called to a spade lying fempt- ingly behind one of the tents. He and Si had badly wanted a spade for several days. Here was an oppor- tuifiity to acquire one. Shorty sauntered carelessly around to the rear of the tent, looked about to see that no one was obser^Tjig, picked up the implement and walked off with it with that easy, innocent air that no one could as- sume with more success than he when on a gredatorj expedition. 366 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. mpTER xxxiri. SI HAS A HARD TIME TRYING TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF CAMP. "Detail for guard to-morrow," sang out the Orderly- Sergeant, after he had finished the evening roll-call: "Bailey, Belcher, Doolittle, Elliott, Tracker, Gleason, Hendricks, Hummerson, Long, Mansur, Nolan, Thomp- son." "Corp'l Klegg, you will act as Sergeant of the Guard. "Dan Elliott will act as Corporal of the Guard." It is one of the peculiarities of men that the less they have to do the less they w^ant to do. The boys of Co. Q were no different from the rest. When they were in act- ive service a more lively, energetic crowd could not be found in the army. They would march from daybreak till midnight, and build roads, dig ditches, and chop trees on the way. They were ready and willing for any serv- ice, and none were louder than they in their condemna- tion when they thought that the ofhcers did not order done what should be. But when lying around camp, with absolutely nothing to do but ordinary routine, they de- veloped into the laziest mortals that breathed. To do a turn of guard duty was a heart-breaking afHiction, and the Orderly-Sergeant's announcement of those who were detailed for the morrow brought forth a yell of protest from every man whose name was called. "I only come off guard day before yesterday," shouted Bailey. "Pm sick, and can't walk a step," complained Belcher, who had walked 15 miles the day before, hunting "pies- an'-milk.'* HARD TIME TO KEEP WSISKY OUT OF CAMP. 867 "That blamed Orderly's got a spite at me; he'd keep me on guard every day in the week," grumbled Doolittle. "I was on fatigue dooty only yesterday," protested Tracker, who had to help carry the company rations from the Commissary's tent. "I'm goin' to the Surgeon an' git an excuse," said Gleason, who had sprained his wrist a trifle in turning a handspring. So it went through the whole list. "I want to see every gun spick-and-span, every blouse brushed and buttoned, and every shoe neatly blacked, when I march you up to the Adjutant," said the Orderly, entirely oblivious to the howls. "If any of you don't, he'll have a spell of digging up roots on the parade. I won't have such a gang of scarecrows as I have had to maich out the last few days. You fellows make a note of that, and govern yourselves accordingly." ^^Eight face— Break ranks— March!" "'Corp'l Klegg," said the Officer of the Day the next morning, as Si was prejDaring to relieve the old guard, ''the Colonel is very much worked up over the amount of , whisky that finds its way into camp. Now that we are out here by ourselves we certainly ought to be able to control this. Yet there was a disgusting number of drunken men in camp yesterday, and a lot of trouble that should not be. The Colonel has talked very strongly on this subject, and he expects us to-day to put a stop to this. I want you to make an extra effort to keep whisky out. I think you can do it if you try real hard." "I'll do my best, sir," said Si, saluting. "Shorty," Si communed with his next in rank before they started on their rounds with the first relief, "we must see that there's no whisky brung into camp this day." "You iest bet jour sweet life there won't be, either," 868 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. returned Sliorty. He felt not a little elated over his brevet rank and the responsibilities of his position as Corporal of the Guard. "This here eamp'll be as dry as the State o' Maine to-day." It was a hot, dull day, with little to occupy the time of those off guard. As usual, Satan was finding "some mischief still for idle hands to do." After he put on the first relief, Si went back to the guard tent and busied himself awhile over the details of work to be found there. There were men under sentence of hard labor that he had to find employment for, dig- ging roots, cleaning up the camp, chopping wood and making trenches. Jle got the usual chin-music from those whom he set to enforced toil, about the injustice of their sentences and "the airs that some folks put on when they wear a couple of stripes," but he took this composedly, and after awhile went the rounds to look over his guard-line, taking Shorty with him. Everything seemed straight and soldierly, and they sat down by a cool spring in a little shady hollow. "Did you ever notice, Shorty," said Si, speculatively, as he looked over the tin cup of cool water he was sip- ping, "how long and straight and string-like the cat- brier grows down here in this country? You see 25 or 30 feet of it at times no thicker'n wool-twine. Now, there^s a piece layin' right over there, on t'other side o' the branch, more'n a rod long, and no thicker'n a rye straw." "I see it, an' I never saw a piece o' cat-brier move end- wise before," said Shorty, fixing his eyes on the string- like green. "As sure's you're alive, it is movin', said Si, starting to rise. "Set still, keep quiet an' watch," admonished Shorty. "You'll find out more." ,Si sat still and looked. The directiou the brier was HAED TIME TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF CAMP. moTing was toward the guard-liue, some 100 feet away to the left. About the same distance to the right was a thicket of alders, where Si thought he heard voices. There v^ere indications in the weeds that the cat-brier extended to there. The brier maintained its outward motion. Presently a clump of rags was seen carried along by it. "They're sending out their money for whisky/' whis- pered Shorty. "Keep quiet, and we'll confiscate the stuff when it comes in." Thev savv the rasr move straioht toward the o:uard-line, and pass under tlie log on which the sentry walked when he paced his beat across the branch. It finally disap- peared in a bunch of willows. Presently a bigger rag came out from the willows, in response to the backward movement of the long cat- brier, and crawled slowly back under the log and into camp. As it came opposite Si jumped out, put his foot on the cat-brier, and lifted up the rag. He found, as he had expected, that it wrapped up a pint flask of whisky. "0, come off. Si; come off. Shorty!" appealed some of Co. Q from the alders. "Drop that. You ain't goin' to be mean, boys. You don't need to know nothin' about that, an' why go makin' yourselves fresh when there's no necessity? We want that awful bad, and we've paid good money for it." "No, sir," said Shorty sternly, as he twisted the bottle off, and smashed it on the stones. "No whisky goes into this camp. I'm astonished at you. Whisky's a cuss. It's the bane of the army. It's the worm that never dies. Its feet lead down to hell. Who hath vain bab- blings? Who hath redness of eyes? The feller that drinks likker, and especially Tennessee rotgut." "0, come off; stop that dinged preaching, Shorty," said one impatiently "There's nobody this camp that 870 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. likes whisky better'n you do; there's nobody that'll go further to git it, an' there's nobody up to more tricks to beat the guard." "What I do as a private soldier, Mr. Blakesley," said Shorty with dignity, "haint nothing to do with my con- duct when I'm charged with responsible dooty. It's my dooty to stop the awful practice o' likker-drinkin' in this camp, an' I'm goin' to do it, no matter what the cost. You jest shet up that clam-shell o' your'n an' stop inter- fering with your officers." ; Si and Shorty went outside the lines to the clump of willows, but they were not quick enough to catch Ground- hog, the teamster, and the civilian whom our readers w^ill remember as having his head shaved in the camp at Murfreesboro' some weeks before. They found, however, a jug of new and particularly rasping apple-jack. There was just an instant of wavering in Shorty's firmness when he uncorked the jug and smelled its contents. He lifted it to his lips, to further confirm its character, and Si trembled, for he saw the longing in his partner's eyes. The latter's hand shook a little as the first few drops touched his tongue, but with the look of a hero he turned and smashed the jug on a stone. \ "You're solid. Shorty," said Si. "Yes, but it was an awful wrench, Le's git aw^y frbm the smell o' the stuff," answered Shorty. "I'm afraid it'll be too much for me yit." "Corporal of the Guard, Post No, 1," "Sergeant of the Guard, Post No. 1," came down the line of sentries as the two boys were sauntering back into camp. "Somethin's happening over there at the %ate,"* said Si, and they quickened their steps in the direction of the main entrance to the camp. They foimd there a lank^ long-haired^ ragged Tennes"" HARD TIME TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF Ci3IP. 871 sean, v^iih. a tattered hat of white wool on his head. His scanty whiskers were weather-beaten, he had lost most of his front teeth, and as he talked he spattered every- thing around with tobacco-juice. He rode on a blind, taw-bone horse, which, with a dejected, broken-down mule, was attached by ropes, fragments of straps, withes, and pawpaw bark to a shackly wagon. In the latter were some strings of dried apples, a pile of crescents of dried pumpkins, a sack of meal, a few hands of tobacco, and a jug of buttermilk. "I want t' go inter the camps an' sell a leetle jag o' truck," the native explained, as he drenched the sur- rounding weeds with tobacco-juice. "My ole woman's powerful sick an' ailin', an' I need some money awfully t' git her some quinine-. Yarbs don't seem t' do her no sort o' good. She must have some Yankee quinine, and she's nigh dead fur some Yankee coffee. This war's mouty hard on po' people. Hit's jest killin' 'em by inches, by takin' away their coffee an' quinine. I'm a Union man, an' allers have bin." "You haint got any whisky in that wagon, have you?" asked Si. ■'0, Lord, no; nary mite. You don't think I'd try t' take whisky into camjD, do you? I'm not sich a bad man as that. Besides, whar'd I git whisky? The war's broke up all the 'stilleries in the country. What the Confedrits didn't burn yo'uns did. I've bin sufferin' for months fur a dram o' whisky, an' as fur my ole woman, she's nearly died. That's the reason the yarbs don't do her no good. She can't get no whisky to soak 'em in." "He's entirely too talkative about the wickedness o' bringin' whisky into camp," whispered Shorty. "He's bin there before. He's an old hand at the business." "Sure you've got no whisky?" said Si. "Sartm, gentlemen; sarch my waj^v n, if you don't take 872 SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. my word, I only wish I knowed wbar thar wiiz some whisky. I'd walk 20 miles in the rain t' git one little flask fur my ole woman and myself. I tell you, thai haint a drap V be found in the hull Duck River Valley. 'Stilleries all burnt, I tell you." And in the earnestness of his protestations he sprayed his team, himself, and the neighboring weeds with liquid tobacco. Si stepped back and carefully searched the wagon, opening the meal sack, uncorking the buttermilk jug, and turning over the dried apples, pimipkins and tobac- co. There certainly was no whisky there. 'Shorty stood leaning on his musket and looking at the man. He was pretty sure that the fellow had had previ- ous experience in running whisky into camp, and was up to the tricks of the trade. Instead of a saddle the man had under him an old calico quilt, whose original gaudy colors were sadly dimmed by the sun, rain, and dirt. Shorty stepped forward and lifted one corner. His sus- picions were right. It had an under pocket, in which was a flat, half-pint flask with a cob stopper, and filled with apple-jack so new that it was as colorless as water. "I wuz jest bringin' that 'ere in fur you, Capting," said the Tennessean, with a profound wink and an unabash- ed countenance. "Stick hit in your pocket, quick. None o' the rest 's seed you." Shorty flung the bottle down and ordered the man off his hoise. The quilt was examined. It contained a half-dozen more flasks, each holding a "half-pint of throat'Scorch and at least two fights," as Shorty express- ed it. A clumsy leather contrivance lay on the hames of the mule. Flasks were found underaeath this, and the man himself was searched. More flasks were pulled out from the tail pockets of his ragged coat; from his breast; from the crown of his ragged hat. "Well," said Short^^ as be got tkrough, "you'ie a reglei EAED TIME TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF CAMP. 373 grogsliop on wheels. All you need is a lot o' loafers talkin' politics, a few picturs o' racin' hosses and some customers buried in tlie village graveyard to be a first- class bar-room. Turn around and git back to that ole woman o' your'n, or Ave'U make you sicker'n she is." Si and Shorty marched around with the second relief, and then sat down to talk over the events of the morn- ing. "I guess we've purty well settled the whisky business for to-day J at least/' said Si. "The Colonel can't com- plain of us. I don't think we'll have any more trouble. Seems to me that there can't be no more whisky in this part o' Tennessee, from the quantity we're destroyed." "Don't be too dinged sure o' that," said Shorty. ""^ATiisky seems to brew as naterally in this country as the rosin to run out o' the pine trees. I never saw sich a country fur likker. They have more stills in Tennessee than blacksmith shops, and they work stiddier." Si looked down the road and saw returning a wagon which had been sent out in the morning for forage. It was well loaded, and the guards who were marching be- hind had a few chickens and other supplies that they had gathered up. "Boys seem to be purty fresh, after their tramp," said he, with the first thought of a soldier looking at march- ing men. "They've all got their guns at carry arms. I noticed that as they came over the hill." "Yes," answered Shorty, after a glance, "and they're holdin' 'em up very stiff an' straight. That gives me an idee. Le's cfo over there an' take a look at 'em." Shorty had sniffed at a trick that he had more than once played in getting the forbidden beverage past the lynx-eyed sentry. "'Don't you find it hard work to march at rout-step with your guns at a carry?" he said insinuatingly. "iNo need S74 m KTEGG ANT) SHORTY. o' >! in ii 1 exv ( or* p::rnue or dril]. Right-slioulfler- shift or arms -at will is the thing Avhen you're on the road." "H-s-sh," said the leading fde, with a profound wink and a sidelong glance at Si. "Keep quiet, Shorty," he added in a stage whisper. "We'll give you some. It's all right. We'll whack up fair." "No, it ain't all right," said Shorty, w^ith properly of- fended official dignity. "Don't you dare offer to bribe me, Buck Harper, when I'm on duty. Hand me that gun this minute." Harper shamefacedly handed over the musket, still holding it carefully upright. Shorty at once reversed it. and a stream of Avhisky ran out upon the thirsty soil, Si grasped the situation, and disarmed the others with like result. "I ought to put every one o' you in the guardhouse for this. It's lucky that the Officer of the Guard wasn't here. He'd have done it. There he conies now. Skijg out -after the wagon, quick, before he gits on to you." "What next?" sighed Si. "Is the whole world bent on bringin' whisky into this camp? Haint they got none for the others?'* "Sergeant of the Guard, Post No. 1," rang out upon the hot air. Si walked over again to the entrance, and saw seeking admission a tall, bony, woman, wearing a dirty and limp sunbonnet, and smoking a corn-cob pipe. She was mounted on a slab-sided horse, with ribs like a washboard, and carried a basket on her arm covered >vith a coarse cloth none too clean. "Looks as if she'd bin picked before she was ripe and got awfully warped in the dryin'. All the same she's loaded with whisky," commented Shorty as the woman descended from her saddle and approached the sentry with an air of resolute demand. HARD TIME TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF CAMP. 375 "You liaint got no right to stop me, young feller/' she said. "I come in hyar every day an' bring pies. Your Jinerul said I could, an' he wanted me to. His men want my pies, an' they do 'em good. Hit's home- cookin,' an' takes the taste o' the nasty camp viti les out o' their mouths, an' makes 'em healthy. You jest raise yer gun, an' let me go right in, or I'll tell yer Jinerul. an' he'll make it warm fur yer. I've got a pass from hijii." "Let me see your pass," said Si, stepping forward. The woman unhooked her linsey dress, fiimbled around in the recesses, and finally produced a soiled and crumpled paper, which, when straightened out, read: "Mrs. Sarah Bolster has permission to pass in and out of the camp of the 20Uth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. "By order of Col. Quackenlnish. "D. L. Blakemore, Lieut. & Adj't." '^WhaVve you got in that basket?" asked Si, still hesi- tating. "Pies," she answered confidently. "The best pies you ever seed. Some of 'cm punk in; but the heft of 'em dried apple, with lots o' 'lasses in fur sweetenin'. Your mother never baked better pies 'n 'cm." "To my mind," muttered Shorty, as he stepjDcd forward to investigate the basket, "she's the kind o' a w^oman I'd like to have bake pies for a gang o' State's prison birds that I wanted to kill off without the trouble o' hangin'. Say, ma'am, are your pies pegged or sewed? What'd you use for shortenen' — injy rubber or Aunt Jemimy's plaster?" he continued as he turned back the cloth and surveyed the well-known specimens of moun- tain baking. which were as harmful to Uncle Sam's boys as the bullets of their enemies. "Young feller, none yer sass," she said severely. "Them's better pies than ye're used ter. Folks that's never had nothin' air allers the most gartickeler, an* 376 SI KLEGa AKD SHOETT. turnin^ up thar noses at rayly good things. Don't fool with me no more, but let me go on inter camp, fur the soljers air expectin' me." "Sure you haint got no whisky down in the bottom o' that basket?" said Si, pushing the pies about a little, to get a better look. The indignation of the woman at this insinuation was stunning. She took her pipe out of her mouth to better express her contempt for men who would insult a South- ern lady by such a hint — one, too, that had been of so much benefit to the soldiers by toiling over the hot oven to prepare for them food more acceptable than the coarse rations their stingy Government furnished them. She had never been so insulted in her life, and she would bring down on them dire punishment from the Colonel. ^ Several experiences with the tongue-lashings of South- ern viragoes had made Si and Shorty less impressed by them than they had been earlier in their service. Still, they had the healthy young man's awe of anything that wore skirts, and the tirade produced its effect, but not strong enough to eradicate the belief that she was a whisky-bringer. While she stormed Si kept his eyes fixed upon the scant linsey dress which draped her tall form. Presently he said to Shorty! _ "What do you think? Shall we let her go in?« ^ Shorty whispered back with great deliberatSaai "Si, what I know about the female form don't amotist to shucks. Least of all the Tennessee female form. But I've been lookin' that ^ere woman over carefully while , she's bin jawin', an' while she's naturallj- covered with knots and knobs in places where it seems to me that women generally don't have 'em, I can't help believin* that she's got some knots and knobs that naturally don't belong to her. In other words, she's got a whole lot o' flasks o' whisky under her sldrts,* HAUD TDIE TO KEEP WHISKY OUT OF CAOT. 877 ''^Jest wliat Pre been suspicioiiiuV said Si. "I'Ve heard that that's the way h^ts o' whisky is brung into camp. Shorty, as Corpural o' the Guard^ it's your duty to search her." "What!" yelled Shorty, horror-struck at the immodest thought. ''Si Klegg, are you gone plum crazy?" "Shorty/'' said Si firmly, "it's got to be done. She's got a pass, and the right to go into camp. We're both o' the opinion that she's carryin' in whisky. If she was a man there'd be no doubt that she'd have to be searched. I don't understand that the law knows any difference in persons. No matter what you may think about it, it is your duty, as Corporal o' the Guard, to make the search.'' "No, sir-ree," insisted Shorty. "You're Sergeant o' the Guard, and it's your dooty to make all searches." "Shorty," expostulated Si, "I'm much younger and modester'n you are, an' haint seen nearly so much o' the world. You ought to do this. Besides, you're under my orders, as Actin' Corporal. I order you to make the search." "Si Klegg," said Shorty firmly, "I'll see you and all the Corporals and Sergeants betwixt here and Washington in the middle o' next week before I'll do it. You may buck- and-gag me, and tit5 me up by the thumbs^ and then I won't. I resign my position as Corporal right here, and'll take my gun and go on post." "What in the world are we goin' to do?" said Si despe- rately. "If we let her in, she'll fill the camp full o' whisky, and she'll have to go in, unless we kin show some reason for keepin' her out. Hold on; I've got an idee." ;He went up to the woman and said: ^/^^ou say you want to go into camp to sell your pies?" ^TTes, sir, an' I want to go in right ul^~no morefoolin* around^" she answered tartly^ 378 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. "How many pies've you got?" She went through a laborious counting, and finally announced: "Eight altogether." "How much are they worth?" "Fifty cents apiece." "Very good/' answered Si, taking some money irom liis pocket. "That comes to |4. I'll take the lot and treat the boys. Here's your money. Now you've got no more business in camp, jest turn around and mosey for home. You've made a good day's business, and ought to be satisfied. The woman scowled with disappointment. But she wisely concluded that she had better be content with the compromise, remounted her horse and disappeared down the road. ^ "That was a sneak out of a difficulty," Si confessed to Shorty; "but you were as big a coward as I was." "No, I wasn't," insisted Shorty, still watchful. "You'd no right to order me do something that you was afraid to do yourself. That's no kind o' officering." THE CHUMS HEAR FROM THE JEW SPY 879 CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CHUMS HEAR FROM TFTE JEW SPY, AND SHORTY HAS AN ADVENTURE. "I wonder wliat has become of our Jew spy, Sbnrtv?" said Si, as he and Shorty sat on the bank ol Duck River and watched the rubel pickets loungintj under the beeches on the other side. "We haint heard not h in' of him for more'n a month n<.*w." , . "He's probably hung/' answered Shorty. '^Fle was en- tirely too smart to live long. A man can't go on always pokiu' his finger into a rattlesnake's jaw without gittin' it nipped sooner or later." "I'm looking fur a man called Si Kl egg," they heard behind them. Looking around they saw the tall, gaunt woman whom they had turned back from entering the camp a few days before, under the belief that she was trying to smuggle in whisky. "What in the world can she want o' me?" thought Si; but he answered, "That's my name. What '11 you have?" A flash of recognition filled at once her faded blue eyes. Without taking her pipe from between her yellow, snaggly teeth she delivered a volley of tobacco-juice at an unoffending morning-glory, and snapped out: "0, y'r him air, ye? Y'r the dratted measley sapsucker that bounced me 'bout takin' likker inter camp. What bizniss wuz hit o' your'n whether I tuk likker in or not? Jest wanted t' be smart, didn't ye? Jest wanted t' inter- fere with a lone, lorn widder lady makin' a honest livin' for herself and 10 children. My ole man ketched the black ager layin' out in the brush to dodge the consciigt- 880 SI ELEGG AND SHORTY. ers. It went plumb to his heart an' killed him. Ho wa'n't no great loss, nohow, fur he'd eat more in a week than he'd kill, ketch, or raise in a year. When his light went out I'd only one less mouth to feed, and got rid o' his jawin' an' cussin' all the time. But that hain't nothin' t' do with you. You 's jest puttin' on a leetle authority kase ye could. But all men air alike that-a- way. Elect a man Constable, an' he wants t' put on more airs than the Guv'nor; marry him, an' he makes ye his slave." "I should think it'd be a bold man that'd try to make you his slave, Madam," Si ventured. "Y' she'd think," she retorted, with her arms akimbo. ''Who axed y' t' think, young feller? What d' y' do hit with? Why d' y' strain y'rself doin' somethin' y' ain't usedt'?" It did Shorty so much good to see Si squelched; that he chuckled aloud and called out: "Give it to him, old Snuff-Dipper. He's from the Wa- bash, an' haint no friends. He's bin itchin' a long time for jest such a skinnin' as you're givin' him." ''Who air yo' callin' Snuff-Dipper?" she retorted, turn- ing angrily on Shorty. "What've ye got t' say agin snuff-dippin', aaiy way, y' terbacker-chawin', likker- guzzlin', wall-eyed, splay-footed, knock-kneed oaf? What air yo' greasy hirelings a-comin' down heah fo', t' sass and slander Southern ladies, who air yo' supe- riors?" "Give it to him, old Corncob Pipe," yelled Si. "He needs lambastin' worse'n any man in the regiment. Bat what did you want to see me for?" "I wanted to see yo' bekase I got a letter to yo' from a friend o' mine, who said yo' wuz gentlemen, an' rayly not Yankees at all. He said that yo' wuz forced inta the army agin yo' will" THE CHUMS HEAR FEOM THE JEW SPY. S81 "GracioiiSj vrhat a liar tliat man must be/' mxurmiired Shorty to liimsell. "An^ that yo' rayly had no heart to fight for the nigger, au' that yo'd treat me like a sister.'' "A sister/' vShorty ex})loded internally. ^Think of a feller's havin' a sister like that. Why^, I -svoiildn't throw her in a soap -grease barrel." ^'AYho was this friend. Madam?" said Si; and where is his letter?" ^'1 don't know whether to give it to yo' or not," said she. ''Y're not the men at ail that he ascribed to me. He Sciid yo' wuz very good-looki]!', perlite gentlemen, who couldn't do too much for a lady." ''Sorry vre're not as handsome as you expected," said Si; "but mebbe that's because we're in fatigue uniforms. You ought to see my partner there when he's fixed up for parade. He's purtier'n a red wagon then. Let me see the letter. I can tell then whether we're the men or not." "Kin yo' read," she asked suspiciously. "0, yes," answered Si laughingly at the thought almost universal in the South, that reading and writing were — like the Gift of Tongues— a special dispensation to a few favored individuals only. "I can read and do lots o' things that common people can't. I'm seventh son of a seventh son, born with a caul on my head at the time o' the full moon. Let me see the letter." She was not more than half convinced, but unhooked her dress and took a note from her bosom, which she stuck out toAvard Si, holding tightly on to one end in the meaiiNvhile. Si read, in Levi Rosenbaum's flourishing, ornate handwriting: ''Corporal Josiah Klegg, Co. Q, 200th Indiana Volunteers, in Came on Duck Kiver." SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. "That means me," said Si, taking hold of the end of the envelope. "There ain't but one 200th Injianny Vol- vmteers; there's no other Co. Q, and I'm the only Josiah Klegg." The woman still held on to the other end of the letter. ''It comes," continued' Si, "from a man a little under medium size, with black hair and eyes, dresses well, talks fast, and speaks a Dutch brogue." "That's him," said the woman, relinquishing the letter, and taking a seat under the shade of a young cucumber tree, where she proceeded to fill her pipe, while waiting the reading of the missive. Si stepped off a little ways, and Shorty looked oyer his shoulder as he opened the letter and read; ^Dear Boys : This will be handed you, if it?acnes you at all, by Mrs. Bolster, who has more about her than you think." "I don't know about that," muttered Shorty; "the last time 1 had the pleasure o' meetin' the lady she had 'steen dozen bottles o' head-bust about her." "She's a Confederate, as far as she goes," Si continued reading, "which is not very far. She don't go but little ways. A jay-bird that did not have any more brains would not build much of a nest. But she is very useful to me, and I want you to get in Avith her. As soon as you read this I want Si to give her that pair of horn combs I gave him. Do it at once. Sincerely your friend, "Levi Rosenbaum.'* Si knit his brows in perplexity and wonderment over this strange message. He looked at Shorty, but Shorty's face was as blank of explanation as his own. He fum- bled around in his blouse pocket, drew forth the combs, and handed them to the woman. Her dull face lighted up visibly. She examined the combs carefully, as if THE CHUMS HEAR FROM THE JEW SPY. 383 fitting them to a description, and reaching in her bosom she pulled out another letter and handed it to Si. When this was opened Si read: "Dear Boys: Now you will understand the comb busi- ness. I wanted to make sure that my letter reached the right men, and the combs were the only things I could think of at the moment. Mrs. B. Avill prize them, though she will never think of using thejn, either on herself or one of her shock-headed brats. I want you to play it on her as far as your consciences will allow. Pretend that you are awful sick of this Abolition war, and tired fight- ing for the nigger, and all that stuff. Make her the hap- piest woman in Tennessee by giving her all the coffee you can spare. That will fetch her quicker and surer than anything else. Like most Southern women, she is a coffee- drinker first and a rebel afterward, and if some preacher would tell her that heaven is a place where she will get all the Yankee coffee she can drink, she would go to church reguTarl}^ for the rest of her life. Tell her a lot of news — as much of it true as you can and think best; as much of it otherwise as you can invent. FoIIoav her cautiously when she leaves camp. Don't let her see you do so. You will find that she will lead you to a nest of spies, and the place where all the whisky is fur- nished to sell in camp. I write you thus freely because I am certain that this will get in your hands. I know that your regiment is out here, because I have been watching it for a week, with reference to its being at- tacked. It won't be for at least aAvhile, for there's an- other hen on. But make up to the old lady as much as your consciences and stomachs will allow you. It will be for the best interests of the service. "Sincerely your friend, "Levi Kosenbaum." , "I wonder what game Levi is up to?" Si said, as he 384 SI KLEGG AND SHOETTT. stood with tlie letter in his hand and looked at the woman. 'Til give her all the coffee I can and be very civil to her, but that's as far as I'll go. The old rebel cat. I'll not lie to her for 40 Levi Eosenbaunas." "Well, I will," said Shorty. "You fix her up with the coffee, and leave the rest to me. I always had a. fancy for queer animals, and run off from home once to travel with a menagerie. I'd like to take her up North and start a side-show with. her. ^The Queen o' the Raccoon Mountains,' or the 'Champion Snuff-Dipper o' the Se- quatchie Valley.' How'd that do for a sign?" "Well, go ahead," said Si. "But expect no help from me." "Mr. Kl egg, when I want your help in courtin' a lady I'll let you know," said Shorty with dignity. Si went back to the tent to see about getting the coffee, and Shorty approached Mrs. Bolster with an engaging ex- pression on his countenance. She was knocking the ashes out of her pipe. "Let me fill your pipe up again, Madam, with some- thing very choice," said he, pulling out a plug of bright natural leaf. "Here's some terbacker the like o' Avhich you never see in all your born days. It was raised from seed stole from the private stock of the High-muk-a-muk o' Turkey, brung acrost the ocean in a silver terbacker box for the use o' President Buchanan, and planted in the new o' the moon on a piece o' ground that never be- fore had raised nothin' but roses and swect-AvilHams, My oldest brother, who is a Senator from Oshkosh, got just one plug of it, which he divided with me." "0, my I is that true?" she gurgled. "It's as true as that you are a remarkably fine-Iookin' woman," he said with unblushing countenance, as he began whittling off some of the tobacco to £.11 her pipe. SHORTY HAS AIT ADYENTUEE. 885 "I was struck by your appearance as soon as I saw you. I always w^as very iond of the Southern ladies." "Sakes alive, air y'?" she asked; "then w^hat air yo'uns down here foutin' w^e'uns fur?" "That's a long story, m'm," answered Shorty. "It was a trick o' the Abolition politicians that got us into it. I'm awful sick o' the war (that we haint gone ahead and knocked the heads off en this W'hole crowed instead o* layin' 'round here in camp for months,)" he added as a mental reservation, "and wdsht I was out of it (after we've hung Jeff Davis on a sour-apple tree). Then I might settle down here and marry some nice W'Oman. Your're a widder, I believe you said." "Yes, I'm a widder," she answered, taking her pipe from her mouth and giving him what she intended for a languishing smile, but which Shorty afterward said re- minded him of a sun-crack in a mud fence. "Yes, I'm a widder. Bin so for gwine on six months. Sakes alive, but dr> talk nice. You air the best-lookin' Yankee I've ever seed.*^ "Nothin' painfully bashful about her," thought Shorty. "But I must be careful not to let iier get mf near a Justice of the Peace. She'd marry me before I could ketch my breath. Madam," he continued aloud. "Yo' may call me Sally," she said, with, another cavernous smile. "Well, Sophrony, let me present you with half o' this plug o' famous terbacker." He drew his jackkuife and sliced the plug in two. "Take it, with my warmest re- spects. Here comes my partner with some coffee I've sent him for, and which I want you to have. It is not as much as I'd like to give you, but it's all that I ha^. Some other day you shall have much more." 7 0 886 61 AKD SHORtT. *Laws sakes," she bubbled, as the fragrant oioi of the coffee reached her nose, and she hefted the package. *Yo' air jest the nicest man I ever did see in all my born days. I didn't s'pose thar wuz so nice a man, or sich a g*!X)d-lookin' one, in the hull Yankee army, or in the Confederit either, fur that matter. But, then, yo' aint no real blue-bellied Yankee." "No, indeed, Sally. I never saw New England in all my life, nor did any o' my people. They wuz from Virginny (about 500 miles, as near as I kin calculate)," he added to himself, as a mental poultice. "Say, Mister, why don't yo' leave the Yankee army?" "Can't," said Shorty, despairingly, "If 1 try to git back home the Prove 's '11 ketch me. If I go the other way the rebel's ketch me. I'm betwixt the devil and the deep sea." She sat and smoked for several minuses in semblance of deep thought, and spat with careful aim at one after another of the prominent weeds around. Then she said: "If yo' want t' splice with me I kin take keer o' yo'. I've helped run off several o' the boys who wuz sick o' this Abolition war. Thar's two o' them now with Bill Phillips's gang makin' it hot for the Yankee trains and camps. They're makin' more'n they ever did soljerin', an' havin' a much better time, for they take whatever they want, no matter who it belongs to. D'yo' know Groundhog, a teamster? He's in cahoots with us." "Oh!" said Shorty to himself. "Here's another lay al- together. Guess it's my duty to work, it for all that it'^ wojcih." 'Is it a bargain?" she said suddenly, stretching out her long, skinny hand. "Sophrony," said Shorty, taking her hand, "this is so sudden. I had never thought o' marryin' — at least till this cruel war is over. I don't know what kind of a SHORTY HAS AN ADVENTURE. 387 , husband Fd make. I don't know whether I coukl fill the place o' your late husband. P' "Yo're not gwine t' sneak out/' she said, with a fierce flash in her gray eyes. "If yo' do I'll have yo' pizened.'* "Now, who's talkin' about backiu' out?" said Shorty in a fever of placation, for he was afraid that some of the other boys would overhear the conversation. "Don't talk so loud. Come, let's walk on toward your home. We kin talk on the way." The proposition appeared reasonable. She took the bridle of her horse over her arm, and together they walked out through the guard-line. The sentries gave Shorty a deep, knowing wink as he passed. lie went the more willingly, as he was anxious to find out more about the woman, and the operations of the gang with which she was connected. She had already said enough to ex- plain several mysterious things of recent occurrence. Night came down and as her ungainliness was not thrust upon him as it was in the broad glare of day, he feltles3 difficulty in professing a deep attachment for her. He even took her hand. On her part she grew more open md communicative at every step, and Shorty had no difficulty in understanding that there was gathered around her a gang that was practicing about every+hing detrimental to the army. They were by turns ^pies, rob- bers, murderers, whisky smugglers, horse-thieves, and anything else that promised a benefit to themselves. Ostensibly they were rebels, but this did not prevent their preying upon the rebels when occasion offered. Some were deserters from the rebel army, some were evading the conscript laws, two or three were desertei^s from our army. Shorty and the woman had reached a point nearly © half-mile outside of the guard-line when he stopped and said: S88 m KLEGO AND SHOBTY. *'I can't go no farther now. I must go back.** *'Why must yo* go back?" she demanded, with a sud- den angry suspicion. "I thought yo' wuz gwine right' along with me." *'Why, no. I never thought o' that. I must go back and get my things before I go with you," said Shorty^ as the readiest way of putting her off. -SHE WHIPPIS:^ OUT A LONG KNIFE." "Plague take y'r things," she said. "Let 'em go. Yo' kin git plenty more jest as good from the next Yankee camp. Vo' slip i:>ack some night with the boys an' git yo'r own things, if y're so dratted stuck on 'em. Come ^long now." She took hohl of his wrist with a grip like iron. Shorty had no idea that a woman could have such strength. "I want to go back and git my partner," said Shorty. "Me and him 've bin together all the iim^ we\'e bin iu I j SHOETY HAS ADTEXTUEE. S89 the army. Ho '11 go along ^Yith me, I'm sure. Me and liim thinks alike on everything, and what one starts the other jines in. I want to go back to him an' git him." "^'I don't like that partner o' your'n. I don't want him. I'll be a better partner t' yo' than ever he was. Yo' mustn't think more o' him than yo' do o' me." "Look here, Sophrony," said Shorty desperately. ''I cannot an' I ill not go with you to-night. I'm expectin' important letters from home to-morroW; and I must go back an' git 'em. I've a thousand things to do before I go away. Have some sense. This thing's bin sprung on me so suddenly that it ketches me unawares." With the quickness of a flash she whipped out along knife from somewhere, and raised it, and then hesitated a second. '•'I believe yo're foolin' me, and if I wuz shore I'd stick yo'. But I'm gwine t' give yo' a chance. Yo' kin go back now, an' I'll come for yo' ter-morrer. If you go back on me hit'll be a mouty sorry day for yo'. Mind that now." Shorty gallantly helped her mount; and then hurried back to camp. 390 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTER XXXy. SI SHORTY GO OUT TO VISIT MRS. BOLSTER. Shorty sauntered thoughtfully back to the tent, ana on the way decided to tell Si the whole occurrence, not even omitting the deceit practiced. He had to admit to himself that he was unaccountably shaken up by the affair. Si was so deeply interested in the revelations that he forgot to blame Shorty's double-dealing. "Never had my nerve so strained before," Shorty frank- ly admitted. "At their best, women are euriousep than trausniogriEed huUaloos, and when a real cute one sets out to hornswoggle a man he might as well lay down and give right up, for he haint no earthly show. She gits away with him every time, and one to spare. That there woman 's got the devil in her bigger'n a sheep, and she come nigher makiu' P^^^y your Uncle Ephraim than I ever dreamed of before. It makes me shivery to think about it." *i donH care if she's more devils in her than the Gadareae swine, she must be stopped at once," said Si, his patriotic zeal flaming up. '*She's doiu more mis- chief than a whole regiment o' rebels, and must be bust- ed immediately. We've got to stop her." ^'B^^ jcist how are we goin' to stop her?" Shorty asked. There was a vreak unreadiness in Shorty's tones that made Si look at him in surprise. Never before, in any emergency, had there been the slightest shade of such a thing in his bold, self-reliant partner's voice. "I'd rather tackle any two men there are in the South- SI A^'D SHORTY VISIT MES. BOLSTER. 891 ern Confederacy than that womaii/' said Shorty. "I be- lieve she put a spell on me." "Le's go up and talk to Capt. McGillicuddy about it,'^ said Si. Ordinarily, this was the last thing that either of them would have thought of doing. Their usual dispo- sition was to go ahead and settle the problem before them in their own way, and report about it afterward. But Shorty was clearly demoralized, Capt. McGillicuddy listened very gravely to their story. ^'Evidently that old hen has a nest of bad, dangerous men, which has to be broken up/' he said. "AVe can get the whole raft if we go about it in the right way, but we've got to be mighty smart in dealing with them, or they'll fly the coop, and leave the laugh on us. You say she's coming back to-morrow?^' "Yes," said Shorty, with a perceptible shiver. *'Well, I want you to fall right in with all her plans — both of you. Pretend to be anxious to desert, or any- thing else that she may propose. Go back home witli her. I shall watch you carefully, but without seeming to, and follow you with a squad big enough to take care of anything that may be out there. Go back to your tent now, and think it all over, and arrange some signal to let me know when you want me to jump the outfit." The boys went back to their tent, and spent an hour in anxious consideration of their plans. Si saw thco|>- pertunity to render a great service, and was eager to per- form it, but he firmly refused to tell any lies to the wo- man or those around her. He would not say that he was tired of the service and wanted to desert; he would not pretend lildng for the Southern Confederacy or the rebels, nor hatred to his own people. He would do nothing but go along, share all the dangers with Shorty, and be ready at the moment to co-operate in breaking up the gang, ' S92 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. *'Some folks's so durned straight that tlioy lean over backwards," said Shorty impatiently. "What in thunder does it amount to what you tell these ornery gallinip- pers ? They'll lie to you as fast as a hoss kin trot. There's no devilment they won't do, and there kin be nothin' wrong in anything ^^ou kin do and say to them." "Everybody settles some things for himself/' said the unchangeable Si. "I believe them folks are as bad as they kin be made. I believe every one o' 'em ought to be killed, and if it wuz orders to kill 'em I'd kill without turnin' a hair. But I jest simply won't lie to nobody, I don't care who he is. I'll stand by you until the last drop; you kin tell 'em what you please, but I won't tell 'emnothin', except that they're a pizeii gang, that ought t've bin roastin' in brimstone 'long ago." "But," expostulated Shorty, "if you only go along with me you're actin' a lie. If you go out o' camp with me you'll pretend to be desertin' and j'inin' in with 'em. Seems to me that's jest as bad as tellin' a lie straight out." "Well," said the immovable Si, "I draw the line there. I'll go along with you, and they kin think what they like. But if I say anything to ^em, they'll git it mighty straight." "Well, I don't knovv but, after all, we kin better arrange It that way," said Shorty, after he had thought it over in silence for some time. "I'm sure that if you'd talk you'd |ive us dead away. That clumsy bass wood tongue o' ^ourn haiirt any suppleness, and yru^'d be sure to blurt out something that 'd jest ruin us. An idee occurs to lie. You jest go along, look sour and say nothin'. I'll tell 'em you ketched cold the other night and lost your speech. It'll give me a turn o' extra dooty talkin' for two, but I guess I kin do it." ''Ml right," agreed Si. "Let it go that way." *'Nowa look here, Si," sadd -^korty, in a low, mysterious SI AND SHORTY VISIT MRS. BOLSTER. 893 tone, "I'm goin' to tell you somethin' that I liadn't in- tended to. I'm scared to death lest that old hag'U git the drop on me some way and marry me right out of hand. I tell you, she jest frightens the life out o' me. That worries me more'n all the rest put together. I ex- pect I ought to 'v' told you so at the very first." ^'Nonsense/' said Si contemptiiousiy. "The idee you're being afeared o' such a thing." "It's all very well for you to snort and laugh, Si Klegg," persisted Shorty. "You don't know her. I sneered at her, too, at first, but when I was left alone with her she seemed to mesmerize me. I found myself talkin' about marryin' her before I knowed it, and the next thing I w^as on the p'int o' actually marrying her. 1 believe that if she'd got me to walk a half-mile further with her she'd a run me up agin a Justice o^ the Peace and mar- ried me in spite of all that I could do. I'd much ruther have my head blowed off than married to that old cata- mount." "Bah, you can't marry folks unless both are willin'," insisted Si. "A man can't have a marriage rung in on him willy-nilly." "There's just where you're shootin' off your mouth without any sense. You don't know w^hat you're talkin*' about. Men are lassoed every day and married to wo- men that they'd run away from like a dog from a porcu- pine, if they could. You jest look around among the married folks you know, and see how many there are that wouldn't have married one another if they'd bin in their senses." "Well, I don't think o' many," said Si, whose remem- brances were that the people in Posey County seemed generally well-mated. "AYell, there mayn't be many, but there's some, and I don't propose to be one of 'em. There's some spell or 394 BI KLEGG AOT) SHOETY. witchcraft about it. Fve read in books about tbings that gave a woman power to marry any man she wanted to, and he couldn't help himself. That woman's got something o* that kind, and she's set her eye on me. I'm goin' to meet her, and I want to help break up her gang, but I'd a great deal rather tackle old Bragg and his entire army. I want you to stay right by me every minnit, and keep your eye on me, when she's near me." "All right," said Si sleepily, as he crawled into bed. The next morning, as they were discussing the ques* tion of signals, they happened to pass the Sutler's, and Si caught a glimpse of packages of fire-crackers, which the regimental purveyor had, for some inscrutable reason, thought he might sell. An idea occurred to Si, and he bought a coui)le of packages, and stowed them away in his blouse pocket and told the Ca})tain that their firing would be the signal, unless a musket-shot should come first. It was yet early in the forenoon as they waliced on the less-fre«|uented side of the camp. Shorty gave a start, and gas{>ed: "Jewhilikins, there she is already." Si looked,, and saw Mrs. Bolster striding toward them. Shorty hung back instinctively for an instant, and then braced up and bade her good morning. She grunted an acknowledgment, and said rather im- [i^eriouslj: "I'^re a-gwine, air yo'?" *''CerUualv/' answered Shorty. "And yo'?'' she inquired, looking at Si. "Tie's a goin' too," answered Shorty. "Mustn't ex- pect hiin to talk, lie's short on tongue this mornin'. Ketclied a bad cold night before last. Settled on his word -mill. Unjinted his clapper. Can't speak a word. SI AJ^B SHORTY VISIT MES. BOLSTER. 395 Doctor says it will last several days. Not a great affic- tion. Couldn't 've lost auything o' less account.'' "MustVe bin an orful cold/' said she, taking her pipe from her mouth and eyeing Si suspiciously. "Never knoAved a cold to shut off any one's gab afore. Seems t' me that hit makes people talk more. But these Yan- kees air different. Whar air yer things?" Did yo' bring plenty o' coffee?" "We've got 'em hid down here in the brush," said Shorty. "We'll git 'em when we're ready to start." ''We're ready now/' she answered, "Come along." "But we haint no passes/' objected Shorty. "We must go to the Captain and git passes." "Yo' w^on't need no passes/' she said impatiently. "Foller me." Shorty had expected to make the pretext about the passes serve for informing Capt. McGillicuddy of the presence of the woman in the camp. He looked quickly around and saw the Captain sauntering carelessly at a little distance, so that any notification w^as unnecessary. He turned and followed Mrs. Bolster's long strides, with Si bringing up the rear. They went to the clump of brush where they had hid- den their haversacks and guns. Mrs. Bolster eagerly ex- amined the precious package of coffee. "I'll take keer o' this myself," she said, sioN^g it away about her lanky person. "I can't affoid to take i30 resks as to hit." Si and Shorty had thought themselves very familiar with the campground, but they were astonished to find themselves led outside the line without passing under '"the eye of a single guard. Si looked at Shorty iu amaze- ment, and Shorty remarked: "Well, I'll be durned." The woman noticed and understood, "Yo* Yaoika," S96 BI KLEGG AND SHORTY. she said scornfully, "think yourselves moughty smart with all your book-larnin/ and yo'uns put on heaps o' airs over po' folks what haint no eddication; but what you don't know about Tennessee woods would make a bigger book than ever was printed." "1 believe you," said Shorty fervently. His supersti- tion in regard to her was rapidly augmenting to that point where he believed her capable of anything. He was alarmed about Capt. McGillicuddy's being able to follow their mysterious movements. But they soon came to the road, and looking back from the top of a hill, Shorty's heart lightened as he saw a squad moving out which he was confident was led by Capt. McGillicuddy. But little had been said so far. At a turn of the road they came upon a gray-bearded man, wearing a battered silk hat and spectacles, whom Mrs. Bolster greeted as "'Squire." The word seemed to send all the blood from Shorty's face, and he looked appealingly to Si as if the crisis had come. The newcomer looked them over sharply and inquired: *'Who are these mon, Mrs. Bolster?" "They'uns 's all right. They'uns 's had enough o' Abolition doin's, and hev come over whar theyHms allers rayly belonged. This one is a partickler fiiend o' mine," and she leered at Shorty in a way that made his blood run cold. "Hain't yo' time t' stop a minute, 'Squire?" she asked appealmglv; as the newcomer turned his horse's head to renew his journey "Not now; not now," ansv;ered the 'Squire, digging his heels into his steed's side. "I want to talk t' yo' and these 'ere men 'bout Avhat's gwine on in the Lincoln camps, but I must hurry on now to meet Capt. Solomon SI AND SHORTY VISIT MS. BOLSTER. ~ 397- at the Winding Blades/' I'll come over to your house this evening/' he caMed back, "Don't fail; 'Squire/' she answered, "fur Vve got a little job for yo', an' I want hit E^tick^jly clo^e tliis very eveniu'. Hit can't wait/' /"^-^ i SHE PLAYFULLY PJNCHED HIS AB^ "I'll be there without fail/' he assured her. - ' "Captiug Solomon's the man what sent the lettet you/' she explained, which somewhat raised §iiQai|n$ 398 SI KLEOa AND SHORTY. baum miglit rescue him if Capt. McGillicuddy should be behind time. As they jogged onward farther from camp Mrs. Bolster's saturnine earnestness began to be succeeded by what were intended to be demonstrations of playful affection for her future husband, whom she now began to regard as securely hers. She would draw Shorty into the path % little ahead of Si, and walk alongside of him, pinching ^ s^irn and jabbering incoherent words which were meant for terms of endearment. When the narrowness of the A:>ad made them walk in single file she would come up from time to time alongside with cuffs intended for playful love-taps At each of these Shorty would cast such a look of wretchedness at Si that the latter had difficulty in pre- serving his steadfast silence and rigidity of countenance. But the woman's chief affection seemed to be called forth by the package of coffee. She would stop in the Uiidst of any demonstration to pull out the bag contain- ing the fragrant beriy, and lovingly inhale its odor. It was long past noon when she announced: "Thar^s my house right ahead." She followed this up with a ringing whoopee, which made the tumbledown cabin suddenly swarm with animation. A legion of loud- niouihed dugs charged down toward the road. Children of various ages, but of no variety in their rags and un- kempt wildness, followed the dogs, or perched upon the fence-coi aers and stumps, and three or four shambling, iKvv'l-fac^ft mountaineers lunged forward, guns in hand, with eyes fiercer than the dogs, as they looked over the two armed soldiers. "They'uns is all right, boys,^- exclaimed the woman. "They'uns's plum sick o' doggin' hit for Abe Lincoln an' quit.'^' "Let 'em gin up thai guns, then," said the foremost SI AND SHORTY VISIT MRS. BOLSTER. 399 marif who Had but one eye, reaching for Shorty's musket* "I'll take this one. Pve been longin' for a good Yankee gun for a plum month to reach them Yankee prickets on Duck River." Though Shorty and Si had schooled themselves in the part they were to play, the repugnant thought of giving up their arms to the rebels threatened to overset every- thing. Instinctively they threw up their guns to knock over the impudent guerrillas. The woman strode in be- tween them and the others, and caught hold of their muskets. "Don't be fools. Let 'em have your guns," she said, and she caught Si's with such quick unexpectedness that she wrenched it from his grasp and flung it to the man who wanted Shorty's, She threw one arm arOun^ Shorty's neck, with a hug so muscular that his breath failed, and she wrenched his gun away. She kept this in her hand, however. "Now, I want these 'ere men treated right," she an- nounced to the others, "and I'm agwine to have 'em treated right, or I'll bust somebody's skillet. They'uns is my takings, and I'm agwine to have all the say 'bout 'em. I've never interfered with any Yankees any o' yo'uns have brung in, Yo've done with them as you pleased, an' I'm agwine to do with these jest as I please, and yo'uus that don't like hit kin jest lump hit, that's oil "Sal Bolster, I want yo' to take yo'r arm from around that Yank's neck," said the man who had tried to take Shorty's gun. "I won't 'low yo' to put yo'r arm 'round another man's neck as long's I'm alive to stop it." "Ye won't, Jeff Hackberry," she sneered. "Jealous, air ye? You've got no bizniss o' bein'. Done tole ye ^long ago I'd never marry yo', so long as I could And a man who has two good ejes and a 'djgectable character, I've 400 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. doue found liim. Here he is, and -Squire Corson '11 splice us to-night." ■ How much of eacli of the emotions of jealousy, disap- pointment, hurt vanity, and rebel antagonism went into the howl that Mr. Jeff Hackberry set up at this announce- ment will never be known. He made a rush with clench- ed fists at Shorty. A better description could be given of the operations of the center of a tornado than of the events of the next feiy gl AND SHORTY VISIT mS. BOLSTER. minutes. Shorty and Hackberry grappled fiercely. Mrs. Bolster mixed in to stop the fight and save Shorty. Si and the other three rebels flung themselves into the whirlpool of strikes, kicks, and grapples. The delighted children came rushing in, and eagerly joined the fray, striking with charming impartiality at every opportunity to get a lick in anywhere on anybody; and finally the legion of dogs, to whom such scenes seemed familiar and gladsome, rushed in with an ear-splitting clamor, and jumped and bit at the arms and legs that went flying around. This was too violent to last long. Everybody and every thing had to stop from sheer exhaustion. But when the stop came Mrs. Bolster was sittiiig on the prostrate form of Jeff Hackberry. The others were disentangling them- selves from one another, the chi-ldren and the dogs, and apparently trying to get thems.eives into relation with the points of the compass and understand what had bee^i happening. "Have yo' had enough, JeS Hackberry?" inquireci Mrs. Bolster, "or will yo' obleege me to gou^e yer other eye out afore yo' come to yer senses-?'^ "Le' me up, Sally," pleaded ih^ Ukm, we hS» talk this thing'ovex,". SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. CHAPTER XXXVI. BREAKING UP A BAD REBEL NEST. When pliysical exhaustion called a halt in the fracas, Mrs. Bolster was seated on Jeff Hackberry's breast, with her sinewy hands clutching his loug hair, and her tlminb, with a cruel, long nail, pressing the ball of his one food eye. Shorty was holding down one of the guerrillas who had tried to climb on his back when he was grap- pling with Hackberry. Si had knocked one guerrilla venseless with his gun-barrel, and now came to a breath- bsa standstill iu a struggle with another for the posses- sion of his gun. T!i€ childrejA and dogs had broken up into several smaller storm-cenieia; m each of which a vicious tight was going on. In some it was dog and dog ' in some child and child, and in others dogs and childreii mixed. Then they all halted to observe the outcome of the dis- cussion between Mrs. Bolster and Jeff ITackberTy. "Holler 'nuff, Jeff, or out ^oes yer last light," com* manded Mrs. Bolster, emphasizing her words by rising a iittie, and then settling down on Jeff's breast with a force that drove near every «spoonful of breath out of him. "Sal, le' me up," he begged in gasps. "Mrs. B^^loter," she reminded him, with another Jounce upon his chest. "Mrs. Bolster, ie' me up. Pd 'a' got away with that 'ere Yank ef ye' hedn't tripped me with them long legs o' your'n." "I'm right smart on the trip, aint I," she grinned. "I never seed a man yit that I couldn't throw in any sort of a rastle." BEEASIXG UP A REBEL NEST. 405 me up, ILrs. Bolster, an' le's begin over agin, an' yo' keep out,-' begged Hackberry. ^'Xot much I won't. I aiut that Idnd of a chicken," she asserted with another jounce. ''When I down a man I down him fer good, an' he never gits up agin 'till he caves entirely. If I let yo' up, will yo' swar to quile down peaceable as a lamb, an' make the rest do the same?" "Never," asserted Hackbeiry. "I'm er^wine to kave it out with that Yank." ''No you haint," she replied with a still more emphatic jounce that made Hackberry use all the breath left him to groan, "I'll quile," he said, with his nest instalment o! at- mosphere. "Will yo' agree t' let me marry this Yank, an* V ^ve me away as my oldest friend, nearest o' kin, an' best man?" she inquired, rising sufficiently to let him take m a full breath and give a free, unforced answer. "Nary a time," he shrieked. "I'll die fust, afore I'll *low yo' t' marry ary other man but me." "Then you'll lose yer blinker, yo' pigheaded, likker- guzzlin,' ornery, no-account sand-hill crane," she said^ viciously coming down on his chest with her full weigVit and sticking the point of her nail against his eye. "I wouldn't marry yo' if ye wuz the last nubbin in the Loni A'miahty's crib, and thar'd never be another crap o' men. Yo'il lisver git no chance to make me yer slave, and beat me and starve me t' death as yo' did Nance Brill. I ain't gwine t' fool with yer parvarsity nary a minnit longer. Say this instant whethc^i yo^U do as / gay with a free ^'--ill and good Heart, or out ^oes yer peeter." "I promise," gruaned Jefi. "Yo' sw'ar hit?" she demanded. "Yes, I sw'ar hit," anawexed Je5 404 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. Mrs. Bolster rose, and confirmed the contract by givir.g him a kick in the side with her heavy brogan. "That's jest a lovetap/' she remarked, let yo' know V le' me alone hereafter. Now, le's straighten things around here fer a pleasant time." She initiated her proposed era of good feeling by a sound- ing kick in the ribs of the most obstreperous of the dogs, and a slap on the face oi 12-jAear-old girl, who was the *'JEFF SAT UP AND EUBBED HIMSELF." noisiest and most pugnacious of the lot. Each c.^/- these set up a hov/1, but there was a general acquiescence in hei assertion of authority. Jeff Ilackberry sat up, scratched and rubbed himself, seemed to be trying to once more get a full supply of air in his lungs, and turned a one-eyed glare on his sur- roundings. The guerrilla whom Si had knocked down began to show signs of returning consciousness, but no BEEAKING UP A KEBEL ISCESt, 405 one paid any attention to him. One of the otltei two pulled out a piece of tobacco, split it in two, put the big- ger half in his own mouth and handed the remainder to his partner. Both began chewing meditatively and look- ing with vacant eyes for the next act in the drama. Shorty regained his gun, and he and Si looked inquir- ingly at one another and the mistress of the ranch- ^^Come on up V the house," she said, starting in that direction. The rest followed, with Si and Shorty in the lead. The boys gazed around them with strong curiositj^ The interior was like that of the other log cabins they had seen — a rough puncheon floor for the single room> a fireplace as big as a barn door, built of rough stones, with a hearth of undressed flat stones, upon which sa^ a few clumsy cooking utensils of heavy cast-iron, three- legged stools for chairs, a table of rough whip-sawed boards held together by wooden pins. In two of the corners were beds made of a layer of poles resting upon a stick supported at one end upon a log in the wall and at the other end a forked stick driven between the pun- cheoiis into the ground below. Upon this was a pile of beech leaves doing duty as a mattress. The iDed-clothes were a mass of ragged fabrics, sheepskins^ etc, used in the daytime for saddle-blankets and at night upon the bed. There had been added to them, however, looking particularly good and rich in contrast with, their squalor, several blankets with ''U. S." marked upon them. Around the room were canteens, shoes, and other soldier belong- ings. "Have they killed and robbed the men to whom theso belonged, or merely traded whisky for them?" was the thought that instantly flashed through Si's and Shorty's minds. The answer seemed to be favorable to murder and robbery. ^'Set down an' make yourselves at home. 61 KLEGG AND SHOETY. Pll git yo* out sutliin' t' wet yer whistles," said Mrs. Bol- ster, wreathing as much graeiousness as she could into her weathered-wood countenance. She apparently kicked at the same instant a stool toward them with her left foot, and a dog out of the way with her right, a per- formance that excited Shorty's admiration. "When 1 see a woman kick in different directions with both feet at the same time, I understood how dangerous her trip Avould be in a rastle," he said afterward. Si and Shorty shoved two of the stools so that they could sit with their backs to the wall, still holding their ^ guns. The guerrillas came fding in, with, an expectant look on their faces. Even Jeff Hackberry looked more thirstily longing than wrathful. The man who had fallen under Si's gunbarrel had gotten able to walk, was rub- bing his head and moaning with the design of attracting attention and sympathy. Mrs. Bolster produced a key from her pocket. The others understood what this meant. They lifted aside some sacks of meal and shelled corn, and revealed a puncheon which had been cut in two, and the short piece VTas garnished by rude iron hinges and hasp, all probably taken from some burned barn. The hasp was locked into the staple by one of the heavy padlocks customary on the plantations, and this Mrs. Bolster proceeded to open with her key. When the puncheon was turned up it revealed a pit beneath, from which she lifted a large jug of whisky. She poured some out in a tin cup and handed it to Shorty. "Take a big swig," she said; "hit's mouty good stuff— ole Jeff Thompson's brewin' from yaller corn raised on rich bottom land." Si trembled as he saw his jgartner take the cup. Shorty BREAKING UP A REBEL NEST. 407 smelled it appreciatively. "That is good stuff/' lie said. ''Eoses aint novrliere alongside.'' He put tke cup to his lips and took a sip. "Tastes as good as it smells," he said, heartily, ^A-liile the mouths of the guerrillas were watering. He put the cup again to his lips, as if to take a deep draft. Then came a short cough and a tremendous sputter, foUovred by more painful coughing and strangling. "Jest my infernal luck," gasped Shorty. "I would talk, an' I got some down the wrong way. "Lord, it's burnin' my lights out. Gi' me a drink o' water, somebody." One of the children handed him a gourdful of water, while he continued to cough and sputter and blame himself for talking when he was drinking. The woman handed the cup to Si, who feared that the liquor might be poisoned or drugged. He made a pretense of drinking, and then handed the cup back, making mo- tions that his throat was so sore that he could not drink much. 3Irs. Bolster looked at him suspiciously, but the clamor of the guerrillas distracted her atteution, and she turned to supply them.' "No, Jeff Hackberry," she said firmly, "yo' can't harG more'n two fingers. I know yo' of old, an' jest how much vo' orter tote. Two fingers Tl make yo' comfortable an' sociable; three'll raise the deril in yo', an' four'U make yo' dancin' drunk, whei> fo'U have t' be held d'Owu. Yo'li have jest two fingers, an' not a drap more.^ "Jest another fiu,2:er, Sally. Eemeniber, yo've bin Qif-^l roush on me, an' I need more. I'll promise t' be good/' pleaded Hackberry. "No, not a drap more'n two fingers now. If yo" behave yo'self I'll sive yo' another tvro fingers by-an'-by." "'Hackberrv swallowed his portion at a thirsty gui^j and sat down on the door-sill to let it do its invigorating work. The other two guerrillas were given each two 408 SI KLEGG AND SHOKTY. fingers, and the man whom Si knocked down had his moanings rewarded by three fingers and a liberal appli- cation in addition to the ^vound on his head, which he declared was much relieved by it. ^^Set your guns up agin the wall an' ack nacherul," commanded Mrs. Bolster. "Nobody's a-gwine to hurt jo\ The 'Squire'll be here soon, we'll git spliced, an' have a good iime all around," The noisy barking of the dogs announced the ap- proach of someone. "Lordj I hope that's 'Squire Corson," said Mrs. Bolster, running eagerly to the door. "If hit's him, we kin go light ahead with the weddin'," "If that's the 'Squire," said Shorty, in iow whisper, without turning his head, "we'll grab our guns and fight to the death. AVe may clean out this gang." Si's attention had been in the meanwhile attracted to some boxes concealed under the beds, and his curiosity was aroused as to what such unusual things in a cabin might contain. "No; hit's Capt. SoL Simmons," said she in a tone of disappointment mixed with active displeasure. "Now, he'll be cavortin' ai-^d tearin' around, and wantin' t' kill somebody. I wish'L lie wuz whar hit's a good deal plotter." She came over to where the boys were sitting, and said in a Itm tone : "This man's allers makin' trouble, an' he's bad from his boots up. Keep a stiff upper lip, both on yo', an' w^e'll try t' manage him. Don't weaken. Hit '11 do no good. He'll be wuss'n ever then." Si and Shorty instinctively felt for the revolvers in theii pockets , The newcomer tied his horse to a sapling and strode inte the house. The guerrillas seemed rather more fear- ful th-^n otherwise to see him, but met him with manners BREAKING UP A REBEL NEST. 409 tLat were ranged from respectful by Jeff Haekberry to absolute servility by the others. He was a burly, blaek- bearded man, wearing a faiily-good uniform of a rebel Captain His face shx>wed that he was a bully, and a cruel one He acknowledged in an overbearing way the greetings Gf the others, and called out imperiously: "Sal, gi' me a stiff dram o^ yer best at wunst. My throat's drier'n a lime-kiln. Bin ridin' all mornin*.'* "Folks w^antin' likker don't say must t' me, but will yo', an' please," she answered sulkily. "'Must,' 'please,' yo' hag," he said savagely. "Talk that a-way to me. I'll 'please' yo'. I've killed two Yan- kees this mornin', an' I'm not in the humor to fool around vi'ith an old pennyroyal huzzy like yo'. Gi' me some whisky at wunst, or I'll baste yo'." If ever Mrs. Bolster had been favorably disposed to him, she could not endure to have him treat her this way before Shorty. She would assert herself before him if eve; She put her arms akimbo and retorted Ttforously: "Nary drap o' likker yo'll git from me, Sol. Simmons. Go and git yer likker whar y're welcome. Y're net wel- come here. I don't keer if yo' have killed two Yankees or 20 Yankees. Y're allers talkin' about killin' YankeeSj, but nobody never sees none that y've killed. I'm a bet- ter Confederit than yo' ever dared be. I'm dmn- iiioce f©r the Southern Confedrisy. Y're allers a-blowin' while I'm allers a-doin'. Everybody knows that. Talk about the tw^o Yankees y've killed, an' which nobody's seed, here I've brung two Yankees right outen their cainps, an' have 'em to show. More'n that, they're gwine ^' Ime we'uns." She indicated the two boys with a wave of ker hand. Simmons seemed to se^ ik&m the first time. 410 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. "Yankees liere, an' yo' haint killed 'em/' be yelled. He put his hand to his revolver and stepped forward. The two boys jumped up and snatched their guns, but before another move could be made Mrs. Bolster's un- failing trip brought Simmons heavily to the floor, with his revolver half out the holster. In an instant she sat down heavily upon him, and laid her brawny hand upon his pistol. The dogs and children gathered around in joyous expectation of a renewal of general hostilities. But the dogs broke away at the scent or sight of someone approaching. "Mebbe that's 'Squire Corson," said Mrs. Bolster with a renewed flush of pleasant anticipation. Instead, a rather good-looking young rebel officer wear- ing a Major's silver stars dismounted from his horse and, followed by two men, entered the cabin. "ITello, Simmons," said the Major in a tone of strong rebuke as soon as he ejitered. "What in the world are you doing here? Is this the way you carry out the Gen- eral's orders? You're at your old tricks again. You were sent out here early this morning, to capture or drive away that Yankee picket at Eaccoon Ford, so as to let Capt. Gillen r-ome through with his pack-mules. I ex- pected to meet him here and go on with him. Your men have been waiting at the crossroads for you since day- light, while you've been loitering around the rear. I ought to have you shot, and you woidd be if I reported thi^ to the General. You ekiilking \\help, you ought to be shot. But I'll give you one more chance. It may not be 'coo late yet. Break for your place as fast as you can, and take these whelps with you. I'll wait here till sun- down for you. If you don't report back to me by thai time you'd better make your will. Jump, now." Mrs. Bolster had let go of Simmons as this exordium proceeded, or she felt that he was in good hands. BREAKING UP A EEBEL NESTe HI As they disappeared the Major turned to Mrs. Bolster and inquired : ^*Did Capt. Gillen get through with that q-jinine and guucaps?" "They're thar/' she said, pointing to the boxes under the beds. "Very good. Vve brought some men to take them away. VVe need them very badly. Who are these men?" Mrs. Bolster told her stoiy about how they were tired of the Abolition war, and had yielded to her persuasions to join the Southern army. The Major looked them over sharply, and began a close cross-questioning as to where they were born, what regiment they belonged to, how long they had been in the service, what battles they had been engaged in and on what part of the field, where their regiment now was, its brigade, division and corps, commanders, etc., etc. As Shorty did not see any present occasion for lying, he had no trouble in telling a convincing, straightforward story. Si successfully worked the loss-of-voice racket, and left the burden of conversation to his partner. The Major seemed satisfied, and said at the conclu- sion: "Very good. Fll take you back with me when f return, and place you in a good regiment.'' This was a new and startling prospect, which was al- most too much for Shorty's self-control. For a minute he had wild thoughts of assassinating the Major then and there, and making a run for life. But he decided to wait a little longer and see what would develop. If Mrs. Bolster's hue had permitted she would hare turned pale at this threatened loss of a husband and up- setting of all her plans. She merely gulped down a lump in her throat and seemed to be thinking. She became very attentive to the Major^ and brought 412 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. for Ms edification a private bottle of fine oldwiilsky. She set about preparing something for them to eat. Again the dogs barked, and in walked a man dressed in the fatigue uniform of a Union soldier with the chevrons of a Sergeant. The boys gave a start of surprise, and a greater one when they saw on his cap: A 200 Ind. Vols. Si would have sprung up to greei; him, but Shorty laid a restraining hand, and whispered: "He don't belong to our regiment." A second glance satisfied Si of this. While it is hardly ^ssibie for a man to know every other man in his regi- ment, yet in a little while there comes something which enables him to know whether any man he meets does or does not belong to his regiment. The Major and Mrs. Bolster instantly recognized the newcomer. "Awful glad to see you, Tuggers," said the Major, ris- ing and shaking his hand. "Did you get through v»ith- OLit any trouble?" "Not a bit o' trouble, thanks to you and Mrs. Bolster here. She got me this uniform and this cap," said Tug- gers, taking off the latter article and scanning the letter- ing. "Eather more brass than I'm in the habit of carry- ing on top of my head, no matter hov/ much I have in my face. I got your note giving me the positions of the Yankee regiments, for which I suppose we must also thank Mrs. Bolster. I found them all correct. As the 200th Ind. was the farthest out, I had no difficulty get- ting through the rest of them by saying that I was on my way to my regiment. Of course, I didn't come through the camp of the 200th Ind., but modestly sought a by- road which Mrs. Bolster had put me onto. I've got a lot BEEAKIXG UP A EEBZL XEST. 413 of important letters from tlie mail in Nas}i\aLle, among which aie some letters for the General^ which I am told are highly important. I'm mighty glad to be able to j^ilace them in your hands, and relieve myself of the respoiisi- bility. Here they are. Thanks, I don't care if I do, since you press me so hard/'' said he, without change of voice, as he handed over the letters and picked up the bottle and tin cup. "Excuse me, Tuggers, for not asking you before," said the Major. "I was so interested in you and your letters I forgot for the moment that you might be thirsty. Help your sell." "I didn't forget it," said Tuggers, pouring out a liberal dram. ^'Here's to our deserving selves and our glorious Cause." A shy ^irl of about eight had responded to Si's per* sistent encouiagement, and sidled up to him, examining his buttons and accouterments. Si gave her some but- tons he had in his pocket, and showed her his knife and other trinkets in his pockets. The other children began to gather around, mtich intejested in the elaborate dumb show he was making of his inability to speal^ Again the do,o-s barked. Mrs. Bolster ran to the door. "Hit's 'Squire Corson," she exclaimed joyously, and hustled around to make extra preparations for his enter- tainment. The 'Squire entered, mopping hiy face with his ban- dana, and moving with the deliberation and dignity con- sistent with his omcial position. He looked at the boys with a severe, judicial eye, and gave the ominous little cough with which he was wo:a< to precede sentences. But he recognized the Major and Tu^^aers. and immediately his attention was centered in them. They were connected with Army Headquarters; 414 m KLEGG AND SHORTY they were repositories of news whicli he could spread among his constituents. He greeted them effusively, and was only too glad to accept their invitation to sit down and drink. But he suggested, with official pru- dence, that they go out in front and sit under a tree, where they could converse more at liberty. "Afore you go out, 'Squire," said Mrs. Bolster, with an attempt at coyness, "I want yo' t' do a little job fer me." Shorty's hair tried to stand on end. "Jest wait a little, my good woman," said the 'Squire patronizingly. "I want to talk to these gentlemen first; I kin 'tend to your matter any time." They lighted their pipes, and ^IJked and talked, while Mrs. Bolster fidgeted around in gii^sting anxiety. Finally, as the sun was going down, she could stand it no longer, and approached the group. "'Squire," she said, "I'm orferly anxious to have a lit- tle job o' mine done. 'Twon't take yo' five minnits. Please 'tend to it right away.'* "What is it she wants?" inquired the Major. "I think she wants me to marry her to a Yankee de- serter in there. She whispered suthin' o' that kind to ^e awhile ago." •That reminds me," eaid the Major; "I want you to swear thos^ two men i\ -/to the serv-'te of the S(3 athem Confederacy. You mighv as well do it now, if you please, for I want to take them back with me and put thi^m into a regiment.** "That won't give much of a honeymoon to Mrs. Bol- ster," grinned the 'Squire. "AVell, we've all got to make sacrifices for the Cause," said the Major; "her koneymooia'il be the sweeter for be- ing postponed. I've had to postpone mine." "Well, bring the men out," said the 'Squire, gouring himself out another drink. BEEAKIXG- UP A EEBEL NEST. 415 Si and Shorty bad moved to the frout door when Mrs.- Bolster went out. and could hear the whole conTersation, They looked at one another. Their faces were whitsr than ihey had ever been on the field of baitle. ^'Take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Coni'ed- eracy? Die right here a htmdred times,'' surged through both their hearts. Si pulled the bunches of firecrackers from his pocket, undid them before the children's wondering eyes. He went throuiih a pantomime to tell them to take a coal from the firej rtm out back with them, and touch it to the fuses. ''Take a coal, run back, and tech it to them strin^^s," said Shorty, forgetting himself in his excitement. •'It'll be the greatest fun ye' ever saw.'^ ''"What's that y're sayiii'?''' said ^Irs. Bolster. '•'Jest talkiit' to the children/'' said Shorty, seeing with relief the children bolt out of the back door. He slipped . his hand on his revolver, determined to kill the 'Squire, the Major, and the other three men before he would takf a svllable of the oath. ''•'Come out here, men,-' said the Major autlioritativebf, Si slipped his hand into his pocket, grasped his revolver, and walked forward very slowly. •'•'Ahem,'*' said the 'Sqtiire, with an oiUcial cougk, ^'Raise ver rio-ht hands, and repeat these words after me, givin' your own names.'' The other rebels took off their hats. The dogs raised a clamor, which directed all eyes *<> the road, Sol Simmons and the rest could be seen com^ iuL'" on a dead run. '•What does that mean?" said the Major anxiously At the same instant there was a series of crashes be kind the house; the hrecrackers vrere going off like £ Tolley .if -if.e- shots.-, Tlie Major whirled arouna ;r -s^ 416 BI KLEGN5 AND SHOETt. what that meant, and l@^^ed into the muzzle of Shorty's revolver. "Surrender, or I'll kill 5*^/1}," shouted Shorty desperately. "Don't stop a minit. Throw up your hands, I tell you." Si was making a similar demand on Tuggers, while *he ^Squire was standing, open-mouthed, with the first word of the oath apparently still on his tongue. The Major sprang at Shorty, whose bullet cut his hair. The next bullet caught the officer in the shoulder, and he reeled and went down. Si was not so fortunate with Tuggers, who succeeded in grappling him. Simmons dashed by and struck Si, in passing, with his list, which sent him to the ground, with Tuggers on top. The next minute the 'Squire, who was the only one who had any opportunity to look, saw Ya'^ikees pop out of the brush and jump the fences in a long, irregular line which immediately sunound-ed the house. Capt. Mc- Gillicuddy cut down Siminons with his sword, and the rest incontinently surrendered. '•'We ha^^ got tired of waiting, and were on the point of dashing in anyhow, when we heard the firecrackers,'" ivuid Capt. Mclxilli cuddy, after the prisoners had been se- cv-r^jd and things quieted down. "That fellow that I cut down was out there ^vith a squad and caught sight of us, and started back this Avay, and I concluded to follow him up and jump the house. Neither of you hurt, are you?" ''Not hurt a mite," answered Shorty cheerfully, but i^'s the closest squeak I ever had. Wouldn't go through n agin for a pile o' greenbacks big as a cornshock. Say, Cap.3 you've made a ten-strike to-day that ought to make a Mi^^^fe frsart house's plum full 0' contraband, and there's a lot o' important letters there. But, say, Cap., 1 want you to either kill that 'Squire or git him as fur uway as possible. I ain't safe a minnit as long as himr and that av Oman's a-nigh me.'* AN UNEXPECTED MAERUaS. 417 CHAPTER XXXT, AN UNEXPECTED MAEEIAGi; The rebel Major accepted the unexpected turn o! events with soldierly philosophy. Tuggers^ captured in a blue uniform^ saw the ignominious fate of a spy loom up be- fore his eyes. His face grew very white and set. He sat down on a log, looked far away, and seemed oblivi- ous to everything around him. Jeff Hackberrv and Sol Siramons were frightened into nerveless terror, and occasionally sighed and groaned audibly. Their men huddled together like frightened sheep, and looked anxiously at every move of their captors. ^Squire Corson had ventured two or three remarks in a' judicial and advisory way, but had been ordered by Capt. McG-illicuddy to sit down and keep quiet. He took a seat on a stump, pulled a large bandana out of his beaver crowned hat, wiped his bald head, and anxiously sur- veyed the scene as if looking for an opportunity when the power and dignity of the State of Tennessee might be invoked to advantage. Only Mrs, Bolster retained her aggressiveness and her tongue. If anything, she seemed to be more savage and virulent than ever. She was wild that she had been outwitted, and particularly by Si, whose fluent speech, had returned the moment the firecrackers went off. She poured out volleys of scorching epithets on all the Yan- kees from President Lincoln down to Corp'l Si Ivlegg, and fervently invoked for them speedy death and eternal torment where the worm dieth not and the fire is noi quenched. Capt. McGillicuddy rounded up his prisoner's-, took arms from those who still retained them, had Si and Shorty do what they could toward dressing the Major's wound, and then began an examination of the house. He found abundant evidence of all that he. Si and Shorty had believed of it. It was a rendezvous for sjiios, both great and small — both those, like Mrs. Bolster, who 418 SI KLEGG ANB SHORTY. infested our camps, and got news of whatever was gom^ on there, and those who operated on a larger scale, pass- ing directly from the Headquarters of the rebels to the Headquarters of ours, and to the rear, and the sources of information at Nashville and Louisville. It was an im- portant station on the route for smuggling gun-caps, quinine, medicines and other contraband from the North. Quantities of these were there waiting to be forwarded. As the source of the fighting whisky introduced into the camp of the 200th Ind. too much was known of it to re- quire any further information. And it was more than probable that it was the scene of darker crimes — Union soldiers lured thither under some pretext, murdered and robbed. "How in the world am I going to break this infernal nest up?" said Capt. McGillicuddy, with a puzzled air, after he had ordered the whisky destroyed and the other things gotten in shape to send back to camp. "By rights, I ought to burn that house down, but that would leave all these children without shelter. By the same token, I ought to shoot or at least send off to prison that old she-catamount, but that would mean starving the children to death. 1 declare, I don't know what to do." He had drawn apart a little with Si and Shorty^ to whom he spoke confidentially, while casting his eves about him as if seeking some solution of the problem. "If you'll allow me. Captain," said Shorty, "I've an idee. Now that we've got the trap, let's set it agin, and see if we can't ketch some more." "Splendid idea. Shorty," said the Captain, catching^ on at once. "And my idee," said Shorty, emboldened by the recep- tion of his first suggestion, "is that you lake all the com- pany but me and Si and four or five of the boys back to camp, leavin' us here until to-morrow at least. There'll probably some very interestin' men happen along here to- night, not knowing what's happened, and we'll jest quietly yank 'em in." "That's good," assented the Captain. "In the meantime," continued Shorty, ^yim kin be con- siderin' what you'll do with the house. It may be best AN UNEXPECTED MARRIA.GE 419 to let it stand, and watcli it. That's a good way to do with a bee- tree or a woodchuck hole. "1 believe you are right. I'll do as you say. Si, you and Shorty ick out as many men as you want to stay with you, rii leave one of these horses with you. If you should happen to need any more, mount one of the boys and send him back for help. I'll come out with tho whole company." Shorty and Si consulted together for a few minutes, picked out their men, gave their names to the Captain, and received his assent to the selection. Then Shorty said: ^'Captain, you don't want to take that old woman, the ^Squire and that skunk they call Jeff Hackberry back to camp with you, do you? Leave 'em here with us. I've got a little scheme." "The old woman and the 'Squire you can take and welcome," ansv\'ered the Caj tain. "I'll be glad to have them off my hands. But Hackberry is a rebel soldier. I d^n't know about giving him up." "Leave him. vv^ith us then. We'll turn him back to you all right, and the old woman and the 'Squire^ too, if you want 'em." "No," said the Captain, with an impatient wave of his hand. "Keep them, do what you please with them. If you should accidentally kill the old woman I should not be unduly distressed. But don't let Hackberry get away from you. I'll t^4ve the rest ^Dack to camp, and I mwst sta'wi at once, i(>£ it is getting late, and we didn't bring any rations with us. Do you suppose you can find enough around the house to keep you till morning?" yes," said Si. "There^^s a sack of meal in there and some side-meat. We gave the old woman a lot of coffee. We'll make out all right." The prisoners had been watching the Captain and his men with greatest anxiety. They now saw Si with his squad take the 'Squire, Mrs. Bolster and Hackberry off to one side, while the Captain placed the remainder of the prisoners in the center of his company and started back to camp with them. There was something in this sepa- 420 Si KLECG AND SHOETY. .| ration tliat terrified even Mrs. Bolster^ who stopped rail- ing and began to look frightened. '^What are yo'uns goin' to do with we'uns," she inr' quired hoarsely of Si. "You'll find out soon enough/' said Si significantly, "Set down there on that log and think about what you deserve. You might put in any spare time you have in doing some big repentin'.'' Hackberry began to whine and beg for mercy, but Shorty ordered him to keep silent. "I want you to understand," said the ' Squire ; "that I'm a regerlarly elected and qualified Magistrate o' the State, o' Tennessee; that I'm not subjeck to military laws, and if any harm comes to me you'll have to answer for it to the State o' Tennessee." "Blast the State o' Tennessee," said Shorty con- temptuously. "When we git through there won't be no State o' Tennessee. It'll be roasting in the same log- heap with South Carol iny and Virginny, with Jeff Davis brilin' in the middle." "Boys," ordered Si, "a couple of you look around the house and if see you can't find a mattock and shovel." Terrible fears assailed the three unhappy prisoners at this. What could a mattock and shovel be wanted for but to dig their graves? Shorty stepped over a little distance to a large clump of "red-sticks." These grow^ in long wands of brilliant red, as straight as a corn-stalk, and slenderer. They are much used about the farms of the South for rods for rough measurement. He cut one ofi about six feet long and stripped off its leaves. The anxious eyes of the prisoners followed every movement. Two of the boys appeared with an olyf mattock and 6 hovel. ^'Guess you'd better dig right over there," said Si, in- dicating a little bare knoll. "Nothin' else's ever bin planted there. At least nothin's ever come up. The chances are agin their comin' up if we plant 'em there." "Stand up," said Shorty, approaching Hackberry with the bright crimson rod in his hand, ^Mm goiu' to meas- AN UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE. 21 lire yon for a grass-green suit tliat'll last you till Gabriel blows his horn.*' Hackberry gave a howl of terror. The 'Squire and Mrs. Bolster began a clamor of protests. "Don't fuss/' said Shorty calmly to them, as he took Hackberry 's dimensions. "I ain't goin' to show no par- tiality. I'll serve you both the same way. Your turns'H come after his'n." The children, aware that something unusual was going on, yet unable to comprehend what it w^as, stood silently around, their fingers in their mouths and their vacant eyes fixed in the stolid stare of the mountaineer youth. Even the dogs were quiet, and seemed watching the scene with more understanding than the children. Mrs. Bolster's mood suddenly changed from bitter vituperation. She actually burst into tears, and began pleading for her life, and making earnest promises as to better conduct in the future. The 'Squire and Hack- berry followed suit, and blubbered like schoolboys. Mrs. Bolster reminded Si and Shorty how she had saved them from being killed by the fierce Hackberry and the still fiercer Simmons. This seemed to move them. She tried a ghastly travesty of feminine blandishments by telling Shorty how handsome she had thought him, and had fallen in love with him at first sight. Shorty gave a grimace at this. He and Si stepped back a little for consultation. When they came back Shorty said oracularly: *'Our orders is strict, and we should've carried 'em out at once. But, talkin' with my partner here, we're re- minded o' somethin'. We believe it's the law that when a man or woman is sentenced to death the execution hm be put off if they kin find anybody to marry 'em. Is that good law, 'Squire?" "H-m-m," answered the Magistrate, resuming his judi- cial manner at once; "that is a general belief, and I've hea^'d o' some instances of it. But before savin' posi- tively, I should like to examine the authorities an' hear argyment," "TVell, ^ii-^re haint goin^ to be no continuance in this case for you to look u|) authorities and hear arguments," 422 SI KXEGG AND SHOETY. said Shorty decisively. "We're the higher court m this case^ and we decided that the law's good enough for it. We've settled that if Mrs. Bolster'll marry Hackberry, and Hackberry'il marry Mrs. Bolster^ and you'll marry 'em both^ we'll grant a stay o' proceedings in the matter o' the execution o' the sentence o' death until we kin be advised by the higher authorities." "I'll do anything, Mister/' blubbered Hackberry. ''I'll marry her this minnit. Say the words, 'Squire." "I'v^e said i'd rather die 10 times over than marry yo', Jeff Hackberry," murmured Mrs. Bolster. "I've bin the wdfe o' one ornery snipe of a whisky - sucking sang- digger, and w^ien the Lord freed me from him I said I'd never git yoked wdth another. But I s'pose I've got to live for my children, though the Lord knows the yaller-headed brats haint wuth hit. They're everyone of 'em their dad over agin — all Bolsters, and not wuth the powder to blow 'em to kingdom come. I'd a heap ruther marry Jeff Hackberry to make sure o' havin' him shot than to save him from shootin'." "You »haint no choice, Madam/' said Shorty severely. **Law and orders is strict on that pint." "WeM, then," said she, "since hit's a ch'ice Detwi'ct death and Jeff Hackberry, I'll take Jeff Hackberry; though I wouldn't take him on no other terms, and I'm afeared I'm makin' a mistake as hit is." "What do you say, 'Squire?" asked Shorty. "I've bin studyin' on jest whar I come in," answered the Magistrate. "These tw^o save their necks by marry- in', but do you understand that the law says that the Magistrate who marries 'em gits his neck saved?" "The court is not clear on that as a p'int o' law," said Shorty; "but in the present case it'll hold that the 'Squire who does the splicin' gets as much of a rake-off as the rest. This is not to be considered a precedent, how^ever." "All right," assented the 'Squire; "let the couple jme hands." With an air of glad relief, Hackberry sprang up and put out his hand. Mrs. Bolster came up more slowly and reluctantly grasped his hairy fist in her large, skinny AN UNEXPECTED MARRIAGK 423 Iiand. The 'Squire stood up before them in his most impressive attitude. "Hold on/' saddenly called out Tom Welch, who was the "guard-house lav/yer" of Co. Q, and constantly draw- ing the "Regulations," the "Tactics/' and the "Constitu- tion and Laws of the United States,'* in which he was sharply proficient, upon members of the regiment. "I raise the point that that 'Squire can't officiate until be has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. '* Si and Shorty looked at one another. ''That's a good point/' said Si. He's got to take the oath of allegiance." "Never/' shouted the 'Squire, who had begun to recover his self-confidence. "Never, as long as I live. I've sworn allegiance to the Southern Confederacy, and won't take no other oath." "Grave for one!" called out Shorty to the boys with the pick and slmvel, as if he were giving an order in a restau- rant. "Full size, and hurry up w^th it." He picked up his measuring rod and started to take the 'Squire's dimensions. The 'Squire wilted at once. "1 s'pose I've got to yield to force," he muttered. "I'll take the oath." "Who knows the oath?" inquired Si. "Do yoii; Tom?'* **'Not exactly," replied Tom, non-plused for once. "But I know the oath we took when mustered in. That ought to do. What's good enough for us is good enough for him." "Go ahead," ordered Si. "We ought to have a Bible by rights," said Tom. "Where kin we find your Bible, Mrs. Bolster?" asked Si. "We'uns air done clean out o' Bibles," she said, rather shamefacedly. "Thar haint nary one in the house, I allers said we orter have a Bible. Hit looked 'spectable to have one in the house. But Andy allers wanted every cent to guzzle on." ^'Here's a Testament. That'll do," said Tom, handing Si one which some of the boys had about him. "Le's make 'em all take the oath while we're at it." "You'll all raise your right hands," said Si, opening the book. "Place your left on this book, and repeat the words after that man there, givin' your own names." Si 424 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. was as solemn about it as lie believed everyone should be at sucli a ceremony. Haekberry and Mrs. Bolster were not sure vrliicii ^vere their right hands, but Si finally got them started, and Tom Welch repeated slowly and impressively: "You do solemnly swear to support the Constitution and laws oi the United States, and all laws niade in pur- suance thereof, against all enemies and opposers what- soever, whether foreign or domestic, and to obey the or- ders of all officers duly appointed over you. So help you God, and kiss the book." /Mnd to quit liquor selling, smuggling, spying and giv- ing aid and comfort to the enemy,'' added Shorty, and this was joined to the rest of the oath. "1 ought to have added that they w ash their faces once a day, and put more shortenin' and fillin' in Mrs. Bol- ster's pies," said Shorty in an undertone to Si, *'But I suppose we oughtn't to ask impossible things." , *Now go ahead with the wedding ceremony," ordered Si. Again the 'Squire commanded them to join hands, and atter mumbling over the fateful words he pronounced Thomas Jefferson Haekberry and Mrs. Sarah Bolster man and wife. "Now," said Shorty, who felt at last fully insured against a great danger, "1 believe it's the law and custom for all the witnesses to a weddin' to see the bride and groom in bed together. You'll go inside the house and take one of them beds, and after we've seen you there we'll consider your cases further. You're all right, any- way, until we hear from camp to-morrow." Amid the grins of the rest of the boys he conducted the newly-wed into the house. He and Si brought out the sack of meal, a few cooking utensils, a side of bacon, and the package of coffee, which they gave to the other boys to get supper with. They closed the door behind them, excluding the children and dogs, and left the pair to their own reflections. "Gentlemen, what air you gwine to do with me?" asked the 'Squire. "I'd powerful like to git on home, if you've no fuithex use for me." AN UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE. 425 "We lifalnt decided v/liat to do with you; you old foment^ er o' rebellion/' said Si. "We ought to shoot you for what you'ye done in stirring up these men to fight us. We'll settle your case to-morrow. You'll stay with us till theii. We'll give you your supper, and after awhile you kin go in and sleep in that other bed, with the children." Tlie 'Squire gave a dismal groan at the prospect, which was lost on the boys, who were very hungry and hurrying around helping to get supper. They built a fine lire and cooked a bountiful meal, of "which all, including the 'Squire and children, partook heartily. A. liberal portion, with big cups of strong coffee, were sent into the bridal couple. As bed- time drew near, they sent the 'Sv]uire and the children into the house, and divided themselves up into reliefs to watch daring the ni!>ht. # 426 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. CHAPTER XXXVin. SI ANb SHORTY WORK THE TRAP SUCCESSFULLY. The boys were sitting around having another smoke before crawling into their blankets^ spread under the shade of the scraggly locusts and naangy cedars, when the dogs raised an alarm. **Get back under the shadow of the trees, boys, and keep quiet/' said Si. "Hello, the house!" came out of the darkness at the foot of the hill. "Hello, thar, yourself," answered Shorty, imitating Mrs. Bolster's voice. "Hit's me — Brad Tingle. Don't yo' know my voice? Call off yer dogs. They'll eat me up." "Hullo, Brad; is that ^'? Whar'd yo come from? Git out, thar, Watch! Lay down, Tige! Begone. Bones I Come on up, Brnd." Shorty's imitations of Mrs. Bolster's voice and manner were so good as to deceive even the dogs, who changed * their attitude of shrill defiance to one of faAvning welcome. "Whar'd yo' come from, Brad?" repeated Shorty as the newcomer made his way up the narrow, stony path. '*Jest from the Yankee camps," answered the new- comer. "Me an' Jim Wyatt's bin over thar by that Hoosier camp tryin' t' git the drop on their Kurnel as he was gwine t' Brigade Headquarters. We a'most had him when a company o' Yankees that'd bin out in the country for something a'most run over us. They'uns wuz a-nigh on top o' we'uns afore we seed they'uns, an' then we'uns had t' scatter. Jim run one way an' me another. I come back here t' see ef yo' had any o' the boys here. I hearn tell that a passel o' Yankee ossifers is at a dance over at the AVidder Brewster's, an' I thought we'uns might done gether they'uns in ef we'uns went about it right." "So you kin — so you kin," said Shorty, reaching out from behind the bushes and catching him by the i;ollar. SI AND SPIOETY WORK THE TRAP. 427 "And; to show you howy I'll jest getlier you in. A harsh, prolonged^ sibilant, far-reaching hiss came from the door of the cabin, bat came too late to warn Brad Tingle of the trap into vvhich he was walking. I Shorty understood it at once. He jerked Tingle for- ' ward into Si's strong clutch, and then walked towaid the cabin, singing out angrily: "Jeff Hackberry, I want you to make that wife o' your'n mind her own bisness, and let other people's alone. You and her've got quite enough to do to tend to your honey- ! moon, without mixing into things that don't concern you. I Take her back to bed and keep her there." He went back to Avhere Si w^as disarming and search- j mg Tingle. The prisoner had a United States musket, I cartridge-box, canteen, and a new haversack, all of which excited Shorty's ire. "You hound, yf^ai," he said, taking him by the throat with a fierce grasp, "you've bin bushw^hacking, and got these things off some soldier you sneaked onto and killed. We ought to kill you right now, like we would a dog." "No, Mister, I haint killed nobody; I swar t' God I haint," gurgled the prisoner, trying to release his throat from Shorty's grip. "YVhere'd you git these things?" demanded Shorty. "Mrs. Bolster gi' me the gun an' cartridge-box; I done found the canteen in the road, an' the poke with the let- ters in hit the Yank had done laid dowTi beside him when he stopped t' git a drink, an' me an' Jim crep* up on him an' ordered him to surrender. He Jumped an' run, an we wuz af eared to shoot least we bring the rest o' the Yanks down onto us." I At the mention of letters Si began eagerly examining the contents of the haversack. He held some of them ' down to the light of the fire^ and then exclaimed ex- citedly : "Why, boys, this is our mail. It w^as Will Gobright they were after." A sudden change came over Shorty. He took the prisoner by the back of the neck and ran him up to the 428 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. door of the house and flung him inside. Then he hast- ened back to the fiie and said: "Le's see them letters." A pine-knot had been thrown on the fire to make a bright blaze, by the light of which Si was laboriously fumbling over the letters. Even by the flaring, uncer- tain glare it could be seen that a ruddy hue came into his face as he came across one with a gorgeous flag on one end of the envelope, and directed in a pinched, labored hand on straight lines scratched by a pin. He tried to slip the letter unseen by the rest into his blouse pocket, but fumbled it so badly that he dropped the rest in a heap at the edge of the Are. "Look out, Si," said Shorty crossly, and hastily snatching the letters away from the fire. "You'll burn up somebody's letters, and then there'll be no end o' trouble. You're clumsier'n a foundered horse. Your fingers are all thumbs." "Handle them yourself, if you think you kin do any better," said Si, who, having got all that he wanted, lost interest in the rest. If Si's fingers were all thumbs, Shorty's seemed all fists. Besides, his reading of hand- writing was about as laborious as climbing a ladder. He tackled the lot bravely, though, and laboriously spelled out and guessed one address after another, until sud- denly his eye was olned on a postmark that differed from the others. "Wis." first caught his glance, and he turn- ed the envelope around until he had spelled out "Bad Ax" as the rest of the imprint. This was enough. No- body else in the regiment got letters from Bax Ax, Wis. He fumbled the letter into his blouse pocket, and in turn dropped the rest at the edge of the fire, arousin;«f protests from the other boys, "Well, if any o' you think you kin do better'n I kin, take 'em up. There they are," said he. "You go over 'em, Tom ¥felch. I must look around a little." Shorty secretly caressed the precious envelope in his pocket with his great, strong fingers, and pondered as to hovs^ he was cooing to get an opportunity to read the letter before daylight. It was too sacrsd and too sweet to be opened aad read befor® thm i^jf©^« €i his unsympathetic^ SI AND SHORTY WORE THE TRAP. 429 teasing comrades , and vet it seemed an eternity to wait till morning. He stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at Si, who was going through the same process, as he stood with abstracted air on the other side of the fire. The sudden clamor of the dogs recalled them to present duties. "Hullo, the house came out of the darkness. ''Hullo, yourselfT' replied Shorty, in Mrs. Bolster's tones. ''It's me— Groundhog. Call off yer dogs." Si and Shorty looked startled, and exchanged signifi- cant glances. "Needn't ^-e told it was him," said Shorty. "I could smell his breath even this far. Hullo, Ground- hog," he continued in loud tones. "Come on up. Git out. Watch! Lay dovvu, Tige! Begone, Bones! Come on up, Groundhog. What's the news?" A louder, longer, more penetrating hiss than ever sounded from the house. Shorty looked around angrily. Si made a break for the door, "No, I can't come up now," said Groundhog; "I jest come by to see if things wuz all right. A company went out o' camp this mornin' fox some place that I couldn't find out. I couldn't git word t' you, an' Fve bin anxi- ous 'bout whether it come this way." ^ , "Never tetched us," answered Shorty, in perfect repro- duction of Mrs. Bolster's accents. "We'uns is all right." The hissing from the cabin became so loud that it seemed impossible for Groundhog not to hear it. "Blast it. Si, can't you gag that old guinea-hen/^ said Shorty, in a savage undertone. > Si was in the meanwhile muttering all sorts of savage threats at Mrs. Bolster, the least oi which was to go in auif choke the llje out of hef if she did not stog her s^- nalling. "Glad t' hear it," said Groundhog. was a leetle skeexy all day about it, an' come out as soon's I could. Have yo' seed Brad Tingle?" — "Yes; seen him to-day." . "D' yo^ know whar he is? Kin yo' git wojrd to him quick?" "Yes, indeed; right off." *'WelI^ send ward to him as sQOtt as you kig^ tibat a 430 ei KLEGG AND SHOETY. got tlie mules rea-"'y for stampedin' an' runnin' off at any time, an' waitin' for him. The sooner he kin jump the corral the better. To-night if he kin, but suttenly not later'n to-morrer night. Be sure and git word to him by early to morrer mornin' at the furthest." "ril be sure t' git word t' him this very night/' an- swered the iictitioi ! s Mrs. Bolster. "Yfell, good-night. I must hurry along, an' git back dfore the second relief goes off. All my friends air on it. See yo' ter-morrer, ii J kin." "You jest bet you'll see me to-morrow," said Shorty grimly, as he heard Groundhog's mule clatter away. "If you don't see me the disappointment '11 come nigh break- ing my heart. Now I'll go in and learn Mr. and Mrs. Hackberry now to spend the first night o' their wedded lives." 'T don't keer ef yo' do shoot me. I'd a heap ruther be shot than not," she was sayiug to Si as Shorty came up. "I've changed my mind sencc I've bin put in here. I'd a heap ruther die than live with Jeff Hackberry." "Never knowed married folks to git tired o' one an- other so soon," commented Shorty. "But I should've thought that Jeff'd got tired first. But this is no time to fool around with fambly jars. Look here, Jeff Hackberry, you must make that wife o' yourn keep quiet. If she tries to give another signal we'll tie you up by the thumbs now, besides shoot you in the mornin'." "What kin I do with her?" whined Jeff. "Do with her? You kin make her mind. That's your duty. You're the head o' the fambly." *'Head o' the fambly?" groaned Jeff, in mournful sar- casm. "Mister, you don't seem to be acquainted with • Sal." "Head o' the fambly," sneered his wife. "He aint the head o' nothin'. Not the head o' a pin. He haint no mwre head'n a ^shworm." '^Look here, woman," said Shorty, '^didn't you promise to love, honor and obey him?" "No, I didn't nuther. I said I'd shove, hammer an' be- lay him. Hit's none o' yer bizniss, nohow, yo' sneakin' y^riakjop.^ ^la^f J do to him^ You hain't no call t' mix in SI AND SHORTY WOEK THE TRAP. 431 betwixt him an' me. An' my mouth's my own. I'll use hit jest as I please, in spite o' yo' an' him, an* 40 others like yo'. Hear that?" "TTell. you git back into that bed, an' stay there, and don't you dare give another signal, or Til buck-and-gag you on your wedding-night." ''Don't you dar tetch me," she said menacingly. ^'l aint goin' to touch you. I'm too careful what I touch. But ril tie you to that bed and gag you, if you don't do as I say. Get back into bed at once," "I ain't gwine t', an' yo' can't make me," she said de- fiantly. "Take hold of her, Jeff," said Shorty, pulling out his bayonet and giving that worthy a little prod. Jeff hesitated until Shorty gave him a more earnest prod, when he advanced toward his wife, but, as he at- tempted to lay his hands on her shoulders, she caught him, gave him a quick twist and a trip, and down he went; but he had clutched her to save himself from fall- ing, and brought her down with him. Shorty caught her elbows and called to Si to bring him a piece of cord, with which he tied her arms. Another piece bound her ankles. She lay on the floor and railed with all the ve- hemence of her vicioiis tongue. 'Tick her up and lay her on the bed there," Shortar ordered Jeff. Jeff found some difficulty in lifting the tall, bony frame, but Shorty gave him a little help with the ponderous but agile feet, and the woman was finally gotten on the bed. '*Xow, we'll gag you next, if you make any more trouble,*' threatened Shorty, "We don't allow no woman to inter- fere with military operations.*^ They had scarcely finished this when the dogs began barking again, and Si and Shorty hurried out. Tk^ operations in the house had rather heated them, the evening was warm, and Shorty had taken off his blouse and drawn it up inside of his belt, in the rear. The noise of the dogs betokened the approach of some- thing more than usual visitors. Through the clamor the boys' quick ears could detect the clatter of an omiuous 482 SI KLEGG AND SHOKTt. number of hoofs. The other boys heard it, too, and were standing around, gun in hand, waiting developments. "Hullo, dere, de house 1" came in a voice Si and Shorty dimly recfognized having heard somewhere before. "Hullo, yourself," answered Shorty. "Who air yo'?" ■ "Fm Gapt. Littles," came back above the noise of barking. ''Gall off your togs . I'm all righdt. Is it all righdt up dere?" "Yes. Lay down, Watch! Git out, fige!" Shorty started to answer, when he was interrupted by the appa- rition of Mrs. Bolster- Hackberry flying out of the door, and yelling at the top of her voice : "No, hit ain't all right at all, Captain. The Yankees 've got us. Thar's a right smart passel o' 'em here, with we'uns prisoners. Jump 'em, if yo' kin. If yo' can't, skeet out an' git enough t' down 'em an' git us out." Si and Shorty recognized that the time for words was passed. They snatched up their guns and fired in the direction of the hail. The other boys did the same. There was a patter of replying shots, aimed at the fire around which they had been standing, but had moved away from. Apparently, Capt. Littles thought the Yankees were m too great force for him to attack, for his horses could be heard moving away. The boys followed them with shots aimed at the sound. Si and Shorty ran down forward a little ways, hoping to get a better sight. The rebels hfilted, apparently dismounted, got behind a fence and began firing back at intervals. Si and Shorty fired from the point they had gained, and drew upon themselves quite a storm of shots. "Things look bad," said Si to Shorty. "They've hailed there to hold us while they send for reinforcements. We'd better go back to the boys and get things in shape. Mebbe we'd better send back to camp for help." "We'll wait till we find out more about 'em," said Shorty, as they moved back. They had to cross the road, "upon the white surface of which they stood out in bold contrast and drew some shots which came unfortably close. The other boys, after a severe struggle, had caugbt ijirs. Bolster-Hackberry and ^ut hei back in the cabin. BI AND SHOETY WORK THE TEAP. 433 After a brief consultation, it was decided to hold their ground until daylight. They could get into the cabin, and by using it as a fortification, stand off a big crowd of enemies. The rest of the boys were sent inside to punch out loop-holes between the logs, and make the place as defensible as possible. Si and Shorty were to stay out- side and observe. "rye got an idee how to fix that old woman/' said Shorty suddenly. "Buck-and-gag her?" inquired Si. *''No; we'll go in there and chuck her down that hole where she kept her whisky, and fasten the hasp in the staple." "Good idee, if the hole will hold her." "It's got to hold her. Yfe can't have her rampaging round during the fight. I'd rather have a whole company o' rebels on my back." They did not waste any words with the old woman, but despite her yells and protests Si took hold of one shoulder, Shorty the other, and forced her down in the pit and closed the puncheon above her. They went out again to reconnoiter. The enemy was quiet, apparently waiting. Only one shot, fired in the direction of the fire, showed that they were still there. Shorty suddenly bethought him of his blouse, in the pocket of which was the precious letter. He felt for it. It was gone. Re was stunnei!. T remember, now," he said to himself, St was working out as I ran, and it slipped down as I climbed the fence." He said aloud: "Si, I've lost my blouse. I dropped it down there jest before we crossed the road. I'm goin' to get it." "Blast the blouse," said Si; "let it be till mornin'. You need something worse'n a blouse to-night. You'll ketch a bullet sure's you're alive if you try to go acrost that road agin. They rake it." "I don't care if they do," said Shorty desperately. ''I'd ^o down there if a battery raked it. There's a letter in the pocket that I must have." Si instinctively felt for the letter in his own pocket. 434 SI KLEGG AHD SHOETZ "^6ry well," he said; "if you feel as if you must go I'll go along." "No, you sha'n't. You stay here in command; it's your duty. You can't help if you do go. I'll go alone, ril tell you what you might do, though^i You might go over there to the left and fire on 'em, as if we wuz feelin' around that way. That'll draw some o' their at- tention Si did as suggested. , ; . , ■ ^ ■ _ Shorty crept back to the point th^ had before oc- cupied. The rebels saw him coming over a little knoll, and fired at him. He ran for the fence. He looked over at the roadj and thought he saw the blouse lying in the ditch on the opposite side. He sprang over the fence and ran across the road. The rebels had anticipated this and sent a volley into the road. One bullet struck a small stone, which flew up and smote Shorty's cheek so sharply that he reeled. But he went on across, picked up the blouse, found the dear letter, and deliberately stopped in the road until he transferred it to the breast of his shirt. Then he sprang back over the fence, and stopped there a moment to rest. He could heai the rebel Captain talking to his men, and every moment the ac- cents of the voice became more familiar, "Don'd vaste your shods," he was saying. "Don'd vire undil you sees somedings to shood ad, unt den vire to hid. See how many shods you haf alretty vired mitout doing no goot. You must dink dat ammunition's as blenty as vater in de Southern Gonfederacy. If you hat as much drouble as I haf to ket cartridges you vould ge more gareful of dem." Capt. Littles was Rosenbaum, the Jew spy, masque- rading in a new role. Shorty's heart leaped. Instantly he thought of a way to let Kosenbaum know whom he had run up against. "Corporal Si Klegg!" he called out in his loudest tones, "What is it, Shorty?" answered the wondering Si. "Don't let any more o' the boys shoot over there to the left. That's the way Capt. McGillicuddy's a-comin' in with Co. Q. I think' I kin see him now jest raisin' the hill. Yes, I'm sure it's him.'* SI AND SHORTY WORK THE TRAP. 435 The next instaut lie heard the rebel C^i.tain saying to his men: "Poys, dey're goming up in our rear. Dey're de men ve saw a liddle vhile ago. De only va} is to mount un make a rush past de house. All mount unt vollow me as vast as dey gan." There was a gallop of horsemen up the road, and they passed by like the wind, while Si and Shorty fired as fast as they could load — Shorty oyer their heads. Si at the noise. Just opposite the house the Captain's horse stumbled, and his rider went oyer his head into a bank of weeds. The rest swept on, not heeding the mishap. ^'Surrender, Levi/' said Shorty, running up. "Certainly, mj tear poy," said Rosenbaum. "Any- ding dat you yant. Eow are you, any yay? Say, da^ yas a nead driek, vasn't it? Haf your horse sdumble unt trow you jest ad de righd dime unt blace? It dook me a long dime t© deaeli my horse dat. Fm mighty glat to see jou. BI KLEaa AND SHOETY* CHAPTER XXXIX. MR. rosi:nbaum kecites a thrilling experience. "Hist, poys, don'd dalk vriendly to me oud lout," said the prudent Eosenbaum. "Vhat's habbened? I know you haf god de house. I haf peen eggsbectiug vor a long dime dat dere vould pe a raid made ubon id, Vhat der deffil is dat saying you haf: ^Id's a long vorm dat don'd haf a durn.' No; dat isn't id. ^Id's an ill lane dat plows nopody any goot.' No; dat's nod id, neider. Veil, any- fay, Mrs. Sally unt her growd god entirely doo pold. Dey blayed doo oben, unt I knew dey'd soon ged gedched. Who dit you ged in de house?" t > Si started to call over the names, and to recite the cir- cumstances, but as he reached that of Brad Tingle, Rosenbaum clutched him by the arm and said earnestly: "Holt on, Dell me the resd aider avhile. Fm avraid of dat man. He^s gome breddy near gedding on do me seferal dimes aketty. He's lisdening now, unt he'll pe sure to susbect somedings, if he don'd hear you dreating me as you dit de udders, Pegin sve^rixig ad me as you djt at de rest." - i : i Shorty instantly took the hint. ^ "I'll stand no more foolishness," he called out angrily.*' If you don't surrender at once I'll blow your rebel head P|." ' f -A ^A,. , "I'll haf to glf ub," Eosenbaum replied in an accent of pain, "for I pelief I groke my leg vhen I veil, I vind I gan't stant ub." "Give up your arms, then, and we'll help you up to the fire, and see how badly you're hurt," said Si, Eosenbaum gave groans of anguish as Si and Shortj picked him up and carried him over to the fire. "Now we're out of ear-shot o' the house," said Si, as they deposited him on the opposite side, and somewhat behind a thicket of raspberries, "and we can talk. Where did you come from this time, Levi?" ^isoiiiip \m^^9mmwlP^i^'^3mA%'^H\^^^ at tuI- ROSEKBAUM'S THEILLING EXPERIENCE, 437 lahoma^ unt I liaf god information dat vill make Cheneral Rosecrans's heart chump vor choy. I haf god de news he has peen vaiting vor all dese veeks to move his army. I haf god de numper of Pragg's men, chust vhere dey are sdadioned, unt how many is ad each blace. I'm grazy to ged to Cheneral Rosecrans mit de news. I haf peen cavorting arount de goundry all day drying some vay to ged in, unt at my vits' ent, vor some of de men mit me hat deir susbicions of me, unt vouldn't haf hesidaded to shood me, if dey ditn't like de vay I vas acding. Dell de druth, id's peen gedding breddy hod vor me ofer dere in de reppel lines. Doo many men haf seen me in de Yankee gamps. Dis man, Brad Tingle, has seen me twice at Cheneral Rosecrans's Headqvarters, unt has toldt a lod of sdories dat mate much drubbles. I dink dat dis is de lasd visid I'll bay Cheneral Pragg. I'm vont of visiting, bud id radder disgourages me to pe so dat I gan't look ad a limb running oud vrom a dree mitout dinking dat it may pe vhere dey vill hang me." "Excuse me from any such visitin'," said Si sympa- thetically. "I'd much rather stay at home. I've had 12 or 15 hours inside the enemy's lines, playin' off deserter, and I've had enough to last me my three years. I'll take any day o' the battle o' Stone River in preference. I aint built for the spy business in any shape or form. I'm plain, out-and-out Wabash prairie style — everything above ground and in sight." "Well, I'm different from you," said Shorty. "I own up that I'm awfully fond o' a game o' hocus-pocus with the rebels, and tryin' to see which kin thimble-rig the other. It's mighty excitin' gamblin' when your own head's the stake, an' beats poker an' faro all holler. But I want the women ruled out o' the game. Never saw^ a game yit that a woman wouldn't spile if she got her finger in." "Mrs. Bolster came mighty near marrying him^ and he's pale yet from the scare," Si explained. "Yes," said Shorty frankly. "You'll see I'm still white all around the gills. Never wuz so rattled in my life. That woman's a witch. You could only kill her by shooting her with a silver bullet. She put a spell on me sure'-s you're a foot high. Lord^ wouldn't I like to be abl@ 438 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. to manage lier. Fd set her up with a faro-bank or a sweat-board, and she'd win all the money in the army in a month." "Yes, she's a derror," accorded Eosenbaum. "She mate up her mindt to marry me vhen I virst gome down here. 1 vas awfully sgared, vor Ivas sure she saw drough me sharber dan de men dit, and vould marry me or ex- bose me. Bud I god some boints on her apout bizening a neighboring voman dat she hated unt vas jealous of, unt den 1 blayed an immediate orter vrom Cheneral Pragg to me to rebort to his Headqvarters. Pud it dook all de prains I hat to keeb he: off me." *'She's safe now from marry in' anybody for awhile, said Shorty, and he related the story of her nuptials, which amused Rosenbaum greatly. "Pud you haf signed Jeff Hackberry's death -varrant, he said. "If he dries to lif mit her she'll veed him vild barsnip, ant he'll ket a house of ret glay, dat you put de roof on mit a shoffel. Id'll pe no kreat loss. Jefi aind vorth in a year de pread he'll ead in a day.'* "She may be smothered in that hole," Shorty bethought himself. "I guess we'd better let her out for awhile." "Yes," said Rosenbaum. "She gan't do no harm now. Nopody else vill gome dis vay to-nighd. De men dat vas mit me vill sga ter de news dat de house is in Yan- kee hants. Dey dink dere's a pig vorce here, unt so ve von't pe disturped dill morning." "Then Til go in and let her out," said Shorty.'^ The other inmates of the cabin were asleep when he entered, but they waked up, and begged him not to let the woman out until morning. "Keep her in there till daylight," said 'Squire Corson, "and then restore me to my home and functions, and rJl call out a posse comitatus, and have her publicly duck- ed, according to the laws of the land, as a common scold. I've never heard such vile language as she applied to me when I gave her the advice it was my duty to give to live in peace and quietness with her husband. That there woman's a Niagary of cuss words and abuse." "If yo' let her out, take me outside with yo'," begged Jeff Hackberry. "She'll kill me. she', if I've to stay in EOSfkBAUM'S THRILLING EXPERIENCE. 439 here 'till morn in' with her. She begun by flingin' a 1:.ag o' red pepper in my face, and set us all to sneczin' until 1 thought the 'Squire'd sneeze his durned head ofi. Then she iobbed me wiih a bavonet. and acted a b n C) 1"^.' 0 m an orter to act tOAvard her lawful huslrtand. no matter how long they'd bin married, let alone tlieir weddin' night."' ^' Sorry, btit it's agin all my principles to separate man and wife." said Shorty, as he nn:-ved to the puncheon trap-door and undid the hasp. "You took her for better or worse, and it's too early in the game to complain that you found her a blamed sight worse than you took her for. You're one noAAy. yoti knoAAy. and mtist stay that AA-ay until death do you part." Shorty lilted up the trap-door, and Si helped the aa-o- man out AAUth some dilliculty. They expected a tcirrent of abuse, but she seemed limp and silent, and sank doAAUi on the floor. The boys picked her up and laid her on tlie bed beside Jeff liackberry. ''She's fainted; she's dead. She's bin sufferkated in that hole," said Jeff. "Xo. yo' punkin-headcd fool.'' she gasped. 'T haint dead, ner 1 haint fainted, nor I liaint sufferkated. Yo'll find out when I git my Avind back aliuie. I'm so full o' mad an' spite tliat km done ttickcred clean out. T'm clean beat, so clean beat that 1 haint got no Avords to fit the 'casion. T'^-e got t' lay still an' tiiink an' gether up some. '"'She's comin' to. Shorty/'' said Si. 'Tt'll be pleasanter outside." i '"'You say you have been haAung unusually exciting times," said Si to Rosenbauni; as the boys again seated themseh-es by the fire. "Yell, I should zay so," replied Eosenbaum Avith em- phasis. ''Do you know dat Cheneral Pragg is de A'erv Torst man dat eSer liffed?" '•'All rebels are bad," said Shorty oracularly. ''But I suppose that some are much worse than others. I know that the private soldiers are awful, and I suppose the higher you go the wuss they are. The Corporals are cussider than the priA^ates, the Sergeants can giA'e the Corporals 5)oints in deTilishness, and so it goes on ug 440 SI KLEGG AND SHOETY. until tlie General commanding an army must be one of the devil's favorite imps, while Jeff Davis is Old Horney^s junior partner." "No; id isn't dat/' said Rosenbaum. "I'fe known a goot many reppel ClieneralSj unt some of dem aind really pad vellers, oudside off deir rebelness. Pud olt Pragg is a porn defiil. He has no more heart dan a rattlesnake. He acdually lofes gruelty. He'd radder kill men dan not. Pie seen blenty of officers who vere endirely doo villing to shood men for liddie or nodding. Cheneral Pragg is de only man I effer saw who vould shood men for nodding at all — yust 'for example/ as he says, unt to make de odders afraidt unt reaty to opey him. He gcoUy galgulates to shood so many effery month. If deyVe done anyding to deserfe it, all righd. If dey haint, he shoods dem all de same, yust to 'preserfe dis- cipline.'" Si and Shorty uttered exclamations of surprise at this cold-blooded cruelty. "I kiiow id's hart to belief," said Rosenbaum, "put id's.^ , drue all de same, as anypody aroundt his Headqvarters vill dell you. Cheff Davis knows id unt abbroves id. He is the same kind of a man as Cheneral Pragg — no more heart dan a tiger. I haf seen a goot deal of de inside of de reppel army, unt Cheneral Pragg is de goldest-plooded, gruelest man in id or de v/hole vorld. Id's drue dat de men he orters shod are chenerally of no aggound, like your man Jeff Hackberry — put id's de brincible of de ding dat shocks me. He yust dakes a dislike to de vay a man looks or. acts, or de vay he barts his hair, looks at him mit his steely gray eyes, unt says goldly, 'Pud him in the pull-ben.' In de pull-ben de boor deffil goes, unt de next time Cheneral Pragg geds an idea dat de disci- pline of de army is running town, unt he must stiffen it ub mit a few executions, he orters all de men dat habben to pe in de pull-ben daken oud unt shod." "Without any trial, any court-martial, any eridence against them?" gasped Si. "Apsoludely mitout anyding put Cheneral Pragg's or- ders. It is like you read of in de pooks apoud dose Eastern gountries vhere de Sultan or odder High-muk-a- ROSENBAUM'S THRILLING EX' tRIENCE. 441 l ink says ^Gut dat man's headt off,' unt de man's liead is gut off, unt no questions asked, unt no funeral cere- ^lonies excebt vashing up de plood." "Lucky for you, Levi," said Shorty, "that he didnH hare any of the common prejudices against Jews, and slap you in the bull-pen.' "0, pud he dit," said Eosenbaum. "He liaaed a Chew vorse dan any man I eifer mod. Unt it prought me so near death dat I actually vatched dem digging my grafe." "Vhile I hat my ubs ant towns, unt some very narrow esgapes," continued Eosenbaum, "vhen i virst vent in- site Pragg's lines, 1 got along very veil chenerally. I blayed de beddler unt smuggler for de Southern Gonfed- eracy in great shabe, unt run dem drough a lot of gun- caps, quinine, medicines, unt so on, unt prought in a great deal of invormation, vhich dey fount to be drue. Some of dis Gen. Eosecrans gafe me himself, for he is Smart enough to know dat if he vants his Segret Service men to succeed he must gif dem straight goods to garry to de enemy. "I pTought in exact sdadements of vhat divisions, pri- gades \int rechiments vere at dis blace unt dat blace, how many men vas in dem, who deir gommanders vere, unt so on. Cheneral Eosecrans vould haf dese gifen mCo It helbed him in his blans to know yust vhat infor- mation vas reaching de enemy, for he knew yust how olt Pragg vould act vhen he hat certain knowledge. If he knew dat Sheridan mit 6,000 men vas at dis blace, mit Tom Vood 10 miles avaj mit 6,000 more, he voidd do a certain ding, unt Eosecrans vould brovide for id. De news dat I prought in de reppels gould dest by de reborts dey got from oddeis, unt dey alvays vound mine gorrect. "My vork bleased de reppel Chenerals so veil dat dey made me a Gaptain in deir army, dransferred me from Prigade Headqvarters to Division, unt den to Corps Headqvarters. I vas given gommand of squads of sgouts. I can draw very veil, unt I mate goot maps of de gountrv unt de roats, mit de bositions of Yankee unt reppel vorces. Dis vas somedings dat de other reppel sbies gould not do, unt it helped m© hd^, I vas gareful to 442 SI KLEGa AND SHORTY. make goples off all dese maps, unt dey god to Cheneral Rosecrans's Headqvarters. "De other reppel sbies got very jealous oi me pecause I vas bromoted ofer dem, unt dey laid all sorts of blaus to drip me ub. Dey game awful near gatching me seferal dimes, put I vas too smard for dem, unt gould outvit dem, vhenever I got a pointer as to vhat dey vere up to. Vonce dey vatched me go to a hollow sycamore dree, vhich 1 used as a bostoffice for Chim Chones to ged de dings I vanted to sent to Cheneral Rosecrans. Dey vount dere maps I hat mate of Shelbyville, mit de bosi- tions of de reppel unt Yankee vorces unt de vortiiications all shown. "Dat vas an awtui glose gall, unt I gould feel de robe dighdening arount my neck. Put I kebt my nerfe, unt told a sdraight sdory. I sait dat dat dree vas my rekular office, vhere I kebt lods of dings dat I vas avraid to garry aroundt mit me vhen I vas in tanger of vailing into de Yankee hants, as I vas efery day vhen I vas sgouting. Luckily for me I had some other brivate dings unt a lod of Gonfederate money hid dere, too, vhich I showed dem. Dey didn't more dan half-belief my sdory, put dey led me off, probably pecause dey needed me so pad. "I saw dat de ding vas only skimmed ofer, and vas ready to pieak out again any minute vorse dan effer, unt I kept my eyes peeled all de dime. Dat's vone rea- son vhy you haf not seen me vor so long. I ditn't dare send Cheneral Rosecrans anyding, or go near oudsite de reppel lines. I had to blay very goot, put I kept gather* ing ub invormation for de day vhen 1 should make a final preak unt leave de reppels for goot. "A veek ago 1 vas ordered to go up to Cheneial Pragg's Headqvarters to help dem mit deir maps unt reborts. Dey had nopody dere dat gould do de vork, unt Cheff Davis, who alvays vants to know efery dings apoud de armies, vas bunching dem ub safagely vor vull invorma- tion. He vanted accurade sdadements apoiit de Yankee sdrength unt bositions, unt apout de reppel sdrengtk unt bositions, to see if he gouldn't do somedings to pull de Yankees off of Bemberton at Vicksburg. Pragg's Adju- tJOSENBAL'MS THSILLIXG EXPERIENCE. 443 tant-Cheneral sent vord droiigh all de army vor to vind goot rabid bennien unt map-makers, unt 1 vas sent ub. "De Adjutant-Cheneral set me to vork under a lly near Headqvarters, unt lie vas dickled almost to death mit de vay I dit my Tork. Olt Pragg himself used to valk up unt town near, kiowling unt cussing unt svearing at efferyding unt efferypody. Vonce or twice de Adjutant- Cheneral galled his addention to my vork. Olt Pragg yust looked it ofer, grunted, unt bored me drough unt drough mit dose sharp, cold gray eyes of his. But I dought I vas safe so long as I vas at Headqvarters, unt I gafe a great stiff to other Segret Seriice men who hat been drv- ing to down me. "Vun morning olt Pragg vas in an awful demper~de vorst I hat effer seen. Effery vord unt order vas a gruelty to somepody. Vinally, up gomes dis Brad Tingle dat you haf inside. He is a sort of a half-sby — nod prains enough to pe a real Tone, put mit a goot deal of gourage unt agdividy to do small vork. He hat peen sent py Cheneral Cheatham to garry some babers unt make a rebort. Vhateffer it vas, it put olt ^"agg in a vorse dem- per dan effer. Brad Tingle habbei i to catch sighd of me, unt he said in a surprised vayt "'Yhy, dere's dat Chew I saw sidding in Cheneral Eosecrans's dent dalking to him, vhen I vas blaying refugee Tennesean in de Yankee gamps.' "'Vhat's dat? Yhat's dat, my man?' said olt Pragg, who habbened to oferhear him. "Brad Tingle dolt all he knew apoud me. Olt Pragg durned doward me unt gif me such a look. I gould veel dose cold, gruel eyes boring sdraighd drough me. "'Certainly, he is a Chew, unt vone of olt Rosecrans's pest sbies,' he said. 'Olt Rosecrans is a Chew, a Dutch Chew, himself. I knowed him veil in de olt Army. He's got a rekular Chew vace. He blajs off Catholic, put dat is to hite his Chewishness. He gan't do id. Dat hook nose'd gif him avay if nodding else dit, unt he haf got enough else. He likes to haf Chews apoud him, pecause he unterstants dem petter dan he does vhite people, unt bardicularly he is vond off Chew sbies. He gan drust dem vhere nopodyelse gan. Dey '11 pe drue to him pe- 444> SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. cause he is a Chew. Put dat man in de pull-ben, unt shood him mit de rest to-morrow morning.' "^Heavens/ gasped de Adjutant-Cheneral; 'he is py Tar • de pest man I haf efer hat. I gan'd ged along mitoud him.' , , . N "'You musd ged along mitoud him/ salt olt Pragg. Tm asdonished at you haling such a man arount. Vhere **OLT PRAGG USED TO VALK UP UNT TOWN, KROWLING UNT CUSSING." f in de vorld dit you bick him ub ? Pud id's yust like you. How in God's name Cheff Tavis exbects me to gommand an army mit such makeshifts of sdaff officers as he sends me, I don'd know. He keebs de pest vor olt unt sends me vhat nopody else'll haf, unt den exbects me to vin patties against a petter army dan de Army of de Potomac. I nefer god a sdaff officer dat has pxains vonee.' Sergeant of de ProTOst Guart, who vas a iiadural peast, unt vas kept py olt Pragg pecause he vas glat to garry out orders to murder men, caught holt of me py my shoulter unt run me down to de pull-ben, leaving de Adjutant'Cheneral mit forty expressions on his angry vace. *'My goodness, my heart sunk vorse dan efer pefore vhen I hear de door shud pehint me. Dere vere SO or 40 odders in de pull-ben. Dey vere all laying arount — dull, stubid, sullen, silent, unt hobeless. Dey hartly baid any addention to me. I sat do^ui on a log, unt my heart seemed to sink glear oud of me. For de virst dime in my life I gouldn't see de slightest ray of hobe. Drougli de gracks in de pull ben I gould see de fresh graves of de men who had alreaty peen shod, unt vhile I looked I saw a squad of niggers gome out unt pegin digging de grafes of dose who vere to be shod to-morrow. I gould see reppel soldiers unt officers bassing py, stob unt look a moment at de grafes. shrug deir shoulters, unt go on. Id froze my plood to dink dat to-morrow dey vould pe looking at my grafe dat vay. Afder avhile a man gome in unt gif each vone of us a biece of gornpread unt mead. De odders ade deirs greedily, put I gould not touch id. Night come on, unt still I sat dere. Suddenly de door obened, unt de Adiutant-Ciieneral gome in mit a man apout my size and dressed someding like me. As he bassed he gaught holt of my arm in a sort of a vay dat made me unterstant to ged ub unt follow pehint him, I dit so ad vonce mitoud saying a vord. I valked pehint him arount de pull-ben until ve gome back to de door, vhen de guart bresented arms, unt he talked oud, mit me sdill pi^hint him, leafing de odder man insite. Afder ve hat gone a liddle vay he sdopped unt vispered to me: "^De Cheneral hat to go off in a hurry tovard Var Trace dis afdernoon. He dook de Provost-Sergeant unt bart of his sdaff mit him, put I hat to be left pehint to vinish up dis vork. I gan'd ged anypody else to do id pud you. Fm going to dake you ofer to a gabin, vhere you'll pe oud of sighd. I vand you to rush dat vork drough aa 446 SI KLEGG AND SHORTY. vast as de Lord'll led you. After you ged id done you gan go vhere you dam blease, so long as you don'd led de Cheneral sed eyes on you I've safed your life, unt I'm going to drust to your honor to blay vair mit me. Help me oud, do your vork righd, unt den nefer led me see you again.' "Of gourse, I blayed vair. I asked no questions, you ped^ apoud de boor teffil he hat pud in my blaee. I vorked all dat night unt all de next day gedding his babors in de pest bossible shabe, unt in making gopies of dem vor Cheneral Eosecrans, vhich I sduck pehint de chimney in de gabin. Along in de morning I heard de trums beading as de men vere marched out to vitness de execution. Id mate my heart thump a liddle, but I kept on sgratehing a^ay mit my pen for life unt death. Den de trums stopped beading vor avhile, unt den dcy begun agin. Den I heard a volley dat mate me shiver all ofer. Den de trams bead as de men vere marched pack to deir gamps. If I hat hat dime I dink I should haf vaintod. Towards efening I hat got efferyding in virst-glass shape. De xA^djutant-Cheneral gome in. He looked ofer de babers in a very sadisfied vay, voided dem ub^ checked off vrom a list a memorandum of de babers he hat gifen me to gopy unt gompile, unt saw dat I hat gifen dem all pack to him. Den he looked me sdraighd in de eye mit said : "'Now, Chew, dere's no use of my saying anyding to you. You heard dat volley dier morning, umt uiiterstoot id. Nefer led me or de Cheneral lay eyes on you again. You haf done your bart all righd, mit I mine. Goot-by.' "He dock his babers unt valked out of de gabin. Ac soon as he vas gone I snatched de gopies dat I hat hid- den pehint de chimney, sduck dem here unt dere into my glose, unt sdarted for de outer lines. "I made my vay to a house vhere I knew I'd vind some men who had sgouted mit me pefore. I knew dey might pe susbicious of me, pud I gould ged dem to go along by bredending to haf orders vrom Headqvarters for a sgout. I got to de house py morning, vound some of dem dere, geddered up some more, unt haf peen riding arount all day, looking at de Yankee lines, unt drying to vind soma ROSENBATTM'S THItlLLING EXPERIENCE 447 vay to ged inside. Fm nearly deat for sleeb, put I must haf dese babers in Cheneral Roseerans's hants pefore I glose my eyes." *'Your horse is all right, isn't he?" asked vShorty '^Yes, I dink so/' answered Eosenbaum. "Well, we have a good horse here. I'll mount him and go with you to camp, iea\^ing Si and the rest of the boys here. I kin git back to them by daylight." So it was agreed upon. Day was just breaking when Shorty came galloping back. "Turn out, boys!" he shouted. "Pack up, and start back for camp as quick as you kin. The whole army's on the move." "What's happened, Shorty?" inquired Si, as they all roused themselves and gathered around. "Well," answered Shorty, rather swelling with the im- portance of that wdiich he had to communicate, "all I know is that w-e got into camp a little after midnight, and went direct to Gen. Rosecrans's Headquarters. Of course, the old man was up; I don't believe that old hook- nosed duffer ever sleeps. He was awful glad to see Rosenbaum, and gave us both great big horns o' whisky, which Rosenbaum certainly needed, if I didn't, for he was dead tired, and almost flopped down after he handed his papers to the General. But the General wanted him to stay awake, and kept plying him with whisky when- ever he would begin to sink, and, my goodness, the ques- tions he did put at that poor Jew. "I thought we knowed something the country out here around us, but, Jerusalem, all that we know would- ?x't make a nrimer to Rosecrans's Fifth Reader. Huw were the bridges on this road? Where did that road lead to? How deep w^as the water in this crick? How many rebels were out there? Where was Bragg's cavalry? Where's his reserve artillery? And so on, until I thought he'd run a seine through every water-hole in that Jew's mind and dragged out the last minner in it. I never heard the sharpest lawyer put a man through such a cross-examination. 448 SI KLEGG AND SHOKTY. "Rosenbaiim was equal to everything asked hJni, but it seemed to me that Gen. Eoseerans knowed a great deal more about what was inside the rebel lines than Eosenbaum did. All this time they was goin' over the papers that Eosenbaum brung, and Old Eosey seemed tickled to death to git 'em. He told Eosenbaum he'd done the greatest day's work o' his life and made his fortune. "In the meantime the whole staff had waked up ana gathered in the tents, and while the General was pumpin' Eosenbaum he was sending orders to this General and that General, and stirrin' things up from Dan to Beer- sheba. Lord, you ought t've seen that army wake up. I wouldn't 've missed it for a farm. Everything is on the move — right on the jump. We're goin' for old Bragg for every cent we're worth, and we want to git back to the regiment as quick as our legs '11 carry us. Hustle around, now." "But what 're we goin' to do with our prisoners?'' asked Si. "Blast the prisoners!" answered Shorty with profane emphasis. "Let 'em go to blue blazes, for all that we care. We're after bigger game than a handful o' measly pennyroyal sang-diggers. We hain't no time to fool with polecats when we're huntin' bear. Go off and leave 'em here." "That's all right," said Si, to whom an idea occurred. "Hustle around, boys, but don't make no noise. We'll march off so quietly that they won't know that we're gone^ and it'll be lots o' fun thinking what they'll do when they wake up and begin clapper-clawiii' one an- other and wonderin' what theii fate'll be."