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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6)
+       His Transformation From A Raw Recruit To A Veteran
+
+Author: John McElroy
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31771]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SI KLEGG, BOOK 1 (OF 6) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+SI KLEGG
+
+HIS TRANSFORMATION FROM A RAW RECRUIT TO A VETERAN.
+
+
+By John McElroy.
+
+
+Book One
+
+
+[Illustration: Title page ]
+
+[Illustration: Frontispiece ]
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE CO.,
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C
+
+
+
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+COPYRIGHT 1910
+
+
+Contents:
+
+CHAPTER I.        GOING TO WAR—SI KLEGG'S COMPLETE EQUIPMENT
+CHAPTER II.       THE DEADLY BAYONET
+CHAPTER III.      THE OLD CANTEEN
+CHAPTER IV.       THE AWFUL HARDTACK
+CHAPTER V.        FAT PORK—INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM
+CHAPTER VI.       DETAILED AS COOK—SI FINDS RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT
+CHAPTER VII.      IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD
+CHAPTER VIII.     ON COMPANY DRILL
+CHAPTER IX.       SI GETS A LETTER
+CHAPTER X.        SI AND THE DOCTORS
+CHAPTER XI.       THE PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIER
+CHAPTER XII.      A WET NIGHT
+CHAPTER XIII.     SI "STRAGGLED"
+CHAPTER XIV.      SI AND THE MULES
+CHAPTER XV.       UNDER FIRE—SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER
+CHAPTER XVI.      ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH"
+CHAPTER XVII.     FORAGING ON THE WAY
+CHAPTER XVIII.    A SUNDAY OFF
+CHAPTER XIX.      A CLOSE CALL
+CHAPTER XX.      "THE SWEET SABBATH"
+CHAPTER XXI.      SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY LEARNING
+CHAPTER XXII.     A NIGHT OF SONG
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+"Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., and Shorty, his Partner," were born more
+than 25 years ago in the brain of John McElroy, editor of The National
+Tribune, who invented the names and characters, outlined the general
+plan, and wrote a number of the chapters. Subsequently, the editor,
+having many other important things pressing upon his attention, called
+in an assistant to help on the work, and this assistant, under the
+direction and guidance of the editor, wrote some of these chapters.
+Subsequently, without the editor's knowledge or consent, the assistant
+adopted all the material as his own, and expanded it into a book which
+had a limited sale and then passed into the usual oblivion of shortlived
+subscription books.
+
+The sketches in this first number are the original ones published in The
+National Tribune in 1885-6, revised and enlarged somewhat by the editor.
+
+Those in the second and all following numbers appeared in The National
+Tribune when the editor, John McElroy, resumed the story in 1897,
+12 years after the first publication, and continued it for the
+unprecedented period of seven years, with constantly growing interest
+and popularity. They gave "Si Klegg" a nation-wide and enduring
+celebrity. Gen. Lew Wallace, the foremost literary man of his day,
+pronounced "Si Klegg" the "great idyll of the war."
+
+How true they are to nature every veteran can abundantly testify from
+his own service. Really, only the name of the regiment was invented.
+There is no doubt that there were several men of the name of Josiah
+Klegg in the Union Army, and who did valiant service for the Government.
+They had experiences akin to, if not identical with, those narrated
+here, and substantially every man who faithfully and bravely carried a
+musket in defense of the best Government on earth had sometimes, if not
+often, experiences of with those of Si Klegg, Shorty and the boys are
+strong reminders.
+
+Many of the illustrations in this first number are by the late Geo. Y.
+Coffin, deceased, a talented artist, whose work embellished The National
+Tribune for many years. He was the artist of The National Tribune until
+his lamented and premature death, and all his military work was done
+by daily consultation, instruction and direction of the editor of The
+National Tribune.
+
+THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
+
+
+
+
+THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+
+TO THE RANK AND FILE
+
+OF THE GRANDEST ARMY EVER MUSTERED FOR WAR.
+
+
+
+
+
+SI KLEGG
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. GOING TO WAR--SI KLEGG'S COMPLETE EQUIPMENT
+
+AND WHAT BECAME OF IT.
+
+AFTER Si Klegg had finally yielded to his cumulative patriotic impulses
+and enlisted in the 200th Ind. for three years or until the rebellion
+was put down, with greater earnestness and solemnity to equip himself for
+his new career.
+
+He was thrifty and provident, and believed in being ready for any
+emergency. His friends and family coincided with him. The Quartermaster
+provided him with a wardrobe that was serviceable, if not stylish, but
+there were many things that he felt he would need in addition.
+
+"You must certainly have a few pairs of homeknit socks and some changes
+of underclothes," said his tearfully-solicitous mother. "They won't
+weigh much, and they'll in all likelihood save you a spell of sickness."
+
+"Certainly," responded Josiah, "I wouldn't think of going away without
+'em."
+
+Into the capacious knapsack went several pounds of substantial knit
+woolen goods.
+
+"You can't get along without a couple of towels and a piece of soap,"
+said his oldest sister, Maria, as she stowed those things alongside the
+socks and underclothes.
+
+"Si," said Ellen, his second sister, "I got this pocket album for my
+gift to you. It contains all our pictures, and there is a place for
+another's picture, whose name I suppose I needn't mention," she added
+archly.
+
+Si got a little red in the face, but said:
+
+"Nothing could be nicer, Nell. It'll be the greatest comfort in the
+world to have all your pictures to look at when I'm down in Dixie."
+
+"Here's a 'housewife' I've made for you with my own hands," added
+Annabel, who was some other fellow's sister. She handed him a
+neatly-stitched little cloth affair. "You see, it has needles, thread,
+buttons, scissors, a fine-tooth comb, and several other things that
+you'll need very badly after you've been in camp awhile. And" (she got
+so near Si that she could whisper the rest) "you'll find in a little
+secret pocket a lock of my hair, which I cut off this morning."
+
+"I suppose I'll have a good deal of leisure time while we're in camp,"
+said Si to himself and the others; "I believe I'll just put this Ray's
+Arithmetic and Greene's Grammar in."
+
+"Yes, my young friend," added the Rev. Boanarg, who had just entered
+the house, "and as you will be exposed to new and unusual temptations,
+I thought it would be judicious to put this volume of 'Baxter's Call to
+the Unconverted' in your knapsack, for it may give you good counsel when
+you need it sorely."
+
+
+"Thankee," said Si, stowing away the book. Of course, Si had to have
+a hair-brush, blackingbrush, a shaving kit, and some other toilet
+appliances.
+
+[Illustration: SI DECIDES TO ENLIST 017 ]
+
+Then it occurred to his thoughtful sister Maria that he ought to have
+a good supply of stationery, including pens, a bottle of ink, and a
+portfolio on which to write when he was far away from tables and desks.
+
+These went in, accompanied by a half-pint bottle of "No. 6," which was
+Si's mother's specific for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Then,
+the blanket which the Quartermaster had issued seemed very light and
+insufficient to be all the bed-clothes a man would have when sleeping on
+the bare ground, and Si rolled up one of the warm counterpanes that had
+helped make the Indiana Winter nights so comfortable for him.
+
+"Seems rather heavy," said Si as he put his knapsack on; "but I guess
+I'll get used to it in a little while. They say that soldiers learn
+to carry surprising loads on their backs. It'll help cure me of being
+round-shouldered; it'll be better 'n shoulder-braces for holding me up
+straight."
+
+Of course, his father couldn't let him go away without giving him
+something that would contribute to his health and comfort, and at
+last the old gentleman had a happy thought--he would get the village
+shoemaker to make Si a pair of his best stout boots. They would be ever
+so much better than the shoes the Quartermaster furnished for tramping
+over the muddy roads and swamps of the South. Si fastened these on top
+of his knapsack until he should need them worse than at present.
+
+His old uncle contributed an immense bowie knife, which he thought would
+be of great use in the sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts Si would have
+to wage.
+
+On the way to the depot Si found some of his comrades gathered around
+an enterprising retail dealer in hardware, who was convincing them that
+they could serve their country much better, besides adding to their
+comfort, by buying from him a light hatchet and a small frying-pan,
+which he offered, in consideration of their being soldiers, to sell them
+at remarkable low rates.
+
+[Illustration: OFF TO THE WAR 019 ]
+
+Si saw at once the great convenience a hatchet and a frying-pan would
+be, and added them to his kit. An energetic dealer in tinware succeeded
+in selling him, before he reached the depot, a cunning little coffee-pot
+and an ingenious combination of knife, fork and spoon which did not
+weigh more than a pound.
+
+When he got in the cars he was chagrined to find that several of his
+comrades had provided themselves with convenient articles that he had
+not thought of. He consoled himself that the regiment would stop some
+time in Louisville, when he would have an opportunity of making up his
+deficiencies.
+
+But when the 200th reached Louisville there was no leisure for anything.
+Bragg was then running his celebrated foot-race with Buell for the
+Kentucky metropolis, and the 200th Ind. was trotted as rapidly as unused
+legs could carry it to the works several miles from the center of the
+city.
+
+Everybody who was in that campaign remembers how terribly hot and dry
+everything was.
+
+Si Klegg managed to keep up tolerably near the head of the column until
+camp was reached, but his shoulders were strained and blisters began to
+appear on his feet.
+
+"That was a mighty tough pull, wasn't it?" he said to his chum as they
+spread their blankets on the dog-kennel and made some sort of a bed;
+"but I guess after a day or two we'll get so used to it that we won't
+mind it."
+
+For a few days the 200th Ind. lay in camp, but one day there came an
+order for the regiment to march to Bardstown as rapidly as possible. A
+battle was imminent. The roads were dusty as ash-heaps, and though the
+pace was not three miles an hour, the boys' tongues were hanging out
+before they were out of sight of camp.
+
+"I say, Captain, don't they never have resting spells in the army?" said
+Si.
+
+"Not on a forced march," answered the Captain, who, having been in the
+first three months' service, was regarded as a veteran. "Push on, boys;
+they say that they'll want us before night." Another hour passed.
+
+[Illustration: AS SI LOOKED WHEN HE LANDED AT LOUISVILLE 021 ]
+
+"Captain, I don't believe you can put a pin-point anywhere on my feet
+that ain't covered with a blister as big as a hen's egg," groaned Si.
+
+"It's too bad, I know," answered the officer; "but you must go on. They
+say Morgan's cavalry are in our rear shooting down every straggler they
+can find."
+
+Si saw the boys around him lightening their knapsacks. He abominated
+waste above all things, but there seemed no help for it, and, reaching
+into that receptacle that bore, down upon his aching shoulders like a
+glacier on a groundhog, he pulled out and tossed into the fence corner
+the educational works he had anticipated so much benefit from. The
+bottle of "No. 6" followed, and it seemed as if the knapsack was a ton
+lighter, but it yet weighed more than any stack of hay on the home farm.
+
+A cloud of dust whirled up, and out of it appeared a galloping Aid.
+
+"The General says that the 200th Ind. must push on much faster. The
+enemy is trying to get to the bridge ahead of them," he shouted as he
+dashed off in another cloud of dust.
+
+A few shots were heard in the rear.
+
+"Morgan's cavalry are shooting some more stragglers," shouted some one.
+
+Si was getting desperate. He unrolled the counterpane and slashed it
+into strips with his bowie. "My mother made that with her own hands," he
+explained to a comrade, "and if I can't have the good of it no infernal
+rebel shall. He next slashed the boots up and threw them after the
+quilt, and then hobbled on to overtake the rest of his company.
+
+"There's enough dry-goods and clothing lying along in the fence corners
+to supply a good-sized town," the Lieutenant-Colonel reported as he rode
+over the line of march in rear of the regiment.
+
+The next day Si's feet felt as if there was a separate and individual
+jumping toothache in every sinew, muscle, tendon and toe-nail; but that
+didn't matter. With Bragg's infantry ahead and John Morgan's cavalry in
+the rear, the 200th Ind. had to go forward so long as the boys could put
+one foot before the other.
+
+[Illustration: SI'S LOAD BEGINS TO GET HEAVY 023 ]
+
+The unloading went on even more rapidly than the day before.
+
+"My knapsack looks like an elephant had stept on it," Si said, as he
+ruefully regarded it in the evening.
+
+"Show me one in the regiment that don't," answered his comrade.
+
+Thenceforward everything seemed to conspire to teach Si how vain and
+superfluous were the things of this world. The first rain-storm soaked
+his cherished album until it fell to pieces, and his sister's portfolio
+did the same. He put the photographs in his blouse pocket and got along
+just as well. When he wanted to write he got paper from the sutler. A
+mule tramped on his fancy coffee-pot, and he found he could make quite
+as good coffee in a quart-cup. A wagon-wheel lan over his cherished
+frying-pan, and he melted an old canteen in two and made a lighter and
+handier pan out of one-half of it. He broke his bowie-knife prying the
+lid off a cracker-box. He piled his knapsack with the others one
+day when the regiment was ordered to strip them off for a charge,
+and neither he nor his comrades ever saw one of them again. He never
+attempted to replace it. He learned to roll up an extra pair of socks
+and a change of underclothing in his blanket, tie the ends of this
+together and throw it over his shoulder sash fashion. Then, with his
+socks drawn up over the bottoms of his pantaloons, three days' rations
+in his haversack and 40 rounds in his cartridgebox, he was ready to make
+his 30 miles a day in any direction he might be sent, and whip anything
+that he encountered on the road.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE DEADLY BAYONET
+
+IT IS USED FOR NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE THAN FOR PRODDING MEN.
+
+IN COMMON with every other young man who enlisted to defend the
+glorious Stars and Stripes, Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., had a profound
+superstition concerning the bayonet. All the war literature he had
+ever read abounded in bloodcurdling descriptions of bayonet charges and
+hand-to-hand conflicts, in which bayonets were repeatedly thrust up to
+the shanks in the combatants' bodies just as he had put a pitch-fork
+into a bundle of hay. He had seen pictures of English regiments
+bristling with bayonets like a porcupine with quills, rushing toward
+French regiments which looked as prickly as a chestnut-bur, and in his
+ignorance he supposed that was the way fighting was done. Occasionally
+he would have qualms at the thought of how little his system was suited
+to have cold steel thrust through it promiscuous-like, but he comforted
+himself with the supposition that he would probably get used to it in
+time--"soldiers get used to almost anything, you know."
+
+When the 200th Ind. drew its guns at Indianapolis he examined all the
+strange accouterments with interest, but gave most to the triangular bit
+of steel which writers who have never seen a battle make so important a
+weapon in deciding contests.
+
+It had milk, molasses, or even applejack, for Si then was not a member
+of the Independent Order of Good Templars, of which society he is now an
+honored officer. Nothing could be nicer, when he was on picket, to bring
+buttermilk in from the neighboring farm-house to his chum Shorty, who
+stood post while he was gone.
+
+[Illustration: SI's CHUM, "SHORTY" ELLIOTT 026 ]
+
+
+
+Later in the service Si learned the inestimable value of coffee to
+the soldier on the march. Then he stript the cloth from his canteen,
+fastened the strand with bits of wire and made a fine coffee-pot of
+it. In the morning he would half fill it with the splendid coffee ihe
+Government furnished, fill it up with water and hang it from a bush
+or a stake over the fire, while he went ahead with his other culinary
+preparations. By the time these were finished he would have at least a
+quart of magnificent coffee that the cook of the Fifth Avenue could
+not surpass, and which would last him until the regiment halted in the
+afternoon.
+
+The bully of the 200th took it into his thick head one day to try to
+"run over" Si. The latter had just filled his canteen, and the bully
+found that the momentum of three pints of water swung at arm's length
+by an angry boy was about equal to a mule's kick.
+
+Just as he was beginning to properly appreciate his canteen, he learned
+a sharp lesson, that comes to all of us, as to how much "cussedness"
+there can be in the simplest things when they happen to go wrong. He
+went out one day and got a canteen of nice sweet milk, which he
+and "Shorty" Elliott heartily enjoyed. He hung the canteen upon the
+ridge-pole of the tent, and thought no more about it until the next day,
+when he came in from drill, and found the tent filled with an odor so
+vile that it made him cough.
+
+"Why in thunder don't the Colonel send out a detail to find and bury
+that dead mule? It'll pizen the hull camp."
+
+He had been in service just long enough to believe that the Colonel
+ought to look out for and attend to everything.
+
+"'Taint no dead mule," said Shorty, whose nose had come close to the
+source of the odor. "It's this blamed canteen. What on earth have you
+been putting in it. Si?"
+
+"Ha'int had nothin' in but that sweet milk yesterday."
+
+"That's just what's the matter," said the Orderly, who, having been in
+the three-months' service, knew all about war. He had come in to detail
+Si and Shorty to help unload Quartermaster's stores. "You must always
+scald 'out your canteens when you've had milk in 'em. Don't you remember
+how careful your mother is to scald her milk pans?"
+
+After the company wagon had run over and hopelessly ruined the neat
+little frying-pan which Si had brought from Posey County, he was in
+despair as to how he should fry his meat and cook his "lobscouse."
+Necessity is the mother of invention. He melted in two a canteen he
+picked up, and found its halves made two deep tin pans, very light and
+very handy. A split stick made a handle, and he had as good a frying-pan
+as the one he had lost, and much more convenient, for when done using
+the handle was thrown away, and the pan slipt into the haversack, where
+it lay snug and close, instead of clattering about as the frying-pan did
+when the regiment moved at the double-quick.
+
+The other half of the canteen was useful to brown coffee, bake hoe-cake,
+and serve for toilet purposes.
+
+One day on the Atlanta campaign the regiment moved up in line to the
+top of a bald hill. As it rose above the crest it was saluted with a
+terrific volley, and saw that another crest across the narrow valley was
+occupied by at least a brigade of rebels.
+
+"We'll stay right here, boys," said the plucky little Colonel, who had
+only worn Sergeant's stripes when the regiment crossed the Ohio River.
+"We've preempted this bit of real estate, and we'll hold it against the
+whole Southern Confederacy. Break for that fence there, boys, and every
+fellow come back with a couple of rails."
+
+It seemed as if he hardly ceased speaking when the boys came running
+back with the rails which they laid down along the crest, and dropped
+flat behind them, began throwing the gravelly soil over them with their
+useful half-canteens. In vain the shower of rebel bullets struck and
+sang about them. Not one could penetrate that little ridge of earth and
+rails, which in an hour grew into a strong rifle-pit against which the
+whole rebel brigade charged, only to sustain a bloody repulse.
+
+The war would have lasted a good deal longer had it not been for the
+daily help of the ever-useful half-canteen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE OLD CANTEEN
+
+THE MANY AND QUEER USES TO WHICH IT WAS AT LAST PUT.
+
+[Illustration: THE DIVERSE USES OF THE GOOD OLD CANTEEN 029 ]
+
+WHEN Josiah (called "Si" for short) Klegg, of the 200th Ind., drew his
+canteen from the Quartermaster at Louisville, he did not have a very
+high idea of its present or prospective importance. In the 22 hot
+Summers that he had lived through he had never found himself very far
+from a well or spring when his thirst cried out to be slacked, and he
+did not suppose that it was much farther between wells down South.
+
+"I don't see the use of carrying two or three pints o' water along all
+day right past springs and over cricks," he remarked to his chum, as the
+two were examining the queer, cloth-covered cans.
+
+"We've got to take 'em, any way," answered his chum, resignedly, "It's
+regulations."
+
+On his entry into service a boy accepted everything without question
+when assured that it was "regulations." He would have charged bayonets
+on a buzz-saw if authoritatively informed that it was required by the
+mysterious "regulations."
+
+The long march the 200th Ind. made after Bragg over the dusty turnpikes
+the first week in October, 1862, taught Si the value of a canteen. After
+that it was rarely allowed to get empty.
+
+"What are these grooves along each side for?" he asked, pointing out the
+little hollows which give the "prod" lightness and strength.
+
+"Why," answered the Orderly, who, having been in the three-months'
+service, assumed to know more about war than the Duke of Wellington,
+"the intention of those is to make a wound the lips of which will close
+up when the bayonet is pulled out, so that the man'll be certain to
+die."
+
+Naturally so diabolical an intention sent cold shivers down Si's back.
+
+The night before Si left for "the front" he had taken his musket and
+couterments home to show them to his mother and sisters--and the other
+fellow's sister, whose picture and lock of hair he had safely stowed
+away. They looked upon the bayonet with a dreadful awe. Tears came into
+Maria's eyes as she thought of Si roaming about through the South like a
+bandit plunging that cruel steel into people's bowels.
+
+"This is the way it's done," said Si, as he charged about the room in an
+imaginary duel with a rebel, winding up with a terrifying lunge. "Die,
+Tur-r-rraitor, gaul durn ye," he exclaimed, for he was really getting
+excited over the matter, while the girls screamed and jumped upon the
+chairs, and his good mother almost fainted.
+
+The attention that the 200th Ind. had to give to the bayonet drill
+confirmed Si's deep respect for the weapon, and he practiced assiduously
+all the "lunges," "parries," and "guards" in the Manual, in the hope
+that proficiency so gained would save his own dearly-beloved hide from
+puncture, and enable him to punch any luckless rebel that he might
+encounter as full of holes as a fishing net.
+
+[Illustration: WHAT THE BAYONET WAS GOOD FOR 033 ]
+
+The 200th Ind.'s first fight was at Perryville, but though it routed the
+rebel force in front of it, it would have taken a bayonet half-a-mile
+long to touch the nearest "Johnny." Si thought it odd that the rebels
+didn't let him get close enough to them to try his new bayonet, and
+pitch a dozen or two of them over into the next field.
+
+If the truth must be told, the first blood that stained Si's bayonet was
+not that of a fellow-man.
+
+Si Klegg's company was on picket one day, while Gen. Buell was trying to
+make up his mind what to do with Bragg. Rations had been a little short
+for a week or so. In fact, they had been scarcely sufficient to meet the
+demands of Si's appetite, and his haversack had nothing in it to speak
+of. Strict orders against foraging had been, issued. It was the day of
+"guarding rebel onion patches." Si couldn't quite get it straight in his
+head why the General should be so mighty particular about a few pigs and
+chickens and sweet potatoes, for he was really getting hungry, and
+when a man is in this condition he is not in a fit mood to grapple with
+fine-spun theories of governmental policy.
+
+So when a fat pig came wabbling and grunting toward his post, it was to
+Si like a vision of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness.
+A wild, uncontrollable desire to taste a fresh spare-rib took possession
+of him. Naturally, his first idea was to send a bullet through the
+animal, but on second thought he saw that wouldn't do at all. It would
+"give him away" at once, and, besides, he had found that a single shot
+on the picket-line would keep Buell's entire army in line-of-battle for
+a whole day.
+
+Si wrote to his mother that his bright new bayonet was stained with
+Southern blood, and the old lady shuddered at the awful thought. "But,"
+added Si, "it was only a pig, and not a man, that I killed!"
+
+"I'm so glad!" she exclaimed.
+
+[Illustration: AS MARIA PICTURED SI USING HIS BAYONET 034 ]
+
+By the time Si had been in the service a year there was less zeal in the
+enforcement of orders of this kind, and Si had become a very skillful
+and successful forager. He had still been unable to reach with his
+bayonet the body of a single one of his misguided fellow citizens,
+but he had stabbed a great many pigs and sheep. In fact, Si found his
+bayonet a most useful auxiliary in his predatory operations. He could
+not well have gotten along without it.
+
+Uncle Sam generally furnished Si with plenty of coffee--roasted and
+unground--but did not supply him with a coffee mill. Si thought at first
+that the Government had forgotten something. He saw that several of the
+old veterans of '61 had coffee mills, but he found on inquiry that they
+had been obtained by confiscation only. He determined to supply himself
+at the first opportunity, but in the meantime he was obliged to 'use his
+bayonet as a substitute, just as all the rest of the soldiers did.
+
+We regret to say that Si, having thrown away his "Baxter's Call to the
+Unconverted" in his first march, and having allowed himself to forget
+the lessons he had learned but a few years before in Sunday-school, soon
+learned to play poker and other sinful games. These, at night, developed
+another use for the bayonet. In its capacity as a "handy" candlestick it
+was "equaled by few and excelled by none." The "shank" was always ready
+to receive the candle, while the point could be thrust into the ground
+in an instant, and nothing more was necessary. This was perhaps the
+most general sphere of usefulness found by the bayonet during the war.
+Barrels of candle-grease flowed down the furrowed sides of this weapon
+for every drop of human blood that dimmed its luster.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE AWFUL HARDTACK
+
+THE HARD AND SOLID STAFF OF MILITARY LIFE.
+
+"APPETITE'S a queer thing," said Si to Shorty one day, when both were
+in a philosophical mood. "It's an awful bother when you haven't it, and
+it's a great deal worse when you have it, and can't get anything for
+it." "Same as money," returned sage Shorty. During the first few months
+of Si Klegg's service in the army the one thing that bothered him more
+than anything else was his appetite. It was a very robust, healthy one
+that Si had, for he had grown up on his father's farm in Indiana, and
+had never known what it was to be hungry without abundant means at hand
+for appeasing his desires in that direction. His mother's cupboard was
+never known to be in the condition of Old Mother Hubbard's, described
+in the nursery rhyme. The Kleggs might not have much tapestry and
+bric-a-brac in their home, but their smoke-house was always full, and
+Mrs. Klegg's kitchen could have fed a camp-meeting any time without
+warning. So it was that when Si enlisted his full, rosy face and his
+roundness of limb showed that he had been well fed, and that nature
+had made good use of the ample daily supplies that were provided. His
+digestive organs were kept in perfect condition by constant exercise.
+
+After Si had put down his name on the roll of Co. Q of the 200th Ind.
+he had but a few days to remain at home before his regiment was to start
+for Louisville. During this time his mother and sisters kept him filled
+up with "goodies" of every sort. In fact, it was the biggest thing in
+the way of a protracted picnic that Si had ever struck.
+
+"You must enjoy these things while you can, Si," said his mother, "for
+goodness knows what you'll do when you really git into the army. I've
+heerd 'em tell awful things about how the poor sogers don't have half
+enough to eat, and what they do git goes agin' any Christian stomach.
+Here, take another piece of this pie. A little while, and it'll be a
+long time, I reckon, till ye git any more."
+
+"Don't keer if I do!" said Si, for there was scarcely any limit to his
+capacity.
+
+And so during those days and nights the old lady and the girls cooked
+and cooked, and Si ate and ate, until it seemed as if he wouldn't want
+any more till the war was over.
+
+Si was full, and as soon as Co. Q was, it was ordered to camp, and Si
+had to go. They loaded him down with good things enough to last him
+a week. The pretty Annabel--the neighbor's daughter who had solemnly
+promised Si that she wouldn't go with any other fellow while he was
+away--came around to see Si off and brought him a rich fruit cake.
+
+"I made that for you," she said.
+
+"Bully for you!" said Si, for he felt that he must begin to talk like a
+soldier.
+
+The first day or two after reaching Louisville the 200th received
+rations of "soft bread." But that didn't last long. It was only a way
+they had of letting the fresh soldier down easy. Orders came to get
+ready to pull out after Bragg, and then Si'a regiment had its first
+issue of army rations. As the Orderly pried open a box of hardtack and
+began to distribute them to the boys, exclaimed:
+
+"Them's nice-looking soda crackers. I don't believe the grub is going to
+be so bad, after all."
+
+Si had never seen a hardtack before.
+
+"Better taste one and see how you like it!" said one of Buell's ragged
+Indiana veterans, who had come over to see the boys of the 200th and
+hear the latest news from "God's country."
+
+It happened that this lot was one of extra quality as to hardness. The
+baker's watch had stopped, or he had gone to sleep, and they had been
+left in the oven or dry-kiln too long. Si took one of them and carried
+it to his mouth. He first tried on it the bite which made such havoc
+with a quarter section of custard pie, but his incisors made no more
+impression upon it than if it had been a shingle.
+
+"You have to bear on hard," said the veteran, with a grim smile.
+
+"Je-ru-sa-lem!" exclaimed Si after he had made two or three attempts
+equally barren of results.
+
+Then he tried his "back teeth." His molars were in prime order, and his
+jaw power was sufficient to crack a hickory nut every time. Si crowded
+one corner of the hardtack as far as he could between his "grinders,"
+where he could get a good "purchase" on it, shut his eyes and turned
+on a full head of steam. His teeth and jaws fairly cracked under the
+strain, but he couldn't even "phase" it.
+
+"If that ain't old pizen!" said Si. "It beats anything I ever seen up in
+the Wabash country."
+
+But his blood was up, and laying the cracker upon a log, he brought the
+butt of his gun down upon it like a pile-driver.
+
+[Illustration: HE TRIES THE BUTT OF HIS GUN ON IT 041 ]
+
+"I thought I'd fix ye," he said, as he picked up the fragments, and
+tried his teeth upon the smaller ones. "Have I got to eat such stuff as
+that?" with a despairing look at his veteran friend. "I'd just as
+soon be a billy-goat and live on circus-posters, fruit-cans and old
+hoop-skirts."
+
+"You'll get used to it after a while, same's we did. You'll see the time
+when you'll be mighty glad to get even as hard a tack as that!"
+
+Si's heart sank almost into his shoes at the prospect, for the taste of
+his mother's pie and Annabel's fruit cake were yet fresh in his mouth.
+But Si was fully bent on being a loyal, obedient soldier, determined
+to make the best of everything without any more "kicking" than was the
+inalienable right of every man who wore a uniform.
+
+For the first time in his life Si went to bed hungry that night.
+Impelled by the gnawings of his appetite he made repeated assaults upon
+the hardtack, but the result was wholly insufficient to satisfy the
+longings of his stomach. His supper wasn't anything to speak of. Before
+going to bed he began to exercise his ingenuity on various schemes to
+reduce the hardtack to a condition in which it would be more gratifying
+to his taste and better suited to the means with which nature had
+provided him for disposing of his rations. Naturally Si thought that
+soaking in water would have a beneficial effect. So he laid five or six
+of them in the bottom of a camp-kettle, anchored them down with a
+stone, and covered them with water. He thought that with the aid of a
+frying-pan he would get up a breakfast that he could eat, anyway.
+
+Si felt a little blue as he lay curled up under his blanket with his
+head pillowed on his knapsack. He thought some about his mother, and
+sister Maria, and pretty Annabel, but he thought a good deal more
+about the beef and potatoes, the pies and the puddings, that were so
+plentifully spread upon the table at home.
+
+It was a long time before he got to sleep. As he lay there, thinking and
+thinking, there came to his mind some ether uses to which it seemed to
+him the hardtack might be put, which would be much more consistent
+with its nature than to palm it off on the soldiers as alleged food. He
+thought he could now understand why, when he enlisted, they examined his
+teeth so carefully, as if they were going to buy him for a mule. They
+said it was necessary to have good teeth in order to bite "cartridges"
+successfully, but now he knew it was with reference to his ability to
+eat hardtack.
+
+Si didn't want to be killed if he could help it.
+
+While he was lying there he determined to line one of his shirts with
+hardtacks, and he would put that on whenever there was going to be a
+fight. He didn't believe the bullets would go through them. He wanted to
+do all he could toward paralyzing the rebels, and with such a protection
+he could be very brave, while his comrades were being mowed down around
+him. The idea of having such' a shirt struck Si as being a brilliant
+one.
+
+Then, he thought hardtack would be excellent for half-soling his shoes.
+He didn't think they would ever wear out.
+
+If he ran short of ammunition he could ram pieces of hardtack into his
+gun and he had no doubt they would do terrible execution in the ranks of
+the enemy.
+
+All these things and many more Si thought of until finally he was lost
+in sleep. Then he dreamed that somebody was trying to cram stones down
+his throat.
+
+The company was called out at daylight, and immediately after roll-call
+Si went to look after the hardtacks he had put to soak the night before.
+He thought he had never felt so hungry in his life. He fished out
+the hardtack and carefully inspected them, to note the result of the
+submerging and to figure out the chances on his much-needed breakfast.
+
+To any old soldier it would be unnecessary to describe the condition in
+which Si found those hardtacks, and the effect of the soaking. For the
+information of any who never soaked a hardtack it may be said that Si
+found them transformed, to all appearances, into sole-leather. They were
+flexible, but as tough as the hide that was "found in the vat when the
+tanner died."
+
+Si tried to bite a piece off one of them to see what it was like, but he
+couldn't get his teeth through it. In sheer desperation he laid it on a
+log, seized a hatchet, and chopped off a corner. He put it in his mouth
+and chewed on it a while, but found it as tasteless as cold codfish.
+
+Si thought he would try the frying-pan. He chopped the hardtacks into
+bits, put in equal parts of water and grease, sifted over the mixture a
+little salt and pepper, and then gave it a thorough frying. Si's spirits
+rose during the gradual development of this scheme, as it seemed to
+offer a good prospect for his morning meal. And when it came to the
+eating. Si found it really good, comparatively speaking, even though
+it was very much like a dish compounded of the sweepings from around a
+shoemaker's bench. A good appetite was indispensable to a real enjoyment
+of this--which the soldiers called by a name that cannot be given
+here--but Si had the appetite, and he ate and was thankful.
+
+"I thought I'd get the bulge on them things some way or other," said Si,
+as he drank the last of his coffee and arose from his meal, feeling like
+a giant refreshed with new wine.
+
+For the next two or three months Si largely devoted his surplus energies
+to further experimenting with the hardtack. He applied every conceivable
+process of cookery he could think of that was possible with the meager
+outfit at his command in the way of utensils and materials. Nearly all
+of his patient and persevering efforts resulted only in vexation of
+spirit.
+
+He continued to eat hardtack from day to day, in these various forms,
+but it was only because he had to do it. He didn't hanker after it,
+but it was a military necessity--hardtack or starvation. It was a hard
+choice, but Si's love of life--and Annabel--induced him to choose the
+hardtack.
+
+[Illustration: THE BEST WAY AFTER ALL 045 ]
+
+But for a long-time Si's stomach was in a state of chronic rebellion,
+and on the whole he had a hard time of it getting used to this staple
+article of army diet. He did not become reconciled to it until after his
+regiment had rations of flour for a week, when the "cracker-line" had
+been cut by the guerillas and the supply of that substantial edible was
+exhausted. Si's experience with the flour swept away all his objections
+to the hardtack. Those slapjacks, so fearfully and wonderfully made,
+and those lumps of dough, mixed with cold water and dried on flat stones
+before the fire, as hard as cannon balls, played sad havoc with his
+internal arrangements. For the first time he was obliged to fall into
+the cadaverous squad at sick-call and wabble up to the doctor's shop,
+where he was dosed with castor-oil and blue-mass. Si was glad enough to
+see hardtack again. Most of the grumbling he did thereafter concerning
+the hardtack was because he often couldn't get enough.
+
+About six months taught Si what all the soldiers learned by experience,
+that the best way to eat the average hardtack was to take it
+"straight"--just as it came out of the box, without any soaking or
+frying or stewing. At meal-time he would make a quart or so of coffee,
+stab the end of a ramrod through three or four slices of sowbelly, and
+cook them over the coals, allowing some of the drippings to fall upon
+the hardtack for lubricating purposes, and these constituted his frugal
+repast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. FAT PORK--INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM.
+
+IT WAS told in the last chapter how the patriotic impulses of Si Klegg,
+of the 200th Ind., reached his stomach and digestive apparatus, and
+brought them under obedient subjection to hardtack. He didn't have quite
+so rough an experience with that other staple of army diet, which was
+in fact the very counterpart of the hardtack, and which took its most
+popular name from that part of the body of the female swine which is
+usually nearest the ground. Much of Si's muscle and brawn was due to the
+fact that meat was always plenty on his father's farm. When Si enlisted
+he was not entirely free from anxiety on the question of meat, for to
+his appetite it was not even second in importance to bread. If bread
+was the "staff of life" meat was life itself to Si. It didn't make
+much difference to him what kind it was, only so it was meat. He didn't
+suppose Uncle Sam would keep him supplied with quail on toast and
+porterhouse steaks all the time, but he did hope he would give him as
+much as he wanted of something in that line.
+
+"You won't get much pork, unless you're a good forager," said one
+of Si's friends he met at Louisville, and who had been a year in the
+service.
+
+Si thought he might, with practice and a little encouragement, be fairly
+successful in foraging on his' own hook, but at the same time he said
+he wouldn't grumble if he could only get plenty of pork. Fortunately
+for him he had not been imbued with the teachings of the Hebraic
+dispensation which declared "unclean" the beast that furnished the great
+bulk of the animal food for the American defenders of the Union.
+
+Co. Q of the 200th Ind. received with the first issue of army rations
+at Louisville a bountiful supply of bacon of prime quality, and Si was
+happy at the prospect. He thought it would always be that way.
+
+"I don't see anything the matter with such grub as that!" said Si.
+"Looks to me as though we were goin' to live like fighting-cocks."
+
+"You're just a little bit brash," said his veteran friend, who had
+just been through the long, hungry march from Huntsville, Ala., to
+Louisville. "Better eat all you can lay yer hands on now, while ye've
+got a chance. One o' these days ye'll git into a tight place and ye
+won't see enough hog's meat in a week to grease a griddle. I've bin
+there, myself! Jest look at me and see what short rations 'll bring you
+to?"
+
+But Si thought he wouldn't try to cross a bridge till he got to it, nor
+lie awake nights worrying over troubles that were yet in the future. Si
+had a philosophical streak in his mental make-up and this, by the way,
+was a good thing for a soldier to have. "Sufficient unto the day is the
+evil thereof," was an excellent rule for him to go by.
+
+So Si assimilated all the pork that fell to his share, with an extra bit
+now and then from a comrade whose appetite was less vigorous. He thrived
+under its fructifying influence, and gave good promise of military
+activity and usefulness. No scientific processes of cookery were
+necessary to prepare it for immediate use. A simple boiling or frying or
+toasting was all that was required.
+
+[Illustration: THE VETERAN TALKS TO SI 049 ]
+
+During the few days at Louisville fresh beef was issued occasionally. It
+is true that the animals slain for the soldiers were not always fat and
+tender, nor did each of them have four hind-quarters. This last fact was
+the direct cause of a good deal of inflammation in the 200th Ind., as in
+every other regiment. The boys who got sections of the forward part of
+the "critter," usually about three-quarters bone, invariably kicked, and
+fired peppery remarks at those who got the juicy steaks from the
+rear portion of the animal. Then when their turn came for a piece of
+hind-quarter the other fellows would growl. Four-fifths of the boys
+generally had to content themselves with a skinny rib or a soupshank. Si
+shared the common lot, and did his full quota of grumbling because his
+"turn" for a slice of steak didn't come every time beef was issued.
+
+The pickled pork was comparatively free from this cause of irritation.
+It was all alike, and was simply "Hobson's choice." Si remembered the
+fragrant and delicious fried ham that so often garnished his mother's
+breakfast table and wondered why there was not the same proportion of
+hams and sides in the Commissary that he remembered in the meathouse on
+the Wabash. He remarked to Shorty one day:
+
+"I wonder where all this pork comes from?"
+
+"It comes from Illinoy, I suppose," said Shorty. "I notice the barrels
+are all marked 'Chicago'."
+
+"Must grow funny kind o' hogs out there--a mile long each, I should
+say. What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, we've drawn a full mile o' sides from the Commissary, and haint
+struck a ham yit. I'm wonderin' jest how long that hog is!"
+
+"Well, you are green. You oughter know by this time that there are only
+enough hams for the officers."
+
+Now and then a few pigs' shoulders were handed round among the boys, but
+the large proportion of bone they contained was exasperating, and was
+the cause of much profanity.
+
+Sometimes bacon was issued that had really outlived its usefulness,
+except, perhaps, for the manufacture of soap. Improperly "cured," it was
+strong and rancid, or, occasionally, so near a condition of putrefaction
+that the stench from it offended the nostrils of the whole camp. Some
+times it was full of "skippers," that tunneled their way through and
+through it, and grew fat with riotous living.
+
+[Illustration: DRAWING RATIONS 051 ]
+
+Si drew the line at this point. He had an ironplated stomach, but putrid
+and maggoty meat was too much for it. Whenever he got any of this he
+would trade it off to the darkies for chickens. There is nothing like
+pork for a Southern negro. He wants something that will "stick to his
+ribs."
+
+By a gradual process of development his appetite reached the point when
+he could eat his fat pork perfectly raw. During a brief halt when on the
+march he would squat in a fence corner, go down into his haversack for
+supplies, cut a slice of bacon, lay it on a hardtack, and munch them
+with a keen relish.
+
+[Illustration: "ALL RIGHT, BOSS; DATS A GO" 052 ]
+
+At one of the meetings of the Army of the Cumberland Gen. Garfield told
+a story which may appropriately close this chapter.
+
+One day, while the Army of the Cumberland was beleaguered in Chattanooga
+and the men were almost starving on quarter rations, Gen. Rosecrans
+and his staff rode out to inspect the lines. As the brilliant cavalcade
+dashed by a lank, grizzled soldier growled to a comrade:
+
+"It'd be a darned sight better for this army if we had a little more
+sowbelly and not quite so many brass buttons!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. DETAILED AS COOK--SI FINDS RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT
+
+WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CUSSEDNESS IN IT.
+
+IT WOULD have been very strange, indeed, if Si Klegg had not grumbled
+loudly and frequently about the food that was dished up to him by
+the company cooks. In the first place, it was as natural for a boy to
+grumble at the "grub" as it was for him to try to shirk battalion drill
+or "run the guard." In the next place, the cooking done by the company
+bean-boiler deserved all the abuse it received, for as a rule the boys
+who sought places in the hash foundry did so because they were too lazy
+to drill or do guard duty, and their knowledge of cooking was about like
+that of the Irishman's of music:
+
+"Can you play the fiddle, Pat?" he was asked. "Oi don't know,
+sor-r-r--Oi niver tried."
+
+Si's mother, like most of the well-to-do farmers' wives in Indiana, was
+undoubtedly a good cook, and she trained up her daughters to do honor to
+her teachings, so that Si undoubtedly knew what properly-prepared food
+was. From the time he was big enough to spank he had fared sumptuously
+every day. In the gush of patriotic emotions that prompted him to enlist
+he scarcely thought of this feature of the case. If it entered his mind
+at all, he felt that he could safely trust all to the goodness of so
+beneficent a Government as that for the preservation of which he had
+offered himself as a target for the rebels to shoot at. He thought it
+no more than fair to the brave soldiers that Uncle Sam should furnish
+professional cooks for each company, who would serve everything up in
+the style of a first-class city restaurant. So, after Si got down among
+the boys and found how it really was, it was not long till his inside
+was a volcano of rebellion that threatened serious results.
+
+[Illustration: SI FALLS OUT WITH HIS FOOD 055 ]
+
+When, therefore, Si lifted up his voice and cried aloud, and spared
+not--when he said that he could get as good coffee as that furnished him
+by dipping his cup into a tan-vat; when he said that the meat was not
+good soap-grease, and that the potatoes and beans had not so much taste
+and nutrition in them as so much pine-shavings, he was probably nearer
+right than grumblers usually are.
+
+"Give it to 'em, Si," his comrades would Say, when he turned up his loud
+bazoo on the rations question. "They ought to get it ten times worse.
+When we come out we expected that some of us would get shot by the
+rebels, but we didn't calculate that we were going to be poisoned in
+camp by a lot of dirty, lazy potwrastlers."
+
+One morning after roll-call the Orderly-Sergeant came up to Si and said:
+
+"There's been so much chin-music about this cooking-business that
+the Captain's ordered the cooks to go back to duty, and after this
+everybody'll have to take his regular turn at cooking. It'll be your
+turn to-day, and you'll stay in camp and get dinner."
+
+When Co. Q marched out for the forenoon drill. Si pulled off his blouse
+and set down on a convenient log to think out how he should go to work.
+Up to this time he had been quite certain that he knew all about cooking
+that it was worth while to know. Just now none of his knowledge seemed
+to be in usable shape, and the more he thought about it the less able he
+seemed to be to decide upon any way of beginning. It had always appeared
+very easy for his mother and sisters to get dinner, and on more than one
+occasion he had reminded them how much better times they had staying in
+the house cooking dinner than he had out in the harvest field keeping
+up with the reaper. At this moment he would rather have kept up with
+the fastest reaper in Posey County, on the hottest of July days, than to
+have cooked the coarse dinner which his 75 comrades expected to be ready
+for them when they returned, tired, hot and hungry, from the morning
+drill.
+
+[Illustration: SI THINKS IT OVER 057 ]
+
+He went back to the barracks and inspected the company larder. He found
+there the same old, coarse, greasy, strong, fat pork, a bushel or so of
+beans, a few withered potatoes, sugar, coffee, bread, and a box of rice
+which had been collected from the daily rations because none of the
+cooks knew how to manage it. The sight of the South Carolina staple
+recalled the delightful rice puddings his mother used to make. His heart
+grew buoyant.
+
+"Here's just the thing," he said. "I always was fond of rice, and I know
+the boys will be delighted with it for a change. I know I can cook it;
+for all that you've got to do is to put it in a pot with water and boil
+it till it is done. I've seen mother do that lots o' times.
+
+"Let's see," he said, pursuing his ruminations.
+
+"I think each boy can eat about a cupful, so I'll put one for each of
+'em in the kettle."
+
+"There's one for Abner," he continued, pouring a cupful in for the
+first name on the company-roll; "one for Acklin, one for Adams, one for
+Barber, one for Brooks," and so on down through the whole well-known
+list.
+
+"It fills the old kettle tol'bly full," he remarked, as he scanned the
+utensil after depositing the contribution for Williams, the last name on
+the roll; "but I guess she'll stand it. I've heard mother tell the girls
+that they must always keep the rice covered with water, and stir
+it well, so that it wouldn't burn; so here goes. Won't the boys be
+astonished when they have a nice mess of rice, as a change from that
+rusty old side-meat!"
+
+He hung the kettle on the fire and stepped out to the edge of the
+parade-ground to watch the boys drilling. It was the first time he had
+had the sensation of pleasure of seeing them at this without taking part
+in it himself, and he began to think that he would not mind if he had to
+cook most of the time. He suddenly remembered about his rice and hurried
+back to find it boiling, bulging over the top like a small snowdrift.
+
+[Illustration: THE TROUBLE BEGINS 059]
+
+"I was afraid that kettle was a little too full," he said to himself,
+hurrying off for another campkettle, in which he put about a third of
+the contents of the first. "Now they're all right. And it'll cook better
+and quicker in two than one. Great Scott! what's the matter? They're
+both boiling over. There must be something wrong with that rice."
+
+Pretty soon he had all the company kettles employed, and then all that
+he could borrow from the other companies. But dip out as much as he
+would there seemed no abatement in the upheaving of the snowy cereal,
+and the kettles continued to foam over like so many huge glasses of soda
+water. He rushed to his bunk and got his gum blanket and heaped upon
+it a pile as big as a small haycock, but the mass in the kettle seemed
+larger than it was before this was subtracted.
+
+He sweat and dipped, and dipped and sweat; burned his hands into
+blisters with the hot rice and hotter kettles, kicked over one of the
+largest kettles in one of his spasmodic rushes to save a portion of the
+food that was boiling over, and sent its white contents streaming over
+the ground. His misery came to a climax as he heard the quick step of
+his hungry comrades returning from drill.
+
+"Right face; Arms a-port; Break ranks--March!" commanded the
+Orderly-Sergeant, and there was a clatter of tin cups and plates as they
+came rushing toward him to get their dinner--something to stay their
+ravenous stomachs. There was a clamor of rage, ridicule, wrath and
+disappointment as they took in the scene.
+
+[Illustration: THE RICE GETS THE BULGE 061 ]
+
+"What's the matter here?" demanded the Captain, striding back to the
+company fire. "You young rascal, is this the way you get dinner for
+your comrades? Is this the way you attend to the duty for which you're
+detailed? Waste rations in some fool experiment and scatter good food
+all over the ground? Biler, put on your arms and take Klegg to the
+guard-houae. I'll make you pay for this nonsense, sir, in a way that you
+won't forget in a hurry, I'll be bound."
+
+So poor Si marched to the guard-house, where he had to stay for 24
+hours, as a punishment for not knowing, until he found out by this
+experience, that rice would "s-well." The Captain wouldn't let him have
+anything to eat except that scorched and half-cooked stuff cut of the
+kettles, and Si thought he never wanted to see any more rice as long as
+he lived.
+
+[Illustration: SI MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE GUARD HOUSE 062 ]
+
+In the evening one of the boys took Si's blanket to him, thinking he
+would want it to sleep in.
+
+"I tell ye, pard, this is purty derned tough!" said Si as he wiped a
+tear out of the southwest corner of his left eye with the sleeve of
+his blouse. "I think the Cap'n's hard on a feller who didn't mean to do
+nothin' wrong!" And Si looked as if he had lost all his interest in the
+old flag, and didn't care a pinch of his burnt rice what became of the
+Union.
+
+His comrade "allowed" that it was hard, but supposed they, had got to
+get used to such things. He said he heard the Captain say he would let
+Si out the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD
+
+SI HAS MANY TRIBULATIONS LEARNING THE MANUAL OP ARMS.
+
+WHEN Si Klegg went into active service with Co. Q of the 200th Ind.
+his ideas of drill and tactics were exceedingly vague. He knew that a
+"drill" was something to make holes with, and as he understood that
+he had been sent down South to make holes through people, he supposed
+drilling had something to do with it. He handled his musket very much as
+he would a hoe. A "platoon" might be something to eat, for all he knew.
+He had a notion that a "wheel" was something that went around, and he
+thought a "file" was a screeching thing that his father used once a year
+to sharpen up the old buck saw.
+
+The fact was that Si and his companions hardly had a fair shake in this
+respect, and entered the field at a decided disadvantage. It had been
+customary for a regiment to be constantly drilled for a month or two in
+camp in its own State before being sent to the front; but the 200th was
+rushed off to Kentucky the very day it was mustered in. This was while
+the cold chills were running up and down the backs of the people in
+the North on account of the threatened invasion by Bragg's army. The
+regiment pushed after the fleeing rebels, but whenever Suell's army
+halted to take breath, "Fall in for drill!" was shouted through its camp
+three or four times a day. It was liable to be called into action at any
+moment, and it was deemed indispensable to begin at once the process of
+making soldiers out of those tender-footed Hoosiers, whose zeal and
+patriotism as yet far exceeded their knowledge of military things. Most
+of the officers of the 200th were as green as the men, though some of
+them had seen service in other regiments; so, at first, officers and
+non-commissioned officers who had been in the field a few months and
+were considered veterans, and who knew, or thought they knew, all about
+tactics that was worth knowing, were detailed from the old regiments to
+put the boys through a course of sprouts in company and squad drill.
+
+One morning three or four days after leaving Louisville, word was passed
+around that the regiment would not move that day, and the boys were so
+glad at the prospect of a day of rest that they wanted to get right
+up and yell. Si was sitting on a log, with his shoes off, rubbing his
+aching limbs and nursing his blisters, when the Orderly came along.
+
+"Co. Q, be ready in 10 minutes to fall in for drill. Stir around, you
+men, and get your traps on. Klegg, put on them gunboats, and be lively
+about it."
+
+"Orderly," said Si, looking as if he hadn't a friend on earth, "just
+look at them blisters; I can't drill to-day!"
+
+"You'll have to or go to the guard-house," was the reply. "You'd better
+hustle yourself, too!"
+
+Si couldn't think of anything to say that would do justice to his
+feelings; and so, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a few muttered
+words that he didn't learn in Sunday school, he got ready to take his
+place in the company.
+
+As a general combustion of powder by the armies of Buell and Bragg
+was hourly expected, it was thought best for the 200th to learn first
+something about shooting. If called suddenly into action it was believed
+the boys could "git thar," though they had not yet mastered the science
+of company and battalion evolutions. Co. Q was divided into squads of
+eight for exercise in the manual of arms. The man who took Si's squad
+was a grizzled Sergeant, who had been "lugging knapsack, box and gun"
+for a year. He fully realized his important and responsible functions as
+instructor of these innocent youths, having at the same time a supreme
+contempt for their ignorance. "Attention, Squad!" and they all looked at
+him in a way that meant business.
+
+[Illustration: "RIGHT SHOULDER SHIFT--ARMS!" 067 ]
+
+"Load in nine times--Load!"
+
+Si couldn't quite understand what the "in" meant, but he had always been
+handy with a shotgun, to the terror of the squirrels and coons up in
+Posey County, and he thought he would show the Sergeant how spry he
+was. So he rammed in a cartridge, put on a cap, held up his musket, and
+blazed away, and then went to loading again as if his life depended upon
+his activity. For an instant the Sergeant was speechless with amazement.
+At length his tongue was loosened, and he roared out:
+
+"What in the name of General Jackson are you doing, you measly idiot!
+Who ordered you to load and fire your piece?"
+
+"I--I th--thought you did!" said Si, trembling as if he had the Wabash
+ague. "You said for us to load nine times. I thought nine loads would
+fill 'er chuck full and bust 'er and I didn't see any way but to shute
+'em oft as fast as I got 'em in."
+
+"No, sir! I gave the command according to Hardee,
+'Load--in--nine--times!' and ef yer hadn't bin in such a hurry you'd 'a'
+found out what that means. Yer'll git along a good deal faster ef you'll
+go slower. Yer ought ter be made ter carry a rail, and a big one, for
+two hours."
+
+Si protested that he was sorry, and didn't mean to, and wouldn't do
+so again, and the drill went on. The master went through all the nine
+"times" of "Handle--Cartridge!" "Draw--Rammer!" etc., each with its two
+or three "motions." It seemed like nonsense to Si.
+
+"Boss," said he, "I kin get 'er loaded in just half the time ef yer'll
+let me do it my own way!"
+
+"Silence!"' thundered the Sergeant. "If you speak another word I'll have
+ye gagged 'n' tied up by the thumbs!"
+
+Si had always been used to speaking right out when he had anything to
+say, and had not yet got his "unruly member" under thorough subjection.
+He saw that it wouldn't do to fool with the Drill Sergeant, however, and
+he held his peace. But Si kept thinking that if he got into a fight
+he would ram in the cartridge and fire them out as fast as he could,
+without bothering his head about the "one time and three motions."
+
+[Illustration: "FIX--BAYONETS!" 069 ]
+
+"Order--Arms!" commanded the Sergeant, after he had explained how it
+was to be done. Si brought his gun down along with the rest like a
+pile-driver, and it landed squarely on the foot of the man next to him.
+
+[Illustration: BROUGHT HIS GUN DOWN ON THE MAN'S FOOT 065 ]
+
+"Ou-ou-ouch!" remarked the victim of Si's inexperience.
+
+"Didn't do it a'purpose, pard," said Si compassionately; "'pon my word I
+didn't. I'll be more keerful after this."
+
+His suffering comrade, in very pointed language, urged upon Si the
+propriety of exercising a little more care. He determined that he would
+manage to get some other fellow to stand next to Si after that.
+
+"Shoulder--Arms!" ordered the Sergeant, and the guns came straggling up
+into position. Then, after a few words of instruction, "Right shoulder
+shift--Arms!"
+
+"Don't you know your right shoulder?" said the Sergeant, with a good
+deal of vinegar in his tone, to Si, who had his gun on the "larboard"
+side, as a sailor would say.
+
+"Beg yer pardon," said Si; "I always was lefthanded. I'll learn if yer
+only gimme a show!"
+
+"Silence!" again roared the Sergeant. "One more word, sir, and I will
+tie ye up, fer a fact!"
+
+The Sergeant got his squad down to an "order arms" again, and then,
+after showing them how, he gave the order, "Fix--Bayonets!"
+
+There was the usual clicking and clattering, during which Si dexterously
+managed to stick his bayonet into the eye of his comrade, whose toes
+were still aching from the blow of the butt of Si's musket. Si assured
+him he was sorry, and that it was all a mistake, but his comrade thought
+the limit of patience had been passed. So he confidently informed Si
+that as soon as drill was over he was going to "pound the stuffin'" out
+of him, and there wouldn't be any mistake about it, either.
+
+When the hour was up the Captain of the company came around to see
+how the boys were getting along. The upshot of it was that poor Si
+was immediately organized into an "awkward squad" all by himself, and
+drilled an extra hour.
+
+"We'll see, Mr. Klegg," said the Captain, "if you can't learn to handle
+your arms without mashing the toes and stabbing the eyes out of the rest
+of the company."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. ON COMPANY DRILL
+
+SI GETS TANGLED IN THE MAZES OF THE EVOLUTIONS.
+
+"ALL in for company drill!"
+
+These words struck the unwilling ears of Co. Q, 200th Ind., the next
+time Buell halted his army to draw a long breath.
+
+"Wish somebody would shoot that durned Orderly," muttered Si Klegg. "For
+two cents I'd do it myself."
+
+"Don't do it, Si," admonished Shorty, "They'd git another one that'd be
+just as bad. All orderlies are cusses."
+
+Si believed it would be a case of justifiable homicide, and, if the
+truth must be told, this feeling was largely shared by the other members
+of the company. For more than a week the boys had been tramping over
+a "macadamized" Kentucky pike. Feet were plentifully decorated with
+blisters, legs were stiff and sore, and joints almost refused to perform
+their functions.
+
+It had rained nearly all the previous day, and the disgusted Hoosiers
+of the 200th went sloshing along, wet to the skin, for 20 dreary miles.
+With that diabolical care and method that were generally practiced at
+such times, the Generals selected the worst possible locations for the
+camps. The 200th was turned into a cornfield, where the men sank over
+their shoetops in mud, and were ordered to bivouac for the night. The
+wagons didn't get up at all. How they passed the slowly-dragging hours
+of that dismal night will not be told at this time. Indeed, bare mention
+is enough to recall the scene to those who have "been there."
+
+[Illustration: DON'T CARE A CONTINENTAL 073 ]
+
+In the morning, when the company was ordered out for drill, Si Klegg was
+standing before the sputtering fire trying to dry his steaming clothes,
+every now and then turning around to give the other side a chance. The
+mercury in his individual thermometer had fallen to a very low point--in
+fact, it was a cold day for Si's patriotism. He had reached that stage,
+not by any means infrequent among the soldiers, when he "didn't care
+whether school kept or not."
+
+"Well, Si, I s'pose you love your country this mornin'!" said Shorty. He
+was endeavoring to be cheerful under adverse circumstances.
+
+"I ain't quite as certain about it," said Si, reflectively, "as I was
+when I left home, up in Posey County. I'm afeared I haven't got enough
+of it to last me through three years of this sort of thing!"
+
+Si felt at that moment as though he was of no account for anything,
+unless it was to be decked with paint and feathers and stood for a sign
+in front of a cigar store.
+
+The rain had ceased, and the Colonel of the 200th felt that he must,
+like the busy bee, "improve each shining hour" in putting his command
+into condition for effective service. So he told the Adjutant to have
+the companies marched over to an adjacent pasture for drill.
+
+"Attention, Co. Q!" shouted the Captain, after the Orderly had got the
+boys limbered up enough to get into ranks. The Captain didn't know very
+much about drilling himself, but he had been reading up "Hardee," and
+thought he could handle the company; but it was a good deal like the
+blind trying to lead the blind.
+
+"Right--Face!"
+
+Not quite half the men faced the wrong way, turning to the left instead
+of the right, which was doing pretty well for a starter.
+
+"Get around there, Klegg, and the rest of you fellows! Can't ye ever
+learn anything."
+
+[Illustration: "RIGHT--FACE!" 075 ]
+
+Si was so particularly awkward that the Captain put him at the tail-end
+of the company. Then he tried the right face again, and as the boys
+seemed to get around in fair shape he commanded:
+
+"Right shoulder shift arms! Forward--March!"
+
+The company started off; but the Captain was not a little surprised, on
+looking back, to see Si marching: off in the opposite direction. He had
+faced the wrong way again, and, as he didn't see the others, he thought
+he was all right, and away he went on his own hook, till a shout from
+the Captain told him of his mistake.
+
+[Illustration: "FORWARD--MARCH!" 076 ]
+
+When the Captain reached the field which was the drill-ground for the
+day, he thought he would try a wheel. After a brief lecture to the
+company on the subject he gave the command for the movement.
+
+[Illustration: "COMPANY--RIGHT WHEEL!" 077 ]
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that the first trial was a sad failure.
+The line bulged out in the center, and the outer flank, unable to keep
+up, fell behind, the company assuming nearly the shape of a big letter
+C. Then the boys on the outer end took the double-quick, cutting across
+the arc of the proper circle, which soon resulted in a hopeless wreck
+of the whole company. The Captain halted the chaotic mass of struggling
+men, and with the help of the Orderly finally succeeded in getting them
+straightened out and into line again. The men had often seen practiced
+soldiers going through this most difficult of all tactical movements,
+and it seemed easy enough; they didn't see why they couldn't do it just
+as well as the other fellows. They kept at it, and in the course of half
+an hour had improved so much that they could swing around in some kind
+of shape without the line breaking to pieces.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. SI GETS A LETTER
+
+AND WRITES ONE TO PRETTY ANNABEL, UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+
+"COMPANY Q, tumble up here and git yer mail!" shouted the Orderly one
+afternoon, soon after the 200th Ind. turned into a tobacco patch to
+bivouac for the night. It had been two weeks since the regiment left
+Louisville, and this was the first mail that had caught up with it.
+
+It seemed to the boys as if they had been away from home a year. For a
+whole fortnight they hadn't heard a word from their mothers, or sisters,
+or their "girls." Si Klegg couldn't have felt more lonesome and forsaken
+if he had been Robinson Crusoe.
+
+In the excitement of distributing the mail everything else was
+forgotten.. The boys were all getting their suppers, but at the thought
+of letters from home even hunger had to take a back seat.
+
+Si left his coffee-pot to tip over into the fire, and his bacon sizzling
+in the frying-pan, as he elbowed his way into the crowd that huddled
+around the Orderly.
+
+"If there ain't more'n one letter for me," said Si softly to himself, "I
+hope it'll be from Annabel; but, of course, I'd like to hear from Ma and
+sister Marier, too!"
+
+The Orderly, with a big package of letters in his hand, was calling
+out the names, and as the boys received their letters they distributed
+themselves through the camp, squatting about on rails or on the ground,
+devouring with the greatest avidity the welcome messages from home. The
+camp looked as if there had been a snowstorm.
+
+Si waited anxiously to hear his name called as the pile letters rapidly
+grew smaller, and he began to think he was going to get left.
+
+"Josiah Klegg!" at length shouted the Orderly, as he held out two
+letters. Si snatched them from his hand, went off by himself, and sat
+down on a log.
+
+Si looked at his letters and saw that one of them was addressed in a
+pretty hand. He had never received a letter from Annabel before, but he
+"felt it in his bones" that this one was from her. He glanced around to
+be certain nobody was looking at him, and gently broke the seal, while
+a ruddy glow overspread his beardless cheeks. But he was secure from
+observation, as everybody else was similarly intent.
+
+"Dear Si," the letter began. He didn't have to turn over to the bottom
+of the last page to know what name he would find there. He read those
+words over and over a dozen times, and they set his nerves tingling
+clear down to his toe-nails. Si forgot his aches and blisters as he read
+on through those delicious lines.
+
+[Illustration: IT'S FROM ANNABEL 081 ]
+
+She wrote how anxious she was to hear from him and how cruel it was of
+him not to write to her real often; how she lay awake nights thinking
+about him down among those awful rebels; how she supposed that by
+this time he must be full of bullet-holes; and didn't he ge' hungry
+sometimes, and wasn't it about time for him to get a furlough? how it
+was just too mean for anything that those men down South had to get up a
+war; how proud she was of Si because he had 'listed, and how she watched
+the newspapers every day to find some thing about him; how she wondered
+how many rebels he had killed, and if he had captured any batteries
+yet--she said she didn't quite know what batteries were, but she read a
+good deal about capturing 'em, and she supposed it was something all the
+soldiers did; how she hoped he wouldn't forget her, and she'd like to
+see how he looked, now that he was a real soldier, and her father had
+sold the old "mooley" cow, and Sally Perkins was engage to Jim Johnson,
+who had stayed at home, and as for herself she wouldn't have anybody but
+a soldier about the size of Si, and 'Squire Jones's son had been trying
+to shine up to her and cut Si out, but she sent him off with a flea in
+his ear.
+
+"Yours till deth, Annabel."
+
+The fact that there was a word misspelt now and then did not detract in
+the least from the letter, so pleasing to Si. In fact, he was a little
+lame in orthography himself, so that he had neither the ability nor the
+disposition to scan Annabel's pages with a critic's eye. Si was happy,
+and as he began to cast about for his supper he even viewed with
+complacence his bacon burned to a crisp and his capsized coffee-pot
+helplessly melting away in the fire.
+
+"Well, Si, what does she say?" said his friend Shorty.
+
+"What does who say?" replied Si, getting red in the face, and bristling
+up and trying to assume an air of indifference.
+
+"Just look here now. Si," said Shorty, "you can't play that on me. How
+about that rosy-cheeked girl up in Posey County?"
+
+It was Si's tender spot. He hadn't got used to that sort of thing yet,
+and he felt that the emotions that made his heart throb like a sawmill
+were too sacred to be fooled with. Impelled by a sudden impulse he smote
+Shorty fairly between the eyes, felling him to the ground.
+
+The Orderly, who happened to be near, took Si by the ear and marched him
+up to the Captain's quarters.
+
+"Have him carry a rail in front of my tent for an hour!" thundered the
+Captain. "Don't let it be a splinter, either; pick out a good, heavy
+one. And, Orderly, detail a guard to keep Mr. Klegg moving."
+
+[Illustration: SI CARRIES A RAIL 083 ]
+
+Of course, it was very mortifying to Si, and he would have been almost
+heartbroken had he not been comforted by the thought that it was all for
+her! At first he felt as if he would like to take that rail and charge
+around and destroy the whole regiment; but, on thinking it over, he made
+up his mind that discretion was the better part of valor.
+
+As soon as Si's hour was up, and he had eaten supper and "made up" with
+Shorty, he set about answering his letter. When, on his first march, Si
+cleaned out all the surplusage from his knapsack, he had hung on to a
+pretty portfolio that his sister gave him. This was stocked with postage
+stamps and writing materials, including an assortment of the envelopes
+of the period, bearing in gaudy colors National emblems, stirring
+legends, and harrowing scenes of slaughter, all intended to stimulate
+the patriotic impulses and make the breast of the soldier a very volcano
+of martial ardor.
+
+When Si got out his nice portfolio he found it to be an utter wreck. It
+had been jammed into a shapeless mass, and, besides this, it had been
+soaked with rain; paper and envelopes were a pulpy ruin, and the postage
+stamps were stuck around here and there in the chaos. It was plain that
+this memento of home had fallen an early victim to the hardships of
+campaign life, and that its days of usefulness were over.
+
+"It's no use; 'tain't any good," said Si sorrowfully, as he tossed the
+debris into the fire, after vainly endeavoring to save from the wreck
+enough to carry, out his epistolary scheme.
+
+Then he went to the sutler--or "skinner," as he was better known--and
+paid 10 cents for a sheet of paper and an envelope, on which were the
+cheerful words, "It is sweet to die for one's country!" and 10 cents
+more for a 3-cent postage stamp. He borrowed a leadpencil, hunted up a
+piece of crackerbox, and sat down to his work by the flickering light of
+the fire. Si wrote:
+
+"Deer Annie."
+
+There he stopped, and while he was scratching his head and thinking
+what he would say next the Orderly came around detailing guards for the
+night, and directed Klegg to get his traps and report at once for duty.
+
+[Illustration: SI WRITES TO "DEER ANNIE." 085 ]
+
+"It hain't my turn," said Si. "There's Bill Brown, and Jake Schneider,
+and Pat Dooley, and a dozen more--I've been since they have!"
+
+But the Orderly did not even deign to reply. Si remembered the
+guard-house, and his shoulder still ached from the rail he had carried
+that evening; so he quietly folded up his paper and took his place with
+the detail.
+
+The next morning the army moved early, and Si had no chance to resume
+his letter. As soon as the regiment halted, after an 18-mile march,
+he tackled it again. This time nothing better offered in the way of a
+writing-desk than a tin plate, which he placed face downward upon his
+knee. Thus provided, Si plunged briskly into the job before him, with
+the following result:
+
+"I now take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well, except the
+doggoned blisters on my feet, and I hope these few lines may find you
+enjoying the same blessings."
+
+Si thought this was neat and a good start for his letter. Just as he had
+caught an idea for the next sentence a few scattering shots were heard
+on the picket-line, and in an instance the camp was in commotion. "Tall
+in!" "Be lively, men!" were heard on every hand.
+
+Si sprang as if he had received a galvanic shock, cramming the letter
+into his pocket. Of course, there wasn't any fight. It was only one of
+the scares that formed so large a part of that campaign. But it spoiled
+Si's letter-writing for the time.
+
+It was nearly a week before he got his letter done. He wrote part of
+it using for a desk the back of a comrade who was sitting asleep by the
+fire. He worked at it whenever he could catch a few minutes between the
+marches and the numerous details for guard, picket, fatigue and other
+duty. He said to Annie:
+
+[Illustration: AN ARMY WRITING-DESK 087 ]
+
+     "Bein' a soljer aint quite what they crack it up to be when
+     they're gittin' a fellow to enlist. It's mity rough, and
+     you'd better believe it. You ought to be glad you're a gurl
+     and don't haf to go. I wish't I was a gurl sometimes. I
+     haven't kild enny rebbles yet. I hain't even seen one except
+     a fiew raskils that was tuk in by the critter soljers, they
+     calls em cavilry. Me and all the rest of the boys wants to
+     hav a fite, but it looks like Ginral Buil was afeared, and
+     we don't git no chance. I axed the Ordly couldn't he get me
+     a furlow. The Ordly jest laft and says to me, Si, says he,
+     yer don't know as much as a mule. The Capt'n made me walk up
+     and down for an hour with a big rail on my sholder.
+
+     "You tell Squire Joneses boy that he haint got sand enuff to
+     jine the army, and if he don't keep away from you I'll bust
+     his eer when I git home, if I ever do. Whattle you do if I
+     shouldn't ever see you agin? But you no this glorus Govyment
+     must be pertected, and the bully Stars and Strips must
+     flote, and your Si is goin to help do it.
+
+          "My pen is poor, my ink is pale,
+          My luv for you shall never fale.
+
+     "Yours, aflfeckshnitly, Si Klegg."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. SI AND THE DOCTORS
+
+HE JOINS THE PALE PROCESSION AT SICK-CALL.
+
+SI KLEGG was a good specimen of a healthy, robust Hoosier lad--for he
+could scarcely be called' a man yet. Since he lay in his cradle and was
+dosed with paregoric and catnip tea like other babies, he had never seen
+a sick day, except when he had the mumps on "both sides" at once. He had
+done all he could to starve the doctors.
+
+When the 200th Ind. took the field it had the usual outfit of men who
+wrote their names sandwiched between a military title in front and
+"M. D." behind, a big hospital tent, and an apothecary shop on wheels,
+loaded to the guards with quinine, blue-mass, castor oil, epsom salts,
+and all other devices to assuage the sufferings of humanity.
+
+The boys all started out in good shape, and there had been hardly time
+for them to get sick much yet. So up to this stage of the regiment's
+history the doctors had found little to do but issue arnica and salve
+for lame legs and blistered feet, and strut around in their shiny
+uniforms.
+
+But there came a day when they had all they could attend to. On going
+into camp one afternoon, the regiment, well in advance, struck a big
+field of green corn and an orchard of half-ripe apples. Of course, the
+boys sailed in, and natural consequences followed.
+
+"Now this is something like!" said Si, as he squatted on the ground
+along with Shorty and half a dozen messmates. They surrounded a
+camp-kettle full of steaming ears and half a bushel or so of apples
+heaped on a poncho.
+
+"Wish we had some o' mother's butter to grease this corn with," observed
+Si, as he flung a cob into the fire and seized a fresh ear.
+
+All agreed that Si's head was level on the butter question, but under
+all the circumstances of the case they were glad enough to have the com
+without butter.
+
+The ears went off with amazing rapidity. Every man seemed to be afraid
+he wouldn't get his share. When the kettle was empty the boys turned
+themselves loose on the apples, utterly reckless of results. So, they
+were filled full, and were thankful.
+
+When Si got up he burst off half the buttons on his clothes. He looked
+as if he was carrying a bass-drum in front of him. After he began to
+shrink he had to tie up his clothes with a string until he had a chance
+to repair damages. But during the next 24 hours he had something else to
+think of.
+
+In fact, it wasn't long till Si began to wish he had eaten an ear of
+corn and an apple or two less. He didn't feel very well. He turned in
+early, thinking he would go to sleep and be all right in the morning.
+
+Along in the night he uttered a yell that came near stampeding the
+company. An enormous colic was raging around in his interior, and Si
+fairly howled with pain. He thought he was going: to die right away.
+
+[Illustration: LAYING THE FOUNDATION 091 ]
+
+"Shorty," said he, between the gripes, to his comrade, "I'm afeared I'm
+goin' to peter out. After I'm gone you write to--to--Annie and tell her
+I died for my country like a man. I'd ruther been shot than die with the
+colic, but I 'spose 'twont make much difference after it's all over!"
+9 "I'll do it," replied Shorty. "We'll plant you in good shape; and Si,
+we'll gather up the corn-cobs and build a monument over you!"
+
+But Si wasn't cut off in the bloom of youth by that colic. His eruptive
+condition frightened Shorty, however, and though he was in nearly as bad
+shape himself, he went up and routed out one of the doctors, who growled
+a good deal about being disturbed.
+
+The debris of the supper scattered about the camp told him what was the
+matter, and he had no need to make a critical diagnosis of Si's case.
+He gave him a dose of something or other that made the pain let up a
+little, and Si managed to rub along through the night.
+
+Fortunately for Si, and for more than half the members of the regiment,
+the army did not move next day, and the doctors had a good opportunity
+to get in their work.
+
+At the usual hour in the morning the bugle blew the "sick-call." A
+regiment of tanned and grizzled veterans from Ohio lay next to the 200th
+Ind., and as Si lay there he heard them take up the music:
+
+     "Git yer qui-nine! Git yer qui-nine!
+     Tumble up you sick and lame and blind;
+     Git a-long right smart, you'll be left be-hind."
+
+"Fall in fer yer ipecac!" shouted the Orderly of Co. Q. Si joined the
+procession and went wabbling up to the "doctor's" shop. He was better
+than he had been during the night, but still looked a good deal
+discouraged.
+
+It was a regular matinee that day. The Surgeon and his assistants were
+all on hand, as the various squads, colicky and cadaverous, came to a
+focus in front of the tent.
+
+[Illustration: A RUDE AWAKENING 093 ]
+
+The doctors worked off the patients at a rapid rate, generally
+prescribing the same medicine for all, no matter what ailed them. This
+was the way the army doctors always did, but it happened in this case
+that they were not far wrong, as the ailments, arising from a common
+cause, were much the same.
+
+Si waited till his turn came, and received his rations from the Hospital
+Steward. Of course, he was excused from duty for the day, and as he
+speedily recovered his normal condition he really had a good time.
+
+[Illustration: VISITS THE DOCTOR 094 ]
+
+A few days after this the whole regiment was ordered on fatigue duty to
+repair an old corduroy road. Si didn't want to go, and "played off." He
+told the Orderly he wasn't able to work, but the Orderly said he would
+have to shoulder an ax or a shovel, unless he was excused by the doctor.
+He went up at sick-call and made a wry face, with his hands clasped over
+his body in the latitude of his waistband.
+
+The doctor gave him a lot of blue-mass pills, which Si threw into the
+fire as soon as he got back to his quarters. Then he played seven-up all
+day with Shorty, who had learned before Si did how to get a day off when
+he wanted it.
+
+Si thought it was a great scheme, but he tried it once too often. The
+doctor "caught on," and said, the next time Si went up, that castor oil
+was what he needed to fetch him around. So he poured out a large dose
+and made Si take it right then and there.
+
+The next time fatigue duty was ordered Si thought he felt well enough to
+go along with the boys.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE PLAGUE OP THE SOLDIER
+
+INTRODUCTION TO "ONE WHO STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER."
+
+"HELLO Si; goin' for a soljer, ain't ye?"
+
+"You bet!"
+
+"Wall, you'd better b'lieve its great fun; it's jest a picnic all the
+time! But, say, Si, let's see yer finger-nails!"
+
+"I'd like ter know what finger-nails 's got to do with soljerin'!" said
+Si. "The 'cruitin' ossifer 'n' the man 't keeps the doctor shop made
+me shuck myself, 'n' then they 'xamined my teeth, 'n' thumped me in the
+ribs, 'n' rubbed down my legs, 'n' looked at my hoofs, same 's if
+'I'd bin a hoss they wuz buyin', but they didn't say nothin' 'bout my
+finger-nails."
+
+"You jest do 's I tell ye; let 'em grow, 'n' keep 'em right sharp. Ye'll
+find plenty o' use fer 'em arter a while, 'n' 'twont be long, nuther. I
+know what I'm talkin' 'bout; I've been thar!"
+
+This conversation took place a day or two before Si bade farewell to
+his mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel and left the peaceful
+precincts of Posey County to march away with the 200th Ind. for that
+awful place vaguely designated as "the front!" He had promptly responded
+to the call, and his name was near the top of the list of Company Q.
+
+[Illustration: "LET YER NAILS GROW; YE'LL NEED 'EM" 097 ]
+
+Si already had his blue clothes on. By enlisting early he had a
+good pick of the various garments, and so got a suit that fitted his
+form--which was plump as an apple-dumpling tolerably well. It was left
+for the tail-enders of the company to draw trousers that were six inches
+too long or too short, and blouses that either wouldn't reach around,
+and left yawning chasms in front, or were so large that they looked as
+if they were hung on bean-poles.
+
+Of course, Si couldn't be expected to do any more plodding farm work,
+now that he had "jined" the army. While the company was filling up he
+spent most of his time on dress parade in the village near by, eliciting
+admiring smiles from all the girls, and an object of the profoundest awe
+and wonder to tha small boys.
+
+One day Si was sitting on the sugar-barrel in the corner grocery,
+gnawing a "blind robin," and telling how he thought the war wouldn't
+last long after the 200th Ind. got down there and took a hand and got
+fairly interested in the game; they would wind it up in short meter.
+Such ardent emotions always seethed and bubbled in the swelling breasts
+of the new troops when they came down to show the veterans just how to
+do it.
+
+One of the town boys who had been a year in the service, had got a
+bullet through his arm in a skirmish, and was at home on furlough, came
+into the store, and then took place the dialog between him and Si that
+opens this chapter.
+
+Si wondered a good deal what the veteran meant about the finger-nails.
+He did not even know that there existed in any nature a certain active
+and industrious insect which, before he had been in the army a great
+while, would cause his heart to overflow with gratitude to a beneficent
+Providence for providing him with nails on his fingers.
+
+When the 200th left Indiana all the boys had, of course, brand-new
+outfits right from Uncle Sam's great one-price clothing house. Their
+garments were nice and clean, their faces well washed, and their hair
+yet showed marks of the comb. At Louisville they stuck up their noses,
+with a lofty consciousness of superiority, at the sight of Buell's
+tanned and ragged tramps, who had just come up on the gallop from
+Tennessee and northern Alabama.
+
+[Illustration: "SAY, CAP, WHAT KIND O' BUG IS THIS?" 099 ]
+
+If the new Hoosier regiment had been quartered for a while in long-used
+barracks, or had pitched its tents in an old camp, Si would very soon
+have learned, in the school of experience, the delightful uses of
+finger-nails. But the 200th stayed only a single night in Louisville
+and then joined the procession that started on the chase after the rebel
+army. It generally camped on new ground, and under these circumstances
+the insect to which allusion has been made did not begin its work of
+devastation with that suddenness that usually marked its attack upon
+soldiers entering the field. But he never failed to "git there" sooner
+or later, and it was more frequently sooner than later.
+
+One afternoon, when a few days out on this march, a regiment of
+Wisconsin veterans bivouacked next to the 200th Ind. The strange antics
+as they threw off their accouterments attracted Si's attention.
+
+"Look a' thar," he said to Shorty. "What 'n name of all the prophets 's
+them fellers up to?"
+
+"Seems like they was scratchin' theirselves!"
+
+"I s'pose that's on account of the dust 'n' sweat," said Si.
+
+"It's a mighty sight worse 'n that!" replied Shorty, who knew more about
+these things than Si did. "I reckon we'll all be doin' like they are
+'fore long."
+
+Si whistled softly to himself as he watched the Wisconsin boys. They
+were hitching and twisting their shoulders about, evidently enjoying
+the friction of the clothing upon their skins. There was a general
+employment of fingers, and often one would be seen getting come other
+fellow to scratch his back around where he couldn't reach himself. If
+everybody was too busy to do this for him he would back up to a tree and
+rub up and down against the bark.
+
+Life has few pleasures that can equal the sensations of delightful
+enjoyment produced in those days, when graybacks were plenty, by rubbing
+against a tree that nicely fitted the hollow of the back, after throwing
+off one's "traps" at the end of a day's march.
+
+Directly the Wisconsin chaps began to scatter into the woods. Si watched
+them as they got behind the trees and threw off their blouses and
+shirts. He thought at first that perhaps they were going in swimming,
+but there was no stream of water at hand large enough to justify this
+theory in explanation of their nudity. As each man set down, spread his
+nether garment over his knees and appeared to be intently engaged, with
+eyes and fingers. Si's curiosity was very much excited.
+
+"Looks 's if they wuz all mendin' up their shirts and sewin' on
+buttons," said Si, "Guess it's part o' their regular drill, ain't it,
+Shorty?"
+
+Shorty laughed at Si's ignorant simplicity. He knew what those veterans
+were doing, and he knew that Si would have to come to it, but he didn't
+want to shock his tender sensibilities by telling him of it.
+
+"Them fellers ain't sewin' on no buttons. Si," he replied; "they're
+skirmishin'."
+
+"Skirmishin'!" exclaimed Si, opening his eyes very wide. "I haint seen
+any signs o' rebs 'round here, 'n' there aint any shootin' goin' on,
+'nless I've lost my hearin'. Durned if 't aint the funniest skirmishin'
+I ever hearn tell of!"
+
+"Now, don't ax me nuthin' more 'bout it, Si," said Shorty. "All I'm
+goin' to tell ye is that the longer ye live the more ye'll find things
+out. Let's flax 'round 'n' git supper!"
+
+A little while after, as Si was squatting on the ground holding the
+frying-pan over the fire, he saw a strange insect vaguely wandering
+about on the sleeve of his blouse. It seemed to be looking for
+something, and Si became interested as he watched it traveling up and
+down his arm. He had never seen one like it before, and he thought he
+would like to know what it was. He would have asked Shorty, but his
+comrade had gone to the spring for water. Casting his eye around he saw
+the Captain, who chanced to be sauntering through the camp.
+
+The Captain of Co. Q had been the Principal of a seminary in Posey
+County, and was looked upon with awe by the simple folk as a man who
+knew about all that was worth knowing. Si thought he might be able to
+tell him all about the harmless's-looking little stranger.
+
+So he put down his frying-pan and stepped up to the Captain, holding out
+his arm and keeping his eye on the insect so that he shouldn't get away.
+
+"Good evenin', Cap.," said Si, touching his hat, and addressing him
+with that familiar disregard of official dignity that characterised
+the average volunteer, who generally felt that he was just as good as
+anybody who wore shoulder straps.
+
+"Good evening, Klegg," said the Captain, returning the salute.
+
+"Say, Cap, you've been ter collidge 'n' got filled up with book-larnin';
+p'raps ye kin tell me what kind o' bug this is. I'm jest a little bit
+curious to know."
+
+And Si pointed to the object of his inquiry that was leisurely creeping
+toward a hole in the elbow of his outer garment.
+
+"Well, Josiah," said the Captain, after a brief inspection, "I presume
+I don't know quite as much as some people think I do; but I guess I can
+tell you something about that insect. I never had any of them myself,
+but I've read of them."
+
+"Never had 'em himself," thought Si. "What 'n the world does ha mean?"
+And Si's big eyes opened with wonder and fear at the thought that
+whatever it was he had "got 'em."
+
+"I suppose," continued the Captain, "you would like to know the
+scientific name?"
+
+"I reck'n that'll do 's well 's any."
+
+"Well, sir, that is a Pediculus. That's a Latin word, but it's his
+name."
+
+"Purty big name fer such a leetle bug, ain't it, Perfessor?" observed
+Si. "Name's big enough for an el'fant er a 'potamus."
+
+[Illustration: "SKIRMISHING" 103 ]
+
+"It may seem so, Klegg; but when you get intimately acquainted with him
+I think you will find that his name isn't any too large for him. There
+is a good deal more of him than you think."
+
+The young soldier's eyes opened still wider.
+
+"I was going on to tell you," continued the Captain, "that there are
+several kinds of Pediculi--we don't say Pediculuses. There is the
+Pediculus Capitis--Latin again--but it means the kind that lives on the
+head. I presume when you were a little shaver your mother now and then
+harrowed your head with a fine-tooth comb?"
+
+"Ya-as" said Si; "she almost took the hide off sometimes, an' made me
+yell like an Injun."
+
+"Now, Klegg, I don't wish to cause you unnecessary alarm, but I will say
+that the head insect isn't a circumstance to this one on your arm.
+As you would express it, perhaps, he can't hold a candle to him. This
+fellow is the Pediculus Corporis!"
+
+"I s'pose that means they eats up Corporals!" said Si.
+
+"I do not think the Pediculus Corporis confines himself exclusively to
+Corporals, as his name might indicate," said the Captain, laughing at
+Si's literal translation and his personal application of the word. "He
+no doubt likes a juicy and succulent Corporal, but I don't believe he is
+any respecter of persons. That's my opinion, from what I've heard about
+him. It is likely that I 'will be able to speak more definitely, from
+experience, after a while. Corporis means that he is the kind that
+pastures on the human body. But there's one thing more about this
+fellow, some call him Pediculus Vestimenti; that is because he lives
+around in the clothing."
+
+"But we don't wear no vests," said Si, taking a practical view of this
+new word; "nothin' but blouses, 'n' pants, 'n' shirts."
+
+"You are too literal, Klegg. That word means any kind of clothes. But I
+guess I've told you as much about him as you care to know at present. If
+you want any more information, after two or three weeks, come and see
+me again. I think by that time you will not find it necessary to ask any
+more questions."
+
+Si went back to his cooking, with the Pediculus still on his arm. He
+wanted to show it to Shorty. The Captain's profound explanation, with
+its large words, was a little too much for Si. He did not yet clearly
+comprehend the matter, and as he walked thoughtfully to where Shorty was
+"bilin'" the coffee he was trying to get through his head what it all
+meant.
+
+"Hello, Si," said Shorty; "whar ye bin? What d'ye mean, goin' off 'n'
+leavin' yer sowbelly half done?"
+
+"Sh-h!" replied Si. "Ye needn't git yer back up about it. Bin talkin' to
+the Cap'n. Shorty, look at that 'ere bug!"
+
+And Si pointed to the object of the Captain's lecture on natural history
+that was still creeping on his arm. Shorty slapped his thigh and burst
+into a loud laugh.
+
+"Was that what ye went to see the Cap'n 'bout?" he asked as soon as he
+could speak.
+
+"Why--ya-as," replied Si, somewhat surprised at Shorty's unseemly
+levity. "I saw that thing crawlin' round, 'n' I was a-wonderin' what
+it was, fer I never seen one afore. I knowed Cap was a scolard, 'n' a
+perfesser, 'n' all that 'n' I 'lowed he c'd tell me all about it. So I
+went 'n' axed him."
+
+"What'd he tell ye?"
+
+"He told me lots o' big, heathenish words, 'n' said this bug was a
+ridiculous, or suthin' like that."
+
+"'Diculus be blowed!" said Shorty, "The ole man was a'stuffin' ye. I'll
+tell ye what that is, Si," he added solemnly, "that's a grayback!"
+
+"A grayback!" said Si. "I've hearn 'em call the Johnnies graybacks, but
+I didn't know 's there was any other kind."
+
+"I reck'n 'twont be long, now, till yer catches on ter the meanin' ol
+what a grayback is. Ye'll know all 'bout it purty sudden. This ain't the
+first one I ever seen."
+
+Si was impressed, as he had often been before, by Shorty's superior
+wisdom and experience.
+
+"See here. Si," Shorty continued, as his eye suddenly lighted up with a
+brilliant thought, "I guess I kin make ye understand what a grayback is.
+What d'ye call that coat ye've got on?"
+
+"Why, that's a fool question; it's a blouse, of course!"
+
+"Jesso!" said Shorty. "Now, knock off the fust letter o' that word, 'n'
+see what ye got left!"
+
+Si looked at Shorty as if he thought his conundrums were an indication
+of approaching idiocy. Then he said, half to himself:
+
+"Let's see! Blouse--blouse--take off the 'b' 'n' she spells l-o-u-s-e,
+louse! Great Scott, Shorty, is that a louse?"
+
+"That's jest the size of it. Si. Ye'll have millions of 'em 'fore the
+war's over 'f they don't hurry up the cakes."
+
+Si looked as if he would like to dig a hole in the ground, get into it,
+and have Shorty cover him up.
+
+"Why didn't the Cap'n tell me it was that? He said suthin' about
+ridiculus corporalis, and I thought he was makin' fun o' me. He said
+these bugs liked to eat fat Corporals.'
+
+"I reck'n that's so," replied Shorty; "but they likes other people jest
+as well--even a skinny feller like me. They lunches off'n privits, 'n'
+Corp'rils, 'n' Kurnals, 'n' Gin'rals, all the same. They ain't satisfied
+with three square meals a day, nuther; they jest eats right along all
+the time 'tween regular meals. They allus gits hungry in the night, too,
+and chaws a feller up while he sleeps. They don't give ye no show at
+all. I rayther think the graybacks likes the ossifers best if they
+could have their ch'ice, 'cause they's fatter 'n the privits; they gits
+better grub."
+
+Si fairly turned pale as he contemplated the picture so graphically
+portrayed by Shorty. The latter's explanation was far more effectual in
+letting the light in upon Si's mind than the scientific disquisition
+of the "Perfesser." He had now a pretty clear idea of what a "grayback"
+was. Whatever he lacked to make his knowledge complete was soon supplied
+in the regular way. But Si was deeply grieved and shocked at what Shorty
+had told him. It was some minutes before he said anything more.
+
+"Shorty," he said, with a sadness in his tone that would almost have
+moved a mule to tears, "who'd a-thought rd ever git as low down 's this,
+to have them all-fired graybacks, 's ye call 'em, crawlin' over me.
+How'd mother feel if she knew about 'em. She wouldn't sleep a wink fer a
+month!"
+
+"Ye'll have to come to it. Si. All the soljers does, from the
+Major-Gin'rals down to the tail-end of the mule-whackers. Ye mind them
+'Sconsin chaps we was lookin' at a little bit ago?"
+
+"Yes," said Si.
+
+"Well, graybacks was what ailed 'em. The fellers with their shirts on
+their knees was killin' 'em off. That's what they calls 'skirmishin'.
+There's other kinds o' skirmishing besides fitin' rebels! Ye'd better
+git rid of that one on yer arm, if he hasn't got inside already; then
+there'll be one less of 'em."
+
+Si found him after a short search, and proposed to get a chip, carry him
+to the fire and throw him in.
+
+"Naw!" said Shorty in disgust, "that's no way. Lemme show yer how!"
+
+[Illustration: "NAW! LEMME SHOW YE HOW!" 107 ]
+
+Shorty placed one thumb-nail on each side of the insect. There was a
+quick pressure, a snap like the crack of a percussion cap, and all was
+over.
+
+Si shuddered, and wondered if he could ever engage in such a work of
+slaughter.
+
+"D'ye s'pose," he said to Shorty, "that there's any more of 'em on me?"
+And he began to hitch his shoulders about, and to feel a desire to put
+his fingers to active use.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," replied Shorty. "Mebbe I've got 'em, to. Let's go
+out'n do a little skirmishin' ourselves."
+
+"We'd better go off a good ways," said Si, "so's the boys won't see us."
+
+"You're too nice and pertickler for a soljer. Si. They'll all be doin'
+it, even the Cap'n himself, by termorrer or nex' day."
+
+They went out back of the camp, where Si insisted on getting behind
+the largest tree he could find. Then they sat down and engaged in that
+exciting chase of the Pediculus up and down the seams of their garments,
+so familiar to all who wore either the blue or the gray. Thousands
+of nice young men who are now preachers and doctors and lawyers and
+statesmen, felt just as bad about it at first as Si did.
+
+"Shorty," said Si, as they slowly walked back to eat their supper, which
+had been neglected in the excitement of the hour, "before Co. Q left
+Posey County to jine the rigiment a feller 't was home on furlow told
+me ter let my finger-nails grow long 'n' sharp. He said I'd need 'em. I
+didn't know what he meant then, but I b'lieve I do now."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. A WET NIGHT
+
+THE DEPRAVITY OF AN ARMY TENT REVEALS ITSELF.
+
+NIGHT threw her dark mantle over the camp of the 200th Ind. The details
+of guard and picket had been made. Videts, with sleepless eye and
+listening ear, kept watch and ward on the outposts, while faithful
+sentries trod their beats around the great bivouac. All day the army had
+marched, and was to take the road again at an early hour in the morning.
+Supper had been eaten, and the tired soldiers were gathered around the
+campfires that gleamed far and near through the darkness.
+
+"Si," said Shorty to his chum as they sat on a log beside the dying
+embers, "how d'ye like soldierin', as fur as ye've got?"
+
+"It's purty hard business," said Si, reflectively, "an' I s'pose we
+haint seen the worst on it yet, either, from what I've hearn tell. Pity
+the men that got up this war can't be made to do all the trampin' 'n'
+fitin'. An' them fellers up in old Injjeanny that come 'round makin'
+such red-hot speeches to git us boys to 'list, wouldn't it be fun to
+see 'em humpin' 'long with gun 'n' knapsack, 'n' chawin' hardtack, 'n'
+stan'in' guard nights, 'n' pourin' water on their blisters, 'n' pickin'
+graybacks off their shirts, 'n' p'leecin' camp, 'n' washin' their own
+clothes?"
+
+"I think we'd enj'y seein' 'em do all that," said Shorty, laughing
+at the picture Si had drawn. "I reckon most of 'em 'd peter out purty
+quick, and I'd like to hear what sort o' speeches they'd, make then. I
+tell ye, Si, there's a big diff'rence 'tween goin' yerself an' tellin'
+some other feller to go."
+
+"Mebbe they'll git to draftin' after a while," observed Si, "'n' if they
+do I hope that'll ketch em!"
+
+"Wall, we're in fur it, anyway," said Shorty. "Let's take down the bed
+'n' turn in!"
+
+It didn't take long to complete the arrangements for the night. They
+spread their "gum" blankets, or ponchos, on the ground, within the tent,
+and on these their wool blankets, placed their knapsacks at the head for
+pillows, and that was all. It was warmer than usual that evening, and
+they stripped down to their nether garments.
+
+"Feels good once in a while," said Si, "to peel a feller's clothes oft,
+'n' sleep in a Christian-like way. But, Great Scott! Shorty, ain't this
+ground lumpy? It's like lying on a big washboard. I scooted all over the
+country huntin' fer straw to-night. There wasn't but one little stack
+within a mile of camp. Them derned Ohio chaps gobbled every smidgin of
+it. They didn't leave enuff to make a hummin'-bird's nest. The 200th
+Ind. 'll git even with 'em some day."
+
+So Si and Shorty crept in between the blankets, drew the top one up to
+their chins, and adjusted their bodily protuberances as best they could
+to fit the ridges and hollows beneath them.
+
+"Now, Si," said Shorty, "don't ye git to fitin' rebels in yer sleep and
+kick the kiver off, as ye did last night."
+
+As they lay there their ears caught the music of the bugles sounding the
+"tattoo." Far and near floated through the clear night air the familiar
+melody that warned every soldier not on duty to go to bed. Next to the
+200th Ind. lay a regiment of wild Michigan veterans, who struck up,
+following the strains of the bugles:
+
+     Say, oh Dutch'y, will ye fight mit Si-gel?
+     Zwei glass o' la-ger, Yaw! Yaw! Yaw!!!
+     Will yet fight to help de bul-ly ea-gle?
+
+     Schweitzer-ksse und pret-zels,
+     Hur-raw! raw! raw!
+
+During the night there came one of those sudden storms that seemed to
+be sent by an inscrutable Providence especially to give variety to the
+soldier's life.
+
+[Illustration: STRUCK BY A CYCLONE 111 ]
+
+A well-developed cyclone struck the camp, and Si and Shorty were soon
+awakened by the racket. The wind was blowing and whirling in fierce
+gusts, wrenching out the tent-pins or snapping the ropes as if they were
+threads. Everywhere was heard the flapping of canvas, and the yells
+and shouts of the men as they dashed about in the darkness and
+wild confusion. Many of the tents were already prostrate, and their
+demoralized inmates were crawling out from under the ruin. To crown all
+the rain began to fall in torrents. The camp was a vast pandemonium.
+The blackest darkness prevailed, save when the scene was illuminated by
+flashes of lightning. These were followed by peals of thunder that made
+the stoutest quake.
+
+Si sprang up at the first alarm. "Git up, here, you fellers!" he
+shouted. "We'd better go outside and grab the ropes, or the hull shebang
+'ll go over."
+
+There was not a moment to spare. Si dashed out into the storm and
+darkness, followed by his comrades. Seizing the ropes, some of which
+were already loosened, they braced themselves and hung on for dear life,
+in the drenching rain, their hair and garments streaming in the wind.
+
+Si's prompt action saved the tent from the general wreck. The fury of
+the storm was soon past. Si and his comrades, after driving the pins
+and securing the ropes, re-entered the tent, wet and shivering for the
+mercury had gone down with a tumble, or rather it would have done so had
+they been supplied with thermometers. But the scanty costume in which
+Si found himself afforded a weather indicator sufficiently accurate for
+all practical purposes.
+
+[Illustration: SUPPER UNDER DIFFICULTIES 115 ]
+
+The ground was flooded, and their blankets and garments were fast
+absorbing the water that flowed around in such an exasperating way.
+Sleep under such conditions was out of the question. Si and Shorty put
+on their clothes and tried to make the best of their sorry plight.
+
+By this time the rain had nearly ceased. Fortunately they had laid in a
+good stock of fuel the night before, and after a little patient effort
+they succeeded in getting a fire started. Around this the boys hovered,
+alternately warming their calves and shins.
+
+"This is a leetle more'n I bargained fer," said Si. Then, taking a
+philosophical view of the case, he added, "but there's one good thing
+about it, Shorty, we'll be all fixed for mornin', an' we won't have
+to get up when they sound the revel-lee. The buglers kin jest bust
+theirselves a-blowin' fer all I keer!"
+
+In this way the soldiers spent the remainder of the night. Before
+daybreak the blast of a hundred bugles rang out, but there was little
+need for the reveille.
+
+Breakfast was soon over, and in the gray dawn of that murky morning
+the long column went trailing on its way. The weather gave promise of
+a sloppy day, and the indications were fully verified. A drizzling
+rain set in, and continued without cessation. The boys put their heads
+through the holes in their ponchos, from the corners of which the water
+streamed. With their muskets at a "secure" they sloshed along through
+the mud, hour after hour. In spite of their "gums" the water found its
+way in at the back of the neck and trickled down their bodies. Their
+clothes became saturated, and they were altogether about as miserable as
+it is possible for mortals to be.
+
+[Illustration: A FIELD SHANTY 117 ]
+
+It seemed to Si that the maximum of discomfort had been reached. He had
+experienced one thing after another during the few weeks since he left
+home, and he thought each in turn was worse than the last, and about as
+bad as it could be. But Si learned a good deal more before he graduated.
+All through the long, dreary day the soldiers plodded on. There was
+little comfort to be derived from the "rest," for the ground was soaked
+with water.
+
+"Why didn't we think of it, Shorty," said Si, "'n' make it part o'
+the bargain' when we 'listed that we were to have umbrellers. These gum
+things don't amount to shucks, nohow, to keep the rain off. I sh'd think
+Uncle Sam might do that much for us!"
+
+"I reckon our clothes 'll be purty well washed by the time we git out o'
+this mess," said Shorty.
+
+"Feels that way," said Si; "but how about the bilin'? A cold bath jest
+refreshes them pesky little varmints, 'n' makes 'em livelier 'n ever.
+Say, Shorty, ye didn't write home anything 'bout our havin' graybacks,
+did ye?"
+
+"No, not yet; but I was thinkin' I'd tell 'em 'bout it one o' these
+days."
+
+"Well, Shorty, I ain't going to tell my folks; it 'd jest make my mother
+feel awful to know I was that way. And sister Maria, and--"
+
+Si was thinking aloud, and was going to say "Annabel," but he checked
+himself. That name was not to be mentioned in other ears. But he was
+afraid she would go back on him if she knew, all about it.
+
+It was nearly night when the 200th Ind., dripping and discouraged, filed
+off into a field of standing corn to pass the night. The men sank to
+their shoetops in the soft earth. Si remarked to Shorty that he didn't
+see why the officers should turn 'em loose in such a place as that. But
+the longer he lived the more he found out about those things. That was
+the way they always did.
+
+[Illustration: IT'S THE MORNING 119 ]
+
+In five minutes after arms were stacked not a cornstalk remained
+standing in the field. During the afterfnoon the troops had gone over a
+long stretch of swamp road that was almost impassable for teams. Fears
+were entertained that the wagons of the regiment would not be up that
+night, and they would not have their tents to shelter them from the
+storm. In anticipation of such a calamity the boys, gathered in the
+cornstalks, having a vague idea that they would help out in case of
+emergency.
+
+[Illustration: TAKING THE TOP RAIL 113]
+
+Then there was a scramble for the fences. Recognizing the need of
+good fuel, an order from the General was filtered through the various
+headquarters that the men might take the top rails, only, from the fence
+inclosing tha field. This order was literally interpreted and carried
+out, each man, successively, taking the "top rail" as he found it. The
+very speedy result was that the bottom rails became the "top," and then
+there weren't any. Almost in the twinkling of an eye the entire fence
+disappeared.
+
+The drizzle continued through the evening, and by the sputtering fires
+the soldiers prepared and ate their frugal suppers. Word came that, as
+was feared, the wagons were hopelessly bemired three or four miles back,
+and the men would have to make such shift as they could.
+
+The prospect was dreary and cheerless enough. It was little wonder that
+many of the young Hoosiers felt as if they wanted to quit and go
+home. But with that wonderful facility for adapting themselves to
+circumstances that marked the volunteer soldiers, they set about the
+work of preparing for the night. No one who has not "been there"
+can imagine how good a degree of comfort--comparatively speaking,
+of course--it was possible to reach, with such surroundings, by the
+exercise of a little patience, ingenuity and industry.
+
+Si and Shorty and the others of the "mess" bestirred themselves, and
+it did not take them more than 20 minutes to build, out of rails and
+cornstalks, a shelter that was really inviting. They kindled a big fire
+in front of it, laid some rails within, covered with stalks, and on
+these spread their blankets. Si, who had "bossed" the job, viewed the
+work with great satisfaction.
+
+"I tell ye, that's no slouch of a shanty!" said he.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. SI "STRAGGLED"
+
+AND THE OTHER BOYS MADE IT MIGHTY LOVELY FOR HIM.
+
+ONE day while Buell was chasing Bragg, two or three weeks after leaving
+Louisville, the army was pushing forward at a gait that made the cavalry
+ahead trot half the time to keep out of the way of the infantry. The
+extraordinary speed that day was due to the fact that there were no
+rebels in sight. Half a dozen ragged troopers with shotguns, a mile
+away, would have caused the whole army to halt, form line-of-battle, and
+stay thera the rest of the day.
+
+The tanned veterans didn't mind the marching. They stretched their legs
+and went swinging along with a happy-go-lucky air, always ready for
+anything that might turn up. But it was rough on the new troops, just
+from home. It taxed their locomotive powers to the utmost limit.
+
+The boys of the 200th Ind. started out bravely. Their fresh, clean
+faces, new uniforms, and shiny accouterments contrasted strongly
+with those of the weather-beaten soldiers of '61. You could tell a
+"tenderfoot" as far as you could see him.
+
+They trudged along in fair shape for an hour or two. Before starting
+in the morning strict orders had been read to the regiment forbidding
+straggling, for any reason, under the most terrifying pains and
+penalties.
+
+"Them fellers that's been in the service longer 'n we have think they're
+smart," said Si Klegg, as he and Shorty plodded on, both already a
+little blown. "Well show 'em that we can hoof it jest as fast as they
+can, and jest as fur in a day!"
+
+"Seems to me we're git'n over the ground party lively to-day," replied
+Shorty, who was in a grumbling mood. "Wonder if the Gin'ral thinks
+we're bosses! I'm a little short o' wind, and these pesky gunboats are
+scrapin' the bark off'n my feet; but I'll keep up or bust."
+
+Though e spirit of these young patriots was willing, the flesh was weak.
+It wasn't long till Si began to limp. Now and then a groan escaped his
+lips as a fresh blister "broke." But Si clinched his teeth, humped his
+back to ease his shoulders from the weight of his knapsack, screwed
+up his courage, and tramped on over the stony pike. He thought the
+breathing spells were very short and a long way apart.
+
+Si's knapsack had experienced the universal shrinkage, as told in a
+previous chapter of our hero's martial career. He still had, however, a
+good many things that he thought he couldn't spare, but which he found
+later he could very well get along without.
+
+By noon the 200th began to show signs of going to pieces. The column
+stretched out longer and longer, like a piece of India-rubber. The ranks
+looked thin and ragged. Lame and foot-sore, with wo-begone faces, their
+bodies aching in every bone and tendon, and overcome with a weariness
+that no one can realize unless he has "been there," the men dropped
+out one by one and threw themselves into the fence-corners to rest. The
+officers stormed and drew their swords in vain. Nature--that is, the
+nature of a new soldier--could endure no more. The ambulances were
+filled to their utmost, but these would not hold a twentieth part of the
+crippled and suffering men.
+
+"How're ye gittin' on, Shorty?" said Si, as he and his comrade still
+struggled along.
+
+"Fair to middlin'," replied Shorty. "I'm goin' to try and pull through!"
+
+"I thought I could," said Si, "but I'm 'bout played out! I am, fer a
+fact! I guess ef I rest a bit I'll be able to ketch up after a while."
+
+Si didn't know till he found out by experience how hard it was to "ketch
+up" when a soldier once got behind on the march. Si was too fat for a
+good roadster, but it didn't take a great while to work off his surplus
+flesh. Shorty was tall and slim, mostly bone--one of the sort that
+always stood the marching best, crept up to the Orderly and told him that
+he would have to stop and puff a while and give his blisters a rest.
+He'd pull up with Co. Q in an hour or so.
+
+"Better not, Si" said the Orderly; "ye know it's agin orders, and
+the rear-guard 'll punch ye with their bay'net's if they catch ye
+stragglin'."
+
+But Si concluded that if he must die for his country it would be sweeter
+to do so by having a bayonet inserted in his vitals, and then it would
+be all over with at once, than to walk himself to death.
+
+So he gradually fell back till he reached the tail of the company.
+Watching his opportunity, he left the ranks, crept into a clump
+of bushes, and lay down, feeling as if he had been run through a
+grist-mill. Soon the rear-guard of the 200th came along, with fixed
+bayonets, driving before them like a flock of frightened sheep a motley
+crowd of limping, groaning men, gathered up by the roadside.
+
+Si lay very still, hoping to escaoe discovery; but the keen eye of the
+officer detected the blue heap among the bushes.
+
+"Bring that man out!" said he sternly to one of the guards.
+
+Poor Si scarcely dare to breathe. He hoped the man would think he was
+dead, and therefore no longer of any account. But the soldier began to
+prod him with his bayonet, ordering him to get up and move on.
+
+[Illustration: "DON'T STAB ME." 123 ]
+
+"Look-a-here, pard," said Si, "don't stab me with that thing! I jest
+can't git along any furder till I blow a little. You please lemme be,
+an' I'll do as much for you. P'rhaps some time you'll get played out and
+I'll be on the rear-guard. The Cap'n 'll tell me ter fotch ye 'long, an'
+I'll jest let ye rest, so I will!"
+
+This view of the case struck the guard with some force. Moved with
+compassion, he turned away, leaving Si to enjoy his rest.
+
+[Illustration: HYDROPATHIC TREATMENT 125 ]
+
+Si threw aside his traps, took off his shoes and stockings, and bathed
+his feet with water from his canteen. He ate a couple of hardtack,
+and in the course of half an hour began to feel more like Si Klegg. He
+geared himself up, shouldered his gun, and started to "ketch up."
+
+All this time the stream of troops--regiments, brigades and
+divisions--had flowed on. Of course, soldiers who were with their colors
+had the right of way, and the stragglers were obliged to stumble along
+as best they could, over the logs and through the bushes at the sides of
+the roads or skirt along the edges of the fields and woods adjoining. It
+was this fact added to their exhausted and crippled condition, that made
+it almost impossible for stragglers to overtake their regiments until
+they halted for the night. Even then it was often midnight before the
+last of the wayfarers, weary and worn, dragged their aching limbs into
+camp.
+
+Si started forward briskly, but soon found it was no easy matter to gain
+the mile or so that the 200th Ind. was now ahead of him. It was about
+all he could do to keep up with the fast-moving column and avoid failing
+still further to the rear. Presently the bugles sounded a halt for one
+of the hourly rests.
+
+"Now," said Si to himself, "I'll have a good chance to git along tor'd
+the front. The soljers 'll all lie down in the fence corners an' leave
+the road clear. I'll jest git up an' dust!"
+
+The sound of the bugles had scarcely died away when the pike was
+deserted, and on either side, as far as the eye could reach, the
+prostrate men that covered the ground mingled in a long fringe of blue.
+
+Si got up into the road and started along the lane between these lines
+of recumbent soldiers. His gait was a little shaky, for the blisters on
+his feet began to give evidence of renewed activity. He trudged pluckily
+along, limping some in spite of himself, but on the whole making very
+good headway.
+
+Pretty soon he struck a veteran regiment from Illinois, the members
+of which were sitting and lying around in all the picturesque and
+indescribable postures which the old soldiers found gave them the
+greatest comfort during a "rest." Then they commenced--that is, it was
+great sport for the Sucker boys, though Si did not readily appreciate
+the humorous features of the scene.
+
+"What rigiment is this?" asked Si, timidly.
+
+"Same old rijiment!" was the answer from half a dozen at once. A single
+glance told the swarthy veterans that the fresh-looking youth who
+asked this conundrum belonged to one of the new regiments, and they
+immediately opened their batteries upon him:
+
+"Left--left-=left!"
+
+"Hayfoot--strawfoot! Hayfoot--strawfoot!" keeping time with Si's
+somewhat irregular steps.
+
+"Hello, there, you! Change step and you'll march easier!"
+
+"Look at that 'ere poor feller; the only man left alive of his regiment!
+Great Cesar, how they must have suffered! Say, what rijiment did you
+b'long to?"
+
+"Paymaster's comin', boys, here's a chap with a pay-roll round his
+neck!" Si had put on that morning the last of the paper collars he had
+brought from home.
+
+"You'd better shed that knapsack, or it'll be the death of ye!"
+
+"I say, there, how's all the folks to home?"
+
+"How d'ye like it as far as you've got, any way?"
+
+"Git some commissary and pour into them gunboats!"
+
+"Second relief's come, boys; we can all go home now."
+
+"Grab a root!"
+
+"Hep--hep--hep!"
+
+"How'd ye leave Mary Ann?"
+
+Si had never been under such a fire before. He stood it as long as he
+could, and 'then he stopped.
+
+"Halt!" shouted a chorus of voices. "Shoulder--Arms!" "Order--Arms!"
+
+By this time Si's wrath was at the boiling point. Casting around him a
+look of defiance, he exclaimed:
+
+"You cowardly blaggards; I can jest lick any two of ye, an' I'll dare ye
+to come on. If the 200th Ind. was here we'd clean out the hull pack of
+ye quicker'n ye can say scat!"
+
+This is where Si made a mistake. He ought to have kept right on and said
+nothing. But Si had to find out all these things by experience, as the
+rest of the boys did.
+
+[Illustration: SI DEFIES A REGIMENT 129 ]
+
+All the members took a hand in the game. They just got right up and
+yelled, discharging at Si a volley of expletives and pointed remarks
+that drove him to desperation. Instinctively he brought up his gun.
+
+"Load in nine times--Load!" shouted a dozen of the Illinois tramps.
+
+If Si's gun had been loaded he would have shot somebody, regardless of
+consequences. Thinking of his bayonet, he jerked it quickly from its
+scabbard.
+
+"Fix--Bay'net!" yelled the ragged veterans.
+
+And he did, though it was more from the promptings of his own hostile
+feelings than in obedience to the orders.
+
+"Charge--Bay'net!"
+
+Si had completely lost control of himself in his overpowering rage. With
+blood in his eye, he came to, a charge, glancing fiercely from one side
+of the road to the other, uncertain where to begin the assault.
+
+Instantly there was a loud clicking all along the line. The Illinois
+soldiers, almost to a man, fixed their bayonets. Half of them sprang to
+their feet, and all aimed their shining points at the poor young Hoosier
+patriot, filling the air with shouts of derision.
+
+It was plain, even to Si in his inflamed state of mind, that the odds
+against him were too heavy.
+
+"Unfix--Bay'net!" came from half the regiment.
+
+Si concluded he had better get out of a bad scrape the best way he
+could. So he took off his bayonet and put it back in its place. He
+shouted words of defiance to his tormentors, but they could not be heard
+in the din.
+
+"Shoulder--Arms!" "Right--Face!" "Right shoulder shift--Arms!"
+"Forward--March!" These commands came in quick succession from the ranks
+amidst roars of laughter.
+
+Si obeyed the orders and started off.
+
+"Left--left--left!"
+
+"Hayfoot--strawfoot!"
+
+Forgetting his blisters. Si took the double-quick while the mob swung
+their caps and howled with delight.
+
+Si didn't "ketch up" with the 200 Ind. until after it had gone into
+camp. Shorty had a quart of hot coffee waiting for him.
+
+"Shorty," said Si as they sat by the fire,--"I'm goin' to drop dead in my
+tracks before I'll fall out again."
+
+"Why, what's the matter?"
+
+"Oh, nothin'; only you jest try it," said Si.
+
+Had it not been for the "fun" the soldiers had in the army to brighten
+their otherwise dark and cheerless lives, they would all have died. Si
+was a true type of those who had to suffer for the good of others until
+they learned wisdom in the school of experience.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. SI AND THE MULES
+
+ONE DAY'S RICH EXPERIENCE AS COMPANY TEAMSTER.
+
+"I'VE GOT to have a man to drive team for a few days," said the Orderly
+of Co. Q of the 200th Ind. one morning at roll-call. "The teamster's
+sick and I'm goin' to send him to the hospital to-day."
+
+The Orderly-Sergeant of Co. Q was a wily fellow. All Orderly-Sergeants
+have to be. If they are not naturally, they learn it very quickly, or
+lose the little diamond on their sleeves, if not all their stripes.
+The man who undertakes to manage 60 or 75 stalwart, high-spirited young
+Americans through all their moods and tenses, and every kind of weather,
+has to be as wise as a serpent, though not necessarily as harmless as
+a dove. Therefore, the Orderly-Sergeant didn't tell the boys what ailed
+the teamster. The fact was that the heels of the "off=wheeler" caught
+the teamster in the pit of the stomach and doubled him up so badly that
+he wouldn't be fit for duty for a week. It was worse than the green-corn
+colic.
+
+"'Tisn't every man," continued the Orderly, "that's gifted with
+fust-class talent fur drivin' team. I'd like to find the best man to
+steer them animals, an' if there's a real sientifick mule-whacker in
+this comp'ny let him speak up an' I'll detail him right off. It'll be a
+soft thing fur somebody; them mules are daises."
+
+Somehow they didn't all speak at once. The company had only had the team
+two or three weeks, but the boys were not dull of hearing, and ominous
+sounds had come to them from the rear of the camp at all hours of the
+night--the maddening "Yeehaw-w-w!" of the long-eared brutes, and the
+frantic ejaculations of the teamster, spiced with oaths that would have
+sent a shudder through "our army in Flanders."
+
+[Illustration: HE LET BOTH HEELS FLY 133 ]
+
+So they did not apply for the vacant saddle with that alacrity which
+might have been expected, when so good a chance was offered for a
+soldier to ride and get his traps carried on a wagon. Whenever an
+infantryman threw away such an opportunity it is safe to assume that
+there was some good reason for it.
+
+But the idea of riding for a few days and letting his blisters get well
+was too much for Si Klegg. Besides, he thought if there was any one
+thing he could do better than another it was driving a team. He had been
+doing it on his father's farm all his life. It is true, he didn't know
+much about mules, but he imagined they were a good deal like horses.
+
+"I'm your man!" spoke up Si cheerfully.
+
+"All right," said the Orderly. "Company, Right--Face! Break
+ranks--March!"
+
+"There ain't any trouble about it!" Si said to Shorty as they walked
+back to the tent. "I reckon it's easy enough to manage mules if you go
+at 'em right. It'll be just fun for me to drive team. And say. Shorty,
+I'll carry all your traps on my wagon. That'll be a heap better'n totin'
+'em!"
+
+Si gathered up his outfit and started to enter upon his new sphere of
+usefulness.
+
+"Shall I take my gun and bay'net along?" he asked the Orderly.
+
+"Guess you'd better; they might come handy!" replied the Orderly, as he
+thought of the teamster's disastrous encounter with the "off-wheeler."
+
+After Shorty had eaten his breakfast he thought he would go back to the
+tent and see how Si was getting on. With thoughtful care Si had fed
+his mules before appeasing his own appetite, and Shorty found him just
+waiting for his coffee to cool a bit.
+
+"Why, them 'ere mules is jist as gentle'n' peaceful-like ez so many
+kittens. Look at 'em, Shorty!" and Si pointed with a proud and gratified
+air to where the six "daisies" were standing, three on each side of the
+wagon-pole, with their noses in the feed-box, quietly munching their
+matutinal rations, and whisking their paint-brush tails about in evident
+enjoyment.
+
+Indeed, to look at those mules one who was ignorant of the peculiar
+characteristics of the species would not have thought that beneath
+those meek exteriors there were hearts filled with the raging fires
+of total depravity. Shorty thought how it would be, but he didn't say
+anything. He was sure that Si would find out about it soon enough.
+
+The brigade to which the 200th Ind. belonged was to march in the rear of
+the long procession that day. This was lucky for Si, as it gave him an
+hour or two more than he would otherwise have had to get hitched up. But
+all the same he thought he would begin early, so as to be on hand with
+his team in good time.
+
+"Want any help?" asked Shorty.
+
+"No," said Si; "I can hitch 'em up slick's a whistle. I can't see why so
+many makes sich a fuss 'bout handlin' mules."
+
+Shorty lighted his cob pipe and sat down on a stump to watch Si. "Kinder
+think there'll be a circus!" he said to himself.
+
+Si got up from his coffee and hardtack, and addressed himself to the
+business of the hour. It proved to be just as much as he could attend
+to. When Si poured half a bushel of corn into the feed box it was
+all very nice, and the animals rubbed their heads against him to give
+expression to their grateful emotions. But when it came to putting on
+the harness, that was quite a different thing. The mere touch of a strap
+was enough to stimulate into baleful activity all the evil passions of
+mule-nature.
+
+"Now, Pete and Jim and Susan, we must git ready to pull out!" said Si to
+his charge, in a familiar, soothing tone, preliminary to getting down to
+business. It was his evident desire to maintain the friendly relations
+that he thought he had already established. At the first rattle of the
+harness Pete and Susan and the rest, moved by a common impulse, laid
+back their ears and began to bray, their heels at the same time showing
+symptoms of impatience.
+
+"Whoa, there--whoa!" exclaimed Si, in a conciliatory way, as he advanced
+with a bridle in his hand toward one of the big wheelers, whose ears
+were flapping about like the fans of a windmill.
+
+Si imprudently crept up from the rear. A flank movement would have
+been better. As soon as he had got fairly within range the mule winked
+viciously, lowered his head, and let fly both heels. Si was a spry boy,
+and a quick dodge saved him from the fate of his predecessor. One of the
+heels whizzed past his ear with the speed of a cannon ball, caught his
+hat, and sent it spinning through the air.
+
+Shorty, who was whittling up a piece of Kentucky twist to recharge his
+pipe, laughed till he rolled off the stump all in a heap. A few of the
+other boys had stayed out to see the fun, and were lounging around the
+outskirts of the corral. "Go for 'em, Si!" they shouted.
+
+Si was plucky, and again advanced with more caution. This time he was
+successful, after a spirited engagement, in getting the bridle on. He
+thought he would ride him down to the creek for water, and this would
+give him a chance to get acquainted with him, as it were. He patted the
+animal's neck, called him pet names, and gently stroked his stubby mane.
+Alas, Si didn't know then what an utter waste of material it was to give
+taffy to an army mule.
+
+With a quick spring Si vaulted upon the back of the mule. He started off
+in good shape, waving his hand exultingly to the boys with the air of a
+General who has just won a great battle.
+
+All at once the animal stopped as suddenly as if he had run against a
+stone wall. He planted his fore feet, throwing his ears back and his
+head down. There was a simultaneous rear elevation, with the heels at
+an upward angle of about 45 degrees. Si went sprawling among the
+bushes. This performance was greeted with great enthusiasm by the fast
+increasing crowd of spectators.
+
+[Illustration: SI WENT SPRAWLING 137 ]
+
+"I oughter have told you that saddle-mule's the worst bucker in the
+Army o' the Ohio," said the Quartermaster-Sergeant, who was among the
+onlookers. "Why, he'd buck off the stripe that runs down his back, if
+he took it into his measly head. He bucked off a chattel mortgage, and
+that's the way he come into the army. You can't ride him without using
+one of Aunt Jemima's sticking plasters."
+
+"Much obliged for your information. But I will ride him all the same,"
+said Si, whose temper had risen to the exploding point. "I kin ride him
+if he ties himself in a double bow-knot."
+
+Si was too much of a farmer boy to give in to anything that walked on
+four legs.
+
+He had hung on to the bridle rein, and after addressing a few impressive
+words to the obstreperous mule he again leaped upon his back. The mule
+took a docile turn, his motive having apparently been merely to show Si
+what he could do when he took a notion.
+
+The space at command will not permit us to follow Si through all the
+details of "hitching up" that team. He did finally "git thar, Eli,"
+after much strategic effort. The mules brayed and kicked a good deal,
+and Si's wrath was fully aroused before he got through. He became
+convinced that soft words were of no account in such a contest, and he
+enforced discipline by the judicious use of a big club, together with
+such appropriate language as he could think of. Si hadn't yet learned
+to swear with that wonderful and appalling proficiency that was so soon
+acquired by the army teamsters. In the management of mules profanity was
+considered an invaluable accessory in times of great emergency.
+
+At last Si climbed into the saddle, as proud as a King. Seizing the
+long, single line running to the "leaders"--by which contrivance the
+army team was always guided--he shouted "Git up, thar, Pete! G'lang
+Susan!" and the caravan started. But the unregenerated brutes didn't go
+far. Si was gaily cracking his whip, trying to hit a big blue-bottle fly
+that was perched on the ear of one of the "swing" mules.
+
+As if by a preconcerted plan, the establishment came to a sudden
+halt and the mules began to rear and kick and plunge around in utter
+disregard of consequences. It didn't take more than a minute for them to
+get into a hopeless tangle. They were in all conceivable shapes--heads
+and tails together, crosswise and "every which way," tied up with the
+straps of the harness. The air in all directions was full of heels.
+There was a maddening chorus of discordant braying.
+
+In the course of the scrimmage Si found himself on the ground. Gathering
+himself up, he gazed in utter amazement at the twisted, writhing mass.
+At this moment a messenger came from the Captain to "hurry up that
+team," and poor Si didn't know what to do. He wished he could only swear
+like the old mule drivers. He thought it would make him feel better.
+There was no one to help him out of his dilemma, as the members of the
+company were all getting ready for the march.
+
+A veteran teamster happened along that way, and took in the situation
+at a glance. He saw that Si had bit off more than he could chew, and
+volunteered his assistance.
+
+"Here, young feller," said he, "lemme show ye how to take the stiffenin'
+out o' them ere dod-gasted mules!"
+
+Seizing the whip at the small end of the stock he began laying on right
+and left with the butt, taking care to keep out of range of the heels.
+During these persuasive efforts he was shouting at the top of his voice
+words that fairly hissed through the air. Si thought he could smell the
+brimstone and see the smoke issuing from the old teamster's mouth and
+nostrils. This is a section of what that experienced mule driver said,
+as nearly as we can express it:
+
+"_________;;_____________!!!***???!!!! ____???________???!!!!"
+
+Si thanked the veteran for these timely suggestions in the way of
+language, and said he would remember them. He had no doubt they would
+help him out the next time.
+
+They finally got the team untied, and Si drove over to the company
+ground. The regiment had been gone some time, a detail having been left
+to load the wagon. After getting out upon the road the mules plodded
+along without objection, and Si got on famously. But having lost his
+place in the column in consequence of the delay, he was obliged to
+fall in rear of the division train, and it was noon before he got well
+started.
+
+Along towards evening Si struck a section of old corduroy road through
+a piece of swamp. The passage of the artillery and wagons had left the
+road in a wretched condition. The logs were lying at all points of the
+compass, or drifting vaguely about in the mire, while here and there
+were seas of water and pits of abysmal depth.
+
+[Illustration: STUCK IN THE MUD 141 ]
+
+To make the story short, Si's mules stumbled and floundered and
+kicked,--while Si laid on with the whip and used some of the words he
+had learned from the old teamster before starting.
+
+At length the wagon became hopelessly stalled. The wheels sank to the
+hubs, and Si yelled and cracked his whip in vain. Perhaps if he had had
+the old teamster there to swear for him he could have pulled through,
+but as it was he gave it up, dismounted, hunted a dry spot, and sat down
+to think and wait for something to turn up.
+
+Just before dark a large detail from Co. Q, which had been sent back
+on an exploring expedition for Si and his team, reached the spot. After
+hours of prying and pushing and tugging and yelling they at length got
+the wagon over the slough, reaching camp about midnight.
+
+"Orderly," said Si, "I believe I'd like to resign my place as
+mule-driver. It's a nice, soft thing, but I'd jest as lief let s'mother
+feller have it, so I'll take my gun an' go to hoofin' it agin!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. UNDER FIRE--SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER
+
+AND GETS PROMOTED.
+
+"SEEMS to me it's 'bout time ter be gitt' into a fite!" said Si Klegg to
+Shorty one night as they sat around the fire after supper, with
+their shoes and stockings off, comparing the size and number of their
+respective blisters. Neither of them had much of the skin they started
+out with left on their feet. "I always s'posed," he continued, "that
+bein' a sojer meant fitin' somebody; and here we are roaming over the
+country like a lot of tramps. I can't see no good in it, nohow."
+
+"Don't be in a hurry. Si," replied Shorty; "I reckon we'll ketch it soon
+'nuff. From what I've hearn the old soldiers tell a battle ain't such
+a funny thing as a feller thinks who don't know anything about it, like
+you'n me. The boys is always hungry at first for shootin' and bein' shot
+at, but I've an idee that it sorter takes away their appetite when they
+gits one square meal of it. They don't hanker after it no more. It's
+likely we'll git filled full one o' these days. I'm willin' to wait!"
+
+"Wall," said Si, "I sh'd think we might have a little skirmish, anyway.
+I'd like to have a chance to try my gun and to hear what kind of a noise
+bullets make. Of course, I'd ruther they'd hit some other feller besides
+me, but I'm ready to take the chances on that. I don't b'lieve I'd be
+afeard."
+
+Si was ambitious, and full of the martial ardor that blazed in the
+breast of every young volunteer. He was really glad when the Orderly
+came around presently and told them that the 200th Ind. would have the
+advance next day, and Co. Q would be on the skirmish-line. He told the
+boys to see that their cartridge-boxes were all full and their guns in
+good order, as they would be very like to run foul of the rebels.
+
+This was just before the battle of Perryville. The rebels were very
+saucy, and there seemed to be a fair prospect that the curiosity of
+the members of the 200th Ind. to "see the elephant" would be at least
+measurably gratified.
+
+Before Si went to bed he cleaned up his gun and made sure that it would
+"go off" whenever he wanted it to. Then he and Shorty crawled under the
+blankets, and as they lay "spoon fashion," thinking about what might
+happen the next day. Si said he hoped they would both have "lots of
+sand."
+
+All night Si dreamed about awful scenes of slaughter. Before morning he
+had destroyed a large part of the Confederate army.
+
+It was yet dark when the reveille sounded through the camp. Si and
+Shorty kicked off the blankets at first blast of bugle, and were
+promptly in their places for roll-call. Then, almost in a moment, a
+hundred fires were gleaming, and the soldiers gathered around them to
+prepare their hasty breakfast.
+
+Before the sun was up the bugles rang out again upon the morning air.
+In quick succession came the "general," the "assembly," and "to the
+colors." The 200th marched out upon the pike, but soon filed off into
+a cornfield to take its assigned place in the line, for the advance
+division was to move in order of battle, brigade front, that day.
+
+In obedience to orders, Co. Q moved briskly out and deployed as
+skirmishers, covering the regimental front. As the line advanced through
+field and thicket Si Klegg's heart was not the only one that thumped
+against the blouse that covered it.
+
+It was not long till a squad of cavalrymen came galloping back, yelling
+that the rebels were just ahead. The line was halted for a few minutes;
+while the Generals swept the surrounding country with their field
+glasses and took in the situation.
+
+The skirmishers, for fear of accidents, took advantage of such cover as
+they could find. Si and Shorty found themselves to leeward of a large
+stump.
+
+"D'ye reckon a bullet 'd go through this 'ere stump?" said Si.
+
+Before Shorty could answer something else happened that absorbed their
+entire attention. For the time they didn't think of anything else.
+
+'Boom-m-m-m!'
+
+"Great Scott! d'ye hear that?" said Si through his chattering teeth.
+
+"Yes, and there's somethin' comin' over this way," replied Shorty.
+
+A shell came screaming and swishing through the air. The young Hoosiers
+curled around the roots of that stump and flattened themselves out like
+a pair of griddle-cakes. If it was Si that the rebel gunners were after,
+they timed the shell to a second, for it burst with a loud bang just
+over them. The fragments flew all around, one striking the stump and
+others tearing up the dirt on every side.
+
+[Illustration: IT BURST WITH A LOUD "BANG." 145 ]
+
+To say that for the moment those two soldiers were demoralized would be
+drawing it very mildly. They showed symptoms of a panic. It seemed as
+though they would be hopelessly stampeded. Their tongues were paralyzed,
+and they could only look silently into each other's white faces.
+
+Si was the first to recover himself, although it could hardly be
+expected that he could get over his scare all at once.
+
+"D-d-did it hit ye, Sh-Shorty?" he said.
+
+"N-no, I guess not; b-b-but ain't it aw-awful. Si? You look so bad I
+th-thought you was k-k-killed!"
+
+"Who's afeard?" said Si. "I was only skeered of you. Shorty. Brace up,
+now same's I do!"
+
+"Skirmishers--Forward!" was heard along the line. "Come on, Shorty!"
+said Si, and they plunged bravely ahead.
+
+Emerging suddenly from a thick wood, they came upon the rebel
+skirmishers in full view, posted on the opposite side of the field.
+
+Crack! Crack!--Zip! Zip!
+
+"Guess there's a bee-tree somewhere around here, from the way the bees
+are buzzin'," said Si.
+
+"'Taint no bees," replied Shorty; "it's a mighty sight worse'n that.
+Them's bullets, Si Don't ye see the dumed galoots over yonder a-shootin'
+at us?"
+
+Si was no coward, and he was determined to show that he wasn't. The
+shell a little while before had taken the starch out of him for a few
+minutes, but that was nothing to his discredit. Many a seasoned veteran
+found himself exceedingly limber under such circumstances.
+
+"Let's give the rascals a dose," said he; "the best we've got in stock!"
+
+Suiting the action to the word, Si crept up to a fence, thrust his gun
+between the rails, took good aim and fired.
+
+[Illustration: SI TAKES A CRACK AT A REB 147 ]
+
+A bullet from one of the other fellows made the splinters fly from a
+rail a foot or two from Si's head; but he was getting excited now,
+and he didn't mind it any more than if it had been a paper wad from a
+pea-shooter.
+
+It makes a great difference with a soldier under fire whether he can
+take a hand in the game himself, or whether he must lie idle and let the
+enemy "play it alone."
+
+"Did ye hear him squeal?" said Si, as he dropped upon the ground and
+began to reload with all his might. "I hit that son-of-a-gun, sure. Give
+'em H--Hail Columbia, Shorty. We'll show 'em that the 200th Ind. is in
+front to-day!"
+
+"Forward, men!" shouted the officers. "Go right for 'em!"
+
+The skirmishers sprang over the fence and swept across the field at a
+"double-quick" in the face of a sputtering fire that did little damage.
+None of them reached the other side any sooner than Si did. The rebels
+seemed to have found out that the 200th boys were coming, for they
+were already on the run, and some of them had started early. Pell-mell
+through the brush they went, and the blue-blouses after them.
+
+"Halt, there, or I'll blow ye into the middle o' next week!" yelled Si,
+as he closed up on a ragged specimen of the Southern Confederacy whose
+wind had given out. Si thought it would be a tall feather in his hat if
+he could take a prisoner and march him back.
+
+[Illustration: SI CAPTURES A JOHNNY 149 ]
+
+The "Johnny" gave one glance at his pursuer, hesitated, and was lost. He
+saw that Si meant business, and surrendered at discretion.
+
+"Come 'long with me!" said Si, his eyes glistening with pleasure and
+pride. Si marched him back and delivered him to the Colonel.
+
+"Well done, my brave fellow!" said the Colonel.
+
+"This is a glorious day for the 200th Ind., and you've taken its first
+prisoner. What's your name my boy?"
+
+"Josiah Klegg, sir!" said Si, blushing to the very roots of his hair.
+
+"What company do you belong to?"
+
+"Company Q, sir!" and Si saluted the officer as nicely as he knew how.
+
+"I'll see your Captain to-night, Mr. Klegg, and you shall be rewarded
+for your good conduct. You may now return to your company."
+
+It was the proudest moment of Si's life up to date. He stammered out
+his thanks to the Colonel, and then, throwing his gun up to a right
+shoulder-shift, he started off on a canter to rejoin the skirmishers.
+
+That night Si Klegg was the subject of a short conversation between
+his Captain and the Colonel. They agreed that Si had behaved very
+handsomely, and deserved to be promoted.
+
+"Are there any vacancies in your non-commissioned officers?" asked the
+Colonel.
+
+"No," was the reply, "but there ought to be. One of my Corporals skulked
+back to the rear this morning and crawled into a wagon. I think we had
+better reduce him to the ranks and appoint Mr. Klegg."
+
+"Do so at once," said the Colonel.
+
+Next morning when the 200th was drawn up in line an order was read by
+the Adjutant reducing the skulker and promoting Si to the full rank of
+Corporal, with a few words commending the gallantry of the latter.
+These orders announcing rewards and punishments were supposed to have
+a salutary effect in stimulating the men to deeds of glory, and as a
+warning to those who were a little short of "sand."
+
+[Illustration: CORPORAL SI KLEGG 151 ]
+
+The boys of Co. Q showered their congratulations upon Si in the usual
+way. They made it very lively for him that day. In the evening: Si
+hunted up some white cloth, borrowed a needle and thread, went off back
+of the tent, rammed his bayonet into the ground, stuck a candle in the
+socket, and sewed chevrons on the sleeves of his blouse. Then he wrote a
+short letter:
+
+     "Deer Annie: I once more take my pen in hand to tell you
+     there's grate news. I'm an ossifer. We had an awful fite
+     yisterdy. I don't know how menny rebbles I kild, but I guess
+     thare was enuff to start a good sized graveyard. I tuk a
+     prizner, too, and the Kurnal says to me bully fer you,
+     Mister Klegg, or sumthin to that effeck. This mornin they
+     made me a Corporil, and red it out before the hull rijiment
+     I guess youd been prowd if you could have seen me. To-night
+     the boys is hollerin hurraw fer Corporal Klegg all over
+     camp. I ain't as big is the Ginrals and gum of the other
+     ossifers, but thars no tellin how hi I'll get in three
+     years.
+
+          "Rownd is the ring that haint no end,
+          So is my luv to you my friend.
+
+     "Yours, same as before,
+
+     "Corporal Si Klegg."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH"
+
+A NIGHT'S ADVENTURES AS "CORPORAL OF THE GUARD."
+
+"CORPORAL Klegg, you will go on duty to-night with the camp guard!" said
+the Orderly of Co. Q one evening, as the 200th Ind. filed off into a
+piece of woods to bivouac for the night, two or three days after Si had
+been promoted.
+
+The chevrons on his arms had raised Si several degrees in the estimation
+not only of himself, but of the other members of the company. His
+conduct in the skirmish had shown that he had in him the material for a
+good soldier, and even the Orderly began to treat him with that respect
+due to his new rank as one of the "non-commish."
+
+Like every other man who put on the army blue and marched away so bold,
+"With gay and gallant tread," Si could not tell whether he was going to
+amount to anything as a soldier until he had gone through the test of
+being under fire. There were many men who walked very erect, talked
+bravely, drilled well, and made a fine appearance on dress parade,
+before they reached "the front," but who wilted at the "zip" of bullets
+like tender corn blades nipped by untimely frost. And a good many of
+them continued in that wilted condition. Perhaps they really couldn't
+help it. An inscrutable Providence had seen fit to omit putting any
+"sand in their gizzards," as the boys expressed it.
+
+It must be confessed that Si was somewhat unduly elated and puffed up
+over, his own achievements as a skirmisher and his success in climbing
+the ladder of military rank and fame. It is true, it wasn't much of
+a fight they had that day, but Si thought it was pretty fair for a
+starter, and enough to prove to both himself and his comrades that he
+wouldn't be one of the "coffee coolers" when there was business on hand.
+
+Si was sorry that his regiment did not get into the fight at Perryville.
+The 200th Ind. belonged to one of the two corps of Buell's army that
+lay under the trees two or three miles away all through that October
+afternoon, while McCook's gallant men were in a life-and-death struggle
+against overwhelming odds. It bothered Si as much to understand it all
+as it did 30,000 other soldiers that day.
+
+Si responded with alacrity when he was detailed for guard duty. He had
+walked a beat once or twice as a common tramp, and had not found it
+particularly pleasant, especially in stormy weather; but now he was a
+peg higher, and he thought as Corporal he would have a better time. He
+had already observed that the rude winds of army life were tempered,
+if not to the shorn lambs, at least to the officers, in a degree
+proportionate to their rank. The latter had the first pick of
+everything, and the men took what was left. The officers always got the
+softest rails to sleep on, the hardtack that was least tunneled through
+by the worms, the bacon that had the fewest maggots, and the biggest
+trees in a fight.
+
+"Forward--March!" shouted the officer in command, when the detachment
+was ready. Si stepped off very proudly, thinking how glad his good old
+mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel would be if they could see
+him at that moment. He was determined to discharge his official duties
+"right up to the handle," and make the boys stand around in lively
+style.
+
+When the guard reached the place selected for headquarters the officer
+drily lectured them in regard to their duties, impressing upon them the
+necessity of being alert and vigilant. There was only a thin picket-line
+between them and the enemy. The safety of the army depended upon the
+faithfulness of those appointed to watch while others slept. He
+gave them the countersign, "Bunker Hill," and ordered them under no
+circumstances to allow any person to pass without giving it, not even
+the Commanding General himself.
+
+Then the guards were posted, the "beats" laid off and numbered, and as
+the fast-gathering shadows deepened among the trees the sentinels paced
+to and fro around the tired army.
+
+For an hour or two after the guards were stationed all was quiet along
+the line. The noise of the great camp was hushed for the night, and no
+sound broke the stillness of the gloomy forest. The moon rose and peeped
+timidly through the branches.
+
+"Corporal of the Guard; Post No. 6."
+
+Si's quick ear, as he lay curled up at the foot of a tree, caught these
+words, rapidly repeated by one sentinel after another. It was his first
+summons. He sprang to his feet, gun in hand, his heart beating at the
+thought of adventure, and started on the run for "Post No. 6."
+
+"What's up?" he said to the guard, with a perceptible tremor in his
+voice.
+
+"There's one o' the boys tryin' to run the guards!" was the answer.
+"He's been out foragin', I reckon. He's got a lot o' plunder he wants to
+git into camp with. See him, out there in the bush?"
+
+The forager, for such he proved to be, was nimbly dodging from tree to
+tree, watching for a chance to cross the line, but the alertness of the'
+guards had thus far kept him outside. He had tried to bribe one or two
+of the boys by offering to "whack up" if they would let him pass or give
+him the countersign, so that he could get in at some other point in the
+cordon. But the guards were incorruptible. They were "fresh" yet, and
+had not caught on to the plan of accepting an offered chicken, a section
+of succulent pig, or a few sweet potatoes, and then walking off to the
+remote limit of the beat, with eyes to the front, while the forager shot
+across the line in safety. They learned all about this after a while.
+
+The raider tried to parley with Si, but Si wouldn't have it. Raising his
+gun to a "ready" he ordered the man to come in or he would put a hole
+through him.
+
+The best thing to do under the circumstances was to obey. The forager,
+who belonged to Si's company, crept up to Corporal Klegg and in a
+conciliatory tone opened negotiations.
+
+"You jest let me pass, and you may have your pick of this stuff," said
+he, holding up a fowl in one hand and a ham in the other. "It'll be all
+right, and nobody 'll ever know nothin' 'bout it!"
+
+Si hesitated; it was human nature. The offer was a tempting one, but he
+remembered his responsibility to his country, and his stomach appealed
+in vain. Duty came before stewed chicken or roasted sparerib.
+
+"Can't do it!" said Si. "You've got hold of the wrong man this time. I
+ain't goin' to have nobody monkeyin' 'round while I'm Corporal of this
+'ere guard. Come along with me, and step out lively, too!"
+
+Si marched the culprit back to headquarters and delivered him up to the
+officer, who commended Si for his fidelity.
+
+Next day the ground back of the Colonel's tent was strewn with feathers,
+chicken bones, ham rinds, and potato skins, while the unlucky forager
+who had provided the field officers' mess with such a royal meal was
+humped around for two hours on "knapsack drill," and condemned to spend
+24 hours in the guard-house.
+
+An hour later Si had another experience. The Captain of Co. Q felt a
+kindly interest, and not a little pride in him, since the skirmish,
+and he thought he would take a turn that night and see whether his
+newly-made Corporal was "up to snuff."
+
+"Post No. 3," was Si's second call. He responded promptly, and as he
+approached the guard the latter said:
+
+"Corporal, here's the Cap'n, and he wants to get in! He hain't got the
+countersign; shall I pass him?"
+
+"Good evening. Corporal!" said the Captain, as Si came up, at the same
+time extending his hand.
+
+Si was thrown completely off his guard. Dropping the butt of his gun
+carelessly to the ground he replied cheerily, "Good evening, Cap'n,"
+touching his hat by way of salute. Then he took the proffered hand,
+pleased at the Captain's mark of kindly recognition. He didn't
+understand the scheme then. "How are you getting on, Mr. Klegg?" "First
+rate!" said Si, with the air of one conscious that he had done his
+duty well. "I capchered a forager a little bit ago and took him to
+headquarters!"
+
+[Illustration: ONE Of THE "NON-COM MISH." 159 ]
+
+"Well done, Corporal I have no doubt you will honor the good name of the
+200th Ind. in general and Company Q in particular, I got caught outside
+to night, and I want to get back into camp. Of course, you know me and
+it's all right!"
+
+"Certainly, sir!" said Si, as he stood leaning on his gun and allowed
+the officer to pass the magic line. "Good night, Cap'n!"
+
+"Good night, Corporal! By the way," said the Captain, retracing his
+steps, "I notice that you do not carry your gun just right. Let me show
+you how to handle it!"
+
+Si didn't know what a flagrant offense it was for a soldier on guard to
+let his gun go out of his hands; nor had he the faintest suspicion that
+the Captain was playing it on him. So he promptly handed his picee to
+the Captain, who immediately brought it down to a "charge," with the
+bayonet at Si's breast.
+
+"Suppose, now, I was a rebel in disguise," said the Captain, "what kind
+of a fix would you be in?"
+
+Light began to dawn upon Si, and he started back in terror at the
+thought of the mistake he had made.
+
+"Of course, I wouldn't let anybody else have it," he stammered; "but I
+knew you, Cap'n!"
+
+"That makes no difference to a man on duty. Corporal. You hang on to
+your gun the rest of the night, and if anybody--I don't care if it's
+Gen. Buell himself--insists on your giving it to him, let him have two
+or three inches of the point of your bayonet. Don't let anybody pass
+without the countersign, either! Come to my quarters when you are
+relieved tomorrow."
+
+All this illustrates the way the officers had of testing new soldiers
+and teaching them a thing or two, when, as was frequently the case,
+they were not yet up to the mark. A trick of extra duty for the hapless
+novitiate was generally the penance for his simplicity.
+
+The cold chills ran up and down Si's back as he took his gun and slowly
+returned to the guard fire. He felt that he had utterly spoiled his good
+record.
+
+"Lieutenant," he said to the officer, "I wish you'd please detail a man
+to kick me for about an hour."
+
+The Lieutenant wanted to know what the matter was, and Si told him all
+about it, ending with:
+
+"So now I s'pose the Cap'n 'll yank the stripes off'n my blouse!"
+
+The officer quieted his fears by assuring him that there was no cause
+for alarm. The Captain knew that he was trying to do his duty, and what
+he had done was for Si's own good.
+
+Si sat down by the fire and was thinking it over when there was another
+call, "Corporal of the guard!" He was soon at the point indicated and
+found two officers on horseback, whom he recognized as the Colonel and
+Adjutant of the 200th Ind. Si's friend Shorty was the guard who had
+halted them.
+
+"Now, Corporal Klegg," said Si to himself, laying his finger alongside
+his nose, "you jist watch out this time. Here's big game! Shouldn't
+wonder if them ossifers had bin out skylarkin', and they're tryin' to
+git in. Don't ye let 'em fool ye as the Cap'n did!"
+
+Si was right in his surmise. The Colonel and Adjutant had been enjoying
+a good supper at a house half a mile away, and had not the slightest
+idea what the countersign was.
+
+Si was determined not to "get left" this time. As he approached, the
+Colonel saw that it was soldier he had commended for his gallantry at
+the time of the skirmish.
+
+"Ah, Corporal Klegg, I'm glad to see you so prompt in your duty. I was
+sure we had made no mistake when we promoted you. Of course, you can
+see who I am. I'm your Colonel, and this is the Adjutant. We are,
+unfortunately, outside without the countersign; but you can just let us
+through."
+
+The Colonel's taffy had no effect on Si. He just brought himself into a
+hostile attitude, with his bayonet in fair range of the Colonel, as he
+replied:
+
+"Colonel, my orders is to pass no livin' man unless he says 'Bunker
+Hill.' I'd be glad to do ye a good turn, but there's no use talkin'. I'm
+goin' to obey orders, and ye can't pass here."
+
+[Illustration: "NOT 'LESS YE SAY 'BUNKER HILL.'" 155 ]
+
+The Colonel chuckled softly as he dismounted and came up to Si.
+
+"It's all right," he said, "of course I know what the countersign is. I
+was only trying you."
+
+"Hold on there," said Si, "don't come too close. If you've got the
+countersign, advance and give it. If ye ain't got it, I'll jest call the
+Officer of the Guard!"
+
+Leaning over the point of Si's bayonet the Colonel gently whispered
+"Bunker Hill".
+
+"Correct!" said Si, and bringing his gun to a shoulder, he respectfully
+saluted the Colonel. The latter started to remount, but turned back as
+he said:
+
+"Just let me show you how to hold your gun. You don't--"
+
+"Not if the court knows herself," said Si, again menacing the Colonel
+with his bayonet. "That's bin played on me once to-night, and if anybody
+does it again my name ain't Si Klegg!"
+
+"That's right, Corporal," said the Colonel as he sprang into the saddle;
+"but don't tell anybody what the countersign is again! Good night!"
+
+"Good night. Colonel," said Si, touching his hat. As the officers rode
+away Si began to think he had put his foot in it again. He was confirmed
+in this opinion by seeing Shorty sit down on a log in a paroxysm of
+laughter.
+
+"You give yerself away bad this time!" said Shorty, as soon as he could
+speak. "What did ye tell him the countersign for?"
+
+"Whew-w-w-w!" observed Si, with a prolonged whistle. "Shorty," said he,
+"I wish you'd take a club and see if you can't pound a little sense into
+me; I don't believe I've got any!" Without another word he shouldered
+his gun and returned to the guard headquarters. "Now I'm a goner, sure!"
+he said to himself.
+
+On his way he found a guard sitting by a tree, sound asleep. Carefully
+taking away his gun Si awoke him, and frightened him half to death by
+telling him that he would report him and he would be shot for sleeping
+on post. Si finally said he wouldn't tell on him this time, but he must
+never do so again, or he would be a dead man.
+
+"Corporal of the guard!" was heard again, sometime after midnight. "If
+they try any more measly tricks on me to-night somebody 'll git hurt!"
+thought Si as he walked briskly along the line in response to the call.
+
+This time it was a "contraband"--an old negro, who stood shivering with
+terror as the guard held him at the point of the bayonet. Recalling
+the unlucky adventures of the night. Si imagined that it was one of the
+officers, who had blackened himself like a minstrel, and had come there
+purposely to "catch him."
+
+"Ye can't get through unless ye've got the counter sign," said he,
+decisively; "and I shan't give it to ye, nuther! And ye needn't try to
+show me how to hold my gun! I can handle it well enough to shoot and
+punch the Bayonet!"
+
+"Don't know what dat all means, boss," said the frightened negro; "but
+fer de good Lawd's sake don't shove dat t'ing frew me. I've only bin
+ober to de nex' place to a 'possum roast and I'se jist gwine home. I
+didn't know dese yer ge-yards was heah!"
+
+Si didn't propose to take any chances, and so he marched the old
+contraband back and delivered him to the officer, who kept him till
+morning and then suffered him to go on his way.
+
+Once more that night Si was called, in addition to his tramps with
+the "reliefs" and the "grand rounds." It was, perhaps, an hour before
+daylight, and Shorty was the guard who called him. He told Si there was
+something walking around in the woods, and he believed it was a rebel
+trying to creep up on them. He had challenged two or three times, but
+got no answer. The moon had gone down, and in the dark woods objects at
+any distance could not be distinguished.
+
+"There, d'ye hear that?" said Shorty, as there came a sound of crackling
+sticks and rustling leaves.
+
+"Halt!" exclaimed Si. "Who comes there?"
+
+There was no response, and Si challenged again with like result.
+
+"Shorty," said Si, "let's fire both together," and crack went their
+muskets.
+
+For a moment there was a great floundering, and then all was still. As
+soon as it was light, and Shorty was relieved, he and Si went out to see
+the result of their fire. To their astonishment they found the prowler
+cold and stiff in death--they had shot a big gray mule.
+
+[Illustration: THEY HAD SHOT A MULE 163 ]
+
+On the whole, it was a busy and interesting night for Si. He did not
+lose his chevrons on account of his mistakes. But he learned something,
+and the lesson was impressed upon his mind by a few kindly words of
+caution and advice from the Captain of Co. Q.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. FORAGING ON THE WAY
+
+SI HAS SOME VARIED EXPERIENCES WITH SOUTHERN PRODUCTS.
+
+THE long chase after Bragg from Louisville to the mountains of
+southeastern Kentucky was rough on the new troops. It weeded them out
+very fast, and in every town through which Buell's army passed the
+buildings were turned into hospitals and filled with sick and crippled
+soldiers, who had found out early that they were not physically able to
+endure the hardships of an active campaign. At the end of two or three
+weeks some of the new regiments were as much reduced in numbers as most
+of those that went out in '61 were during their first six months.
+
+The 200th Ind. jogged along bravely, but its ranks had suffered the
+common skage. Not less than 400 of its men had fallen by the wayside,
+and were taking quinine and blue-mass and rubbing arnica on their legs
+all along the tortuous route.
+
+Corporal Si Klegg and his friend Shorty proved to be "stayers." Full
+of life and ambition, they were always prompt for duty and ready for a
+fight or a frolic. No one was more quick than Si to offer a suffering
+comrade the last drop of fresh water in his canteen or give him a lift
+by carrying his gun a piece.
+
+One day the regiment started out for an easy, comfortable day's march.
+The coast was clear of rebels, and there being no excuse for crowding
+on the steam, the boys were allowed to take their own gait, while the
+horses of the officers and cavalry had a chance to recover their wind.
+
+It was a warm day late in October. The nights at this time were keen and
+frosty, but the sun at mid-day still showed much of his Summer
+vigor. Perspiration flowed freely down the faces of those wandering
+Hoosiers--faces that were fast assuming the color of half-tanned leather
+under the influence of sunshine and storm.
+
+Once an hour there was the customary halt, when the boys would stretch
+their legs by the roadside, hitching their knapsacks up under their
+heads. When the allotted time had expired the bugler blew "Fall in," the
+notes of which during the next two years became so familiar to the ears
+of the 200th. Later in '64, the Indiana boys mingled their voices with
+the rest of Sherman's hundred thousand veterans as they sang:
+
+     "I know you are tired, but still you must go
+     Down to Atlanta to see the big show."
+
+The soldiers were in good spirits. As they marched they fired jests at
+one another, and laughter rippled along the line.
+
+The only thing that troubled them was the emaciated condition of their
+haversacks, with a corresponding state of affairs in their several
+stomachs. The Commissary Department was thoroughly demoralized. The
+supply train had failed to connect, and rations were almost exhausted.
+There was no prospect that the aching void would be filled, at least, in
+the regular way, until they reached a certain place, which would not be
+until the following day.
+
+Strict orders against foraging were issued almost daily under the Buell
+dispensation. These were often read impressively to the new troops, who,
+in their simplicity, "took it all in" as military gospel.
+
+[Illustration: THE 200th IND. WAS NOT WITHOUT TALENT IN FORAGING 169 ]
+
+The effect was somewhat depressing upon the ardor with which otherwise
+they would have pursued the panting pig and the fluttering fowl, and
+reveled in the orchards and potato-fields. A few irrepressible fellows
+managed to get a choice meal now and then--just enough to show that the
+200th Ind. was not without latent talent in this direction, which only
+needed a little encouragement to become fruitful of results.
+
+But these orders against foraging didn't hold the soldiers of the crop
+of 1861. It was like trying to carry water in a sieve. When rations were
+short, or if they wanted to vary the rather monotonous bill of fare,
+they always found a way to make up any existing deficiency.
+
+On the day in question a few hints were thrown out which resulted in a
+tacit understanding that, in view of the actual need of the soldiers,
+if they got a good chance to pick up something the eyes of the officers
+would be closed. In fact, the officers were as hungry as the men, and
+hoped to come in for a "divide."
+
+Soon after starting in the morning a persimmon tree, well laden with
+fruit, was seen in a field not far from the road. About fifty men
+started for it on a run, and in five minutes it was as bare as the
+barren fig tree.
+
+The persimmon has some very marked peculiarities. It is a toothsome
+fruit when well ripened by frost, but if eaten before it has reached
+the point of full maturity, the effect upon one's interior is unique and
+startling. The pungent juices take hold of the mouth and pucker it up
+in such manner as to make even speech for a time impossible. The tongue
+seems as if it were tied in a knot. If the juice be swallowed, similar
+results follow all along its course. But the novice does not often get
+far enough for that.
+
+The boys soon found that the 'simmons, although they looked very
+tempting, were too green to be eaten with any degree of enjoyment. So
+they filled their pockets with them to pucker up the regiment.
+
+Shorty had joined in the scramble, telling Si he would bring him a good
+supply.
+
+"Ain't them nice?" he said to Si, holding out three or four of the
+greenest ones he could find. "Eat 'em; they're jest gorjus! You can't
+help likin' 'em."
+
+Si had never seen any persimmons before. They were certainly tempting
+to the eye, and he thought they were sent as manna was supplied to the
+children of Israel in the wilderness.
+
+Eagerly seizing them, Si tossed one into his mouth and began to chew it
+with great vigor. The persimmon got in its work at once. It took hold
+with a mighty grip, wrinkling him up like the skins on scalded milk.
+
+After sputtering vigorously a few minutes, while Shorty laughed at him.
+Si managed to get his tongue untwisted.
+
+"Yes," said he, "them things is nice--in a horn! 'Twouldn't take many of
+'em to make a meal!"
+
+A little farther on Si's quick eye noticed a row of beehives standing on
+a bench in the yard of one of the natives. Si had a weakness for honey.
+
+"Shorty," said he, "see them hives over there? How'd ye like to have
+some honey for supper?"
+
+Shorty "allowed" that it would be a good thing. Si stopped and waited a
+few minutes until his own regiment got past, thinking his plan would be
+less liable to interruption. Then he leaped over the fence, went up to
+the hives, and boldly tipped one of them over, hoping he could get out
+a comb or two, fill up his coffee-kettle, and effect his retreat before
+the bees really found out what he was up to.
+
+But the bees instantly rallied their forces and made a vigorous assault
+upon the invader. Si saw that it would be too hot for him, and without
+standing upon the order of his going he went at once, in a decidedly
+panicky state of mind. The bees made the most of their opportunity,
+using their "business ends" on him with great activity and zeal. They
+seemed to fully' share the common feeling in the South toward the
+"Yanks."
+
+[Illustration: SI BEAT A RETREAT 171 ]
+
+A pretty woman, standing on the porch, had watched Si's raid from the
+doorway. As he fell back in utter rout she screamed "Sarves ye right!"
+and then sat down on the doorstep and laughed till she cried. She
+enjoyed it as much as the bees did.
+
+The latter took hold of Si in various places, and by the time he had
+caught up with the regiment one eye was closed, and there was a big lump
+on his nose, besides several more stings which the bees had judiciously
+distributed about his person. It was very evident that he had been
+overmatched and had come out second best in the encounter.
+
+Corporal Klegg presented a picturesque appearance as he reached Co. Q.
+The boys fairly yelled with delight.
+
+"Whar's yer honey?" said Shorty. "Pears like ye waked up the wrong
+passenger that time!"
+
+Si laughed with the rest, rubbed salt on his stings, and plodded on,
+consoling himself with the thought that his was not the only case in
+which the merit of earnest effort had gone unrewarded.
+
+Soon after noon the 200th came to a large patch of sweet potatoes. Si
+and Shorty, as well as a good many of the rest, thought it would be a
+good place to lay in a supply for supper, as they might not have another
+So good a chance. From all parts of the column the men, by dozens dashed
+into the field. In a moment there was a man at every hill, digging away
+with his bayonet, and chucking the tempting tubers into his haversack.
+
+Two hours before going into camp the regiment passed a small spring,
+around which a crowd of soldiers were struggling to fill their canteens.
+There had been a long stretch without fresh water, and Si thought he
+would supply himself.
+
+"Gimme your canteen, too, Shorty, and I'll fill it!" he said.
+
+"Here, Si, you're a bully boy, take mine!" "Mine, too!" "And mine!" said
+one after another of his comrades. Si good naturedly complied and they
+loaded him down with about 20 canteens.
+
+[Illustration: SI BEING WORKED FOR A "GOOD THING." 175 ]
+
+"All right," said Si, "I'll be along with 'em full d'reckly!"
+
+He had to wait for his turn at the spring, and by the time he had filled
+all the canteens he was half an hour behind. Slinging them around his
+neck he started on, with just about as big a load as he could carry.
+
+Si forged ahead, gradually gaining a little, through the tardy movement
+of the column that generally preceded going into camp. The canteen
+straps chafed his shoulders, his back ached, and perspiration streamed
+from every pore. The smoke of the campfires ahead told that the end of
+the day's march was near. He kept on and finally came up with Co. Q just
+as the 200th was stacking arms on the bank of a clear stream.
+
+Si threw down his burdens of canteens, himself thoroughly blown and
+well-nigh exhausted.
+
+"Purty good load, wasn't it, Si?" said Shorty. "But what made ye lug all
+that water in here? When ye saw they was goin' into camp ahead ye might
+ha' knowed there was plenty o' water. Why in blazes didn't ye turn the
+water out o' them 'ere canteens?"
+
+"I'll be hanged if I thought o' that!" said Si, while the boys joined in
+a hearty laugh.
+
+At the command "Break ranks" there was a general scamper to engage in
+the work of getting supper and preparing to spend the night with as
+much comfort as possible. The members of each mess scattered in all
+directions for water, rails, straw, etc., while some went out to scour
+the adjacent region for edibles.
+
+These exercises the soldiers always entered into with the heartiest
+gusto, and the scene will be well remembered by all those who marched.
+
+Si threw off his traps and dropped on the ground to rest a few minutes.
+He got up presently to scratch around with the rest. As he took hold of
+his haversack he was surprised at its lightness. When he laid it down it
+was bulging out with sweet potatoes, and a glance showed him that these
+were all gone.
+
+"Dern my buttons!" exclaimed Si, as he forgot his weariness, and his
+eyes flashed fire. "If I am a Corporal, I kin jest mash the feller that
+stole my 'taters, I don't keer if he's ten foot high. Won't somebody
+show 'im to me? There won't be 'nuff of 'im left to hold a fun'ral
+over?"
+
+Si pranced around in a high state of inflammation, and it is probable
+that if he had found the purloiner of his provender there would have
+been a harder fight than any that occurred between Buell and Bragg.
+
+The boys winked slyly at one another, and all said it was too bad. It
+was a startling case of turpitude, and Si determined to have revenge
+by getting even with some other fellow, without pausing to consider the
+questions of moral philosophy involved.
+
+"Come 'long with me. Shorty!" he said to his friend, and they strode
+away. Just outside the camp they came upon two members of some other new
+regiment coming into camp with a fine pig slung over a pole and two or
+three chickens in their hands. Shorty suggested to Si that this was a
+good chance for him to even up.
+
+"Halt, there!" shouted Si to the foragers. "We're sent out to pick up
+such fellows as you!"
+
+The effect was like a discharge from a masked battery. The men dropped
+their plunder and fled in wild confusion.
+
+"Take hold 'o that pole, Shorty!" said Si, and laying it upon their
+shoulders they made a triumphant entry into camp.
+
+There seemed to be no danger of immediate starvation in the ranks of
+the 200th. Each man appeared to have supplied himself during the day. On
+every hand fires gleamed brightly in the gathering twilight, and around
+them crowded the hungry soldiers, intent upon the simple culinary
+processes incident to the evening meal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. A SUNDAY OFF
+
+SI AND SHORTY GET A MUCH-NEEDED WASH-UP.
+
+"YOU can take it easy to-day, boys, for we ain't goin' to move!" said the
+Orderly of Co. Q one morning at roll-call. "The orders is for to put the
+camp in nice shape, and for the men to wash up. We're goin' to have an
+extra ration of soap this mornin', and you fellows want to stir around
+lively and fix yerselves as if it was Sunday and ye was goin' to
+meetin'. The fust thing after breakfast all hands 'll turn out and
+p'leece ther camp."
+
+"What in the world does he mean by p'leecin' the camp?" Corporal Klegg
+asked Shorty, as they stood by the fire making coffee and warming up
+the fragments of chicken that had been left over from supper the night
+before. "I didn't c'pose," said Si, "that we 'listed to be p'leecemen!"
+
+Shorty replied that he didn't know, but he reckoned they'd find out
+soon enough. The 200th Ind. had been on the jump every day since
+leaving Louisville, and this was the first time it had been called on to
+"police" a camp.
+
+As soon as breakfast was over the Orderly directed each man to provide
+himself with a small bundle of sticks, made by putting together a dozen
+bits of brush or "switches" three or four feet long, such as are used
+to rural pedagogs to enforce discipline. These, he said, were the
+implements used in policing camp, which meant brushing the leaves and
+loose debris outside the grounds.
+
+"Does Corprils have to do that sort o' thing?" asked Si. He thought army
+regulations and camp usage ought to show some consideration for his
+rank. "What's the use of bein' a Corporil," he said to himself, "if it
+don't give a feller a chance to play off once in a while?"
+
+"Corporals ain't no better'n anybody else," replied the Orderly, "'n'
+you can jist git some brush and go to work, 'long with the rest!"
+
+Si was disposed to grumble a little, but he obeyed orders and was soon
+scratching up the leaves and dust with great zeal. He did not find it
+a particularly pleasant occupation, but the camp looked so much better
+when the job was done, that he thought it was not a bad thing, after
+all.
+
+"Now, Shorty," said Si, "let's go down to the creek and do our washin'.
+My clothes has got to be biled, and I shouldn't wonder if yourn had,
+too."
+
+"Yes, that's a fact!" said Shorty.
+
+They got a big camp-kettle that had been used, and would be again, for
+making bean-soup, and started for the stream back of the camp. They had
+no change of clothing with them. Some days before, in order to lighten
+their knapsacks, they had taken out their extra shirts and drawers,
+tied them in a bundle, and put them on the company wagon, and this was
+somewhere back in the rear, owing to the confusion of the campaign.
+
+"Seems to me," observed Si, "it ain't hardly a fair shake for Uncle Sam
+to make us do our washin'. They ought to confiscate the niggers 'n'
+set them at it; or I don't see why the Guvyment can't furnish a washin'
+masheen for each comp'ny! 'Twouldn't be no more'n the square thing!"
+
+[Illustration: SI WAS DISPOSED TO GRUMBLE 181 ]
+
+"The wimmen does the washin', ye know, Si, up where we live," said
+Shorty, "'n' I don't quite like the notion o' doin' that kind o' workt,
+but I can't jest see how we're goin' to git out of it. It's got to be
+done, that's sure!"
+
+On the bank of the stream they quickly threw off their clothes for a
+bath. Si cast rueful glances at his nether garments as he laid them on
+the ground.
+
+"Hadn't we better pile some rocks on 'em, Shorty?" said he. I'm affeared
+if we don't they'll crawl off into the bush.
+
+"Guess we had," replied Shorty. "I b'lieve mine's started already!"
+
+Having made sure of them, they plunged into the water. Far up and down
+the stream were hundreds of men, swimming and splashing about.
+
+The soldiers availed themselves of every opportunity to enjoy this
+luxury.
+
+Having thoroughly performed their ablutions. Si and Shorty turned their
+energies toward the clothes, which were in such sore need of soap and
+hot water. Putting their garments into the kettle and filling it with
+water, they built a fire under it. After half an hour of vigorous
+boiling they concluded they were "done." Plenty of soap, rubbing and
+rinsing finished the work, and the clothes sure presented a remarkable
+appearance, particularly the blue trousers.
+
+"How're we going to git 'em dry?" asked Si, as he wrung out the last of
+his "wash."
+
+"Hang 'em on the fence in the sun!" replied Shorty.
+
+"But what'll we wear while they're dryin'?"
+
+"Nothin', I reckon!"
+
+So they spread out their garments, and then dashed again into the
+water. After splashing awhile they came out and drew on their half-dried
+trousers. Shorty lighted his pipe as they sat down to wait for the
+sunshine to do its perfect work. All along the stream were soldiers in
+similar stages of dishabille. It seemed like the Garden of Eden.
+
+[Illustration: SHOWING THE OLD MAN A TRICK 183 ]
+
+"Say, Shorty," said Si, "'taint very wicked to smoke, is it?"
+
+"Guess not!" was the reply.
+
+"That's the way it 'pears to me, 'n' I've been kinder thinkin' lately
+that I'd learn how. The soljers all seem to enjoy their smokin' so much.
+You know. Shorty, that I was always a reel good boy--never smoked,
+nor chawed terbacker, nor cussed, nor done nothin' that was out o' the
+straight an' narrer way. When I jined the regiment my good old mother
+says to me: 'Now, Si,' says she, 'I do hope ye'll 'member what I've
+always taught ye. I've beam 'em tell that they does dretful things in
+the army, and I want ye to see if ye can't be as good a boy as ye've
+been at home.' Of course, I told her I would, 'n' I mean, ter stick
+to it; but I don't b'lieve there's any harm in smokin'. Is it hard to
+learn?"
+
+"Wall, I dunno; I reck'n ye can't most always tell till ye try. Take a
+whiff, 'nd see how she goes!" And Shorty handed him his pipe, which he had
+just refilled with whittlings of black "navy plug."
+
+"Derned if I don't try it!" said Si, as he took the pipe and began to
+puff with great energy. He made a few wry faces at first, but Shorty
+told him to stick to it, and he bravely pulled away while the clouds of
+smoke curled above him.
+
+It was not long till the color left his face, his head was in a whirl,
+and his stomach began to manifest eruptive symptoms.
+
+"Shorty," he gasped, "I'm awful sick. If smokin' makes a feller feel
+like this I don't want any more of it in mine."
+
+"Where's all yer sand ye brag so much about?" said Shorty, laughing.
+"You're mighty poor timber for a soljer if ye can't stand a little pipe
+o' terbacker like that. You'll get over it purty soon, and it won't
+bother ye any next time ye try it."
+
+Si found that he had on hand about as much as he could manage with his
+dizzy head and the rebellion that was so actively going on at a point
+a little lower in his physical system. The feeling wore gradually off,
+however, and by the time he was able to walk their clothes were well
+dried. They proceeded to "dress up," and then returned to camp.
+
+During the afternoon the camp was visited by natives, black and white,
+from the region round about, with corn "pones," alleged pies, boiled
+eggs, and truck of various kinds, which they sought to dispose of for a
+valuable consideration. They struck a bad crowd, however, in a financial
+sense. The members of the 200th Ind. were not at this time in a
+condition of opulence. Most of them had spent what money they brought
+from home, and they had not been out long enough yet to receive a visit
+from the Paymaster. The lank men and scrawny women cried their wares
+vociferously, but with indifferent results. The boys wanted the stuff,
+but they were "busted," and trade was dull.
+
+Si looked wistfully at the "pies," and suggested to Shorty a joint
+investment. Their purses were nearly empty, but the temptation was too
+strong to be resisted.
+
+"Them looks nice," said Si. They were the first pies he had seen since
+leaving home, and his judgment was a little "off." As a matter of fact,
+it was only by the greatest stretch of courtesy that they could be
+called pies at all. But the word touched Si in a tender spot, and he
+only thought of such as his mother used to make.
+
+Si and Shorty "pooled in" and bought a pie. Impatiently whipping out
+his pocket knife Si tried to cut it in two. It was hard work, for the
+"crust"--so called--was as tough as the hide of a mule. By their united
+efforts they at length succeeded in sawing it asunder. It was a fearful
+and wonderful specimen of culinary effort. It was made of two slabs
+of sodden, leathery dough, with a very feeble layer of dried apples
+sandwiched between them.
+
+Si tried his teeth on the pie, but it was like trying to chew an old
+boot-leg.
+
+"I say, old lady," said he, turning to the female of whom he had bought
+it, "is these pies pegged or sewed?"
+
+"Look a hyar, young feller," said the woman, with considerable vinegar
+in her tone, "p'raps you-uns-all thinks it's right smart to insult
+we-uns; it shows how yer wuz broughten up. I don't 'low yer ever seed
+any nicer dog-g-goned pies 'n them is. Ye needn't try ter argify 'long
+'th me, fur I kin jest knock the spots off'n any woman there is 'round
+here in cookin'."
+
+Si saw that it would be profitless to discuss the matter, and concluded
+to make the best of a bad bargain. But he wouldn't eat the pie.
+
+On the whole, the hucksters fared rather badly. The boys confiscated
+most of the stuff that was brought in, promising to pay next time
+they came that way. There was a good deal of grumbling, but the trouble
+always ended in the soldiers getting the plunder.
+
+The climax was reached when a putty-faced citizen drove into camp a bony
+mule tied with straps and ropes and strings to a crazy cart, on which
+was a barrel of cider, which he "allowed" to sell out to the boys at 10
+cents a drink, or a quarter a canteen full. He had a spigot rigged up
+in one end and an old tin cup, with which he dealt out the seductive
+beverage to such as would pay.
+
+A thirsty crowd gathered around him, but sales were slow, on account
+of the scarcity of money. Si and Shorty mingled with the boys, and then
+drew aside and engaged in a whispered consultation.
+
+"That'll be jest bully!" said Shorty. "If you can raise an auger
+somewhere we'll git the bulge on that old chap."
+
+[Illustration: WAITING FOR THEIR CLOTHES TO DRY 187 ]
+
+Si returned after a brief absence, with an auger which he had borrowed
+from the driver of an ammunition wagon.
+
+"Now, Shorty," said Si, "you git the boys to stand around and keep up
+a racket, and I'll crawl under the cart and bore a hole into that 'ere
+barrel. Then pass in yer canteens and army kettles 'n' we'll show the
+old man a trick!"
+
+Shorty quietly broached the scheme to a few of his comrades, who fell in
+with it at once. Gathering around the cart, they cheered and chattered
+so as to drown any noise Si might make while carrying out his plan, and
+which would "give it away."
+
+It was not more than a minute till a gurgling sound was heard, and Si
+began to pass out to the boys the buckets and canteens which they so
+freely furnished him, filled with the fast-flowing contents of the
+barrel. It didn't take long to empty it entirely, nor did the citizen
+discover the state of affairs until the cider no longer ran from the
+spigot.
+
+He had not sold more than a gallon or two, and he was amazed when the
+liquid ceased to respond. Then he resolved himself into an investigating
+committee, and after a protracted search he discovered the trick that
+had been played on him.
+
+"Wall, I'll be gosh-durned!" he exclaimed. "I've hearn tell 'bout Yankee
+tricks, but dog my cats if this 'ere don't beat 'em all! I'd like to cut
+the gizzard outen the rascal that bored the hole in that bar'l!"
+
+"I declare, old pard; that was mean!" said Si, who stood looking on,
+with his hands in his trousers pockets, the very picture of innocence.
+"I'm jist goin' to flax 'round 'n' help ye find that feller. If I was
+you I'd pound the stuffin' out of him--when ye cotch him!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. A CLOSE CALL
+
+CORPORAL KLEGG HAS AN EXCITING ADVENTURE GUARDING A FORAGE TRAIN.
+
+"COMPANY Q's bin detailed to go out 'n' help guard a forage train
+to-morrow," said the Orderly one evening at roll-call. "You
+fellers wants to all be up 'n' dressed bright 'n' early, with yer
+cartridge-boxes full 'n' a day's rations in yer haversacks. Be sure yer
+guns is in good order, fer likely's not we'll have a squirmish afore we
+git back."
+
+The 200th Ind. had been lying in camp for two or three days, and the
+ambitious heroes who composed that regiment were getting tired of
+loafing about. Nothing chafed the raging patriotism of the new troops
+like a condition, however brief, of masterly inactivity. They refused to
+be comforted unless they were on the warpath all the time. Their ideal
+of a soldier's life was to take a rebel battery every morning before
+breakfast, storm a line of works to give them an appetite for dinner,
+and spend the afternoon charging with cold steel the serried columns of
+the foe and wading around through seas of gore.
+
+So Corporal Klegg and Shorty and the rest of the boys betook themselves
+with alacrity to the work of preparation for the duties of the morrow.
+Members of the other companies watched the proceedings with jealous eye.
+They almost turned green with envy because they were not detailed for
+the expedition instead of Co. Q.
+
+"Say, Si," remarked Shorty, thoughtfully, "hadn't we better write a
+letter home? Who knows but we'll be as dead as mackerels to-morrer
+night!"
+
+"Fiddlesticks!" said Si. "What's the use o' havin' a funeral afore
+there's any corpse! We've bin through one fight 'n' didn't git hurt,
+'n' I've made up my mind there's no use gittin' into a stew over a thing
+that may hap'n 'n' may not. Time 'nuff to fret 'bout it when it comes.
+I recolleck one thing I learned in Sunday-school--let's see, it was
+'S'ficient unto the day is the evil thereof,' or suthin' like that.
+Strikes me that's a good passidge o' Scripter fer a soldier to keep
+pasted in his hat. I ain't goin' ter hang back fer fear a billit 'll hit
+me, nuther. If we're going to be killed we can't help it, so let's not
+fret our gizzards out!" And Si crammed a handful of hardtack into his
+haversack.
+
+Si's cheery view of the case was not without its effect upon Shorty.
+Indeed, it cannot be denied that there was a great deal of common sense
+in his homely, good-natured philosophy. Sooner or later every soldier
+who did not "peter out" came gradually to adopt Si's idea as the
+governing principle of his military career.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder if you was 'bout right, after all," said Shorty, as
+he sliced up some bacon to have it ready for an early breakfast. "You're
+better'n medicine, Si, to a feller w'at gits the blues sometimes!"
+
+The preparations were soon made, and Co. Q went to bed early. In the
+morning the Orderly came around and stirred the boys up an hour before
+reveille, as they were ordered to be ready to start at daylight. The
+primary object of the expedition was forage for the animals, the supply
+of which had run short. Besides this, each man had a secondary purpose,
+and that was to gather in something on his own hook that would satisfy
+his longing for a change from the regulation diet. This was always the
+unwritten part of the order to "go out foraging." Daylight was just
+streaking over the camp when Co. Q, equipped in light marching order,
+leaving knapsacks behind, moved out to where the half dozen wagons
+detailed from the regimental transportation were ready for the start.
+Each regiment in the brigade furnished a company and the same number of
+wagons. The impatient mules were braying and flapping their ears, as if
+they understood that they were to be the chief beneficiaries of the
+raid.
+
+"Pile in, boys!" said the Orderly, and they clambered into the wagons.
+The guards were permitted to ride until there were symptoms of danger.
+
+Then the muleteers, bestriding the big "wheelers," cracked their long
+whips like pistol-snots, addressed to the mules the usual words of
+exhortation, and the long procession drew out upon the stony pike and
+took a brisk trot. Considerable foraging had already been done in the
+vicinity, and it was expected the train would have to go out several
+miles in order to fully accomplish its object. The boys were in fine
+spirits and enjoyed their morning ride, albeit the jolting of the wagons
+gave them a thorough shaking up.
+
+"I guess they forgot to put any springs in when they built these
+wagons!" said Shorty, as he shifted his position so that he might catch
+the bumps in a new place for a while.
+
+"Jest thinkin' that way myself," replied Si; "but all the same, it beats
+travelin' on the hoof all holler!"
+
+Three or four miles out from camp the train was halted while the
+officers in command made inquiries of a cadaverous native who was
+sunning himself on the fence and whose principal occupation seemed to
+be chewing tobacco and distributing the resultant liquid around in a
+promiscuous way.
+
+"Good morning, stranger," said the officer, "have you any corn on your
+place?"
+
+"Haint got a dog-goned ear left!" was the surly answer. "Some o'
+you-unses men wuz out here yisterdy 'n' tuk every bit I hed."
+
+This may or may not have been true. Inquiries of this nature always
+developed the fact that it was a man's neighbors who had plenty of corn;
+he never had any himself.
+
+"There's ole man Scroggs," he continued; "he lives a matter of two miles
+from hyar. I 'low ye'll git sum if ye go thar. He growed a power o' cawn
+this yeah; he sold a heap, but I reckon he's got a right smart left."
+
+During this time a couple of men had been making a hasty examination
+of the outbuildings on the place. They reported that they could find
+nothing in the way of forage. If the man had any corn he had carefully
+concealed it. The train started on to pay a visit to old man Scroggs.
+
+"Say, old pard," asked Si as his wagon drove past, "is there any rebs
+'round here?"
+
+"There wuz a few Confedrit critter-men ridin' 'bout hyar this
+mawnin';--mebby ye'll run agin 'em 'afore night."
+
+"How many o' your boys is among em?"
+
+"We'uns is all Union."
+
+"Jest as long as we're 'round, I s'pose!" said Si.
+
+A mile further on those who were in the lead, rising to the crest of a
+hill, saw--or thought they saw a few vagrant cavalrymen far ahead. The
+train was halted and dispositions were made to meet any emergency likely
+to arise. The men were ordered to "tumble out" of the wagons. The main
+body was formed in advance. A line of skirmishers was deployed in front
+and flankers were thrown out on either side. Thus protected, the mule
+drivers again cracked their whips and the procession moved cautiously
+forward.
+
+"Now keep yer eyes skinned," said Si to Shorty as they trailed along
+through the woods and fields and over fences, on one of the flanks. "If
+any of them raskils comes dodgin' 'round here let's try 'n' have the
+first crack at 'em 'n' git the bulge on the rest o' the boys!"
+
+Keenly alert, with muskets loaded and capped, they crept carefully
+along, poking their noses into every thicket and peering around every
+building. It was clear that there would not be anything in the nature of
+a surprise if the whole line was as well taken care of as the particular
+point guarded by Corporal Klegg and his faithful friend Shorty.
+
+"It's some like huntin' squirrels up in the woods of Posey County," said
+Si, as they forced their way through a patch of brambles.
+
+"'Pears to be rayther more excitin' than huntin' squirrels," said
+Shorty. "Ye know squirrels doesn't shute back at a feller as them pesky
+rebbles does, an' the fun 's all on one side. I reckon ef squirrels c'd
+shute there wouldn't be so much huntin' of 'em!"
+
+It was really a disappointment to Si that he found no opportunity to
+squint along the barrel of his musket in range of a foe. If any of
+his misguided fellow-citizens were in the neighborhood they considered
+discretion the better part of valor and kept out of harm's way.
+
+In due time the Scroggs plantation was reached. A hasty examination
+showed that there was an abundance of corn on the place to load the
+wagons, and arrangements for a sudden transfer of the property were
+quickly made. A third of the force established a cordon of picket-posts
+around the marauding party, covering all the avenues of approach, with
+re serves at convenient points. The remainder of the troops stacked arms
+and entered briskly upon the work of confiscation.
+
+[Illustration: AN ASSAULT ON THE WELL-FILLED CORN CRIB 191 ]
+
+Part of the harvest had already been gathered, and the first assault
+was made on a well-filled cornhouse--one of a group of dilapidated
+out-buildings a little way from the dwelling. "Old man" Scroggs
+protested with profane vehemence, reinforced by the "old woman" and the
+entire family of children. We say "entire family," because there could
+not well have been a more numerous progeny in one household anywhere
+outside of Utah.
+
+The head of the family cursed and swore, and his wife and the big girls
+looked as if they wanted to do the same thing, as they stood wringing
+their hands, their eyes flashing fire while the small-fry stood around
+and sobbed with a vague idea that some dire calamity had befallen them.
+
+The old Kentuckian declared that he was a "Union man," and that he would
+demand of the Government full revenge for this outrage. It was noticed
+that there were no young men around as there should be according to the
+economy of nature, to preserve the balance of sex in so large a family.
+The officer in command asked him where all his sons were.
+
+"Wall, I kaint tell yer 'zactly whar they is," was the reply. "They
+ain't to hum jest now. I 'low they've got a right to g'way ef they want
+ter."
+
+The officer had been informed that there were several representatives
+of the Scroggs family in the rebel army. The old man's avowal of loyalty
+was taken for what it was worth. That it was not rated at a high figure
+was well attested by the appearance of the plantation a few hours later.
+
+Meanwhile the soldiers kept right along in the duty assigned them. The
+corn-house was surrounded by wagons, the roof was gently lifted off, and
+in scarcely more time than it takes to tell the story six or eight of
+the wagons were heaped with the contents. The mules wagged their tails
+and brayed in anticipation of the picnic they would have when they got
+back to camp.
+
+Then the force moved some distance and attacked a large field of
+standing corn. The stalks had been "topped," but the ears were yet
+ungathered. The men started in between the rows and swept through that
+field like a cyclone, plucking the ears right and left. Bags, baskets
+and boxes were pressed into the service, and as there were not enough of
+these to go' round many bore the corn to the wagons by armfuls. It did
+not take more than two or three hours to strip every ear from the field.
+A visitation of overgrown Kansas grasshoppers could not have done a more
+thorough job.
+
+"Fo' de Lawd, boss," said an old darky who had been roosting on the
+fence watching the spoilers, "I nebber seed de crap gaddered so quick
+since I'se bawn. You'uns all is powerful smart, da't shuah!"
+
+But where were Corporal Klegg and his comrade. Shorty, while all this
+was going on?
+
+They had been stationed as sentinels near a house, half a mile beyond,
+on the pike. They were cautioned to keep a sharp lookout, and for a time
+they obeyed their instructions to the letter. Their vigilant eyes
+swept the surrounding country, and no rebel could have crept up on them
+without getting a pair of bullets from their ready muskets. They saw no
+signs of an enemy, and after a while it began to grow monotonous.
+
+"Shorty," said Si, "I don't b'lieve there's any seceshers in these
+parts, an' there ain't any use'n us both keepin' this thing up. You jest
+watch out awhile 'n' I'll skin around 'n' see what I kin find."
+
+Shorty agreed to this, taking it as an order from his superior officer.
+Si threw his gun up to a "right shoulder shift" and started off, after
+again urging upon his companion the importance of attending strictly to
+business.
+
+Si had not gone far till he saw, penned in a corner of the barnyard, a
+cow with a full udder, from which a frisky young calf was busily engaged
+in pumping nourishment. A violent feeling of envy toward that calf began
+immediately to rage in the 'breast of Si. He had not had a draft of
+fresh milk since he had left home, and he felt that a little refreshment
+of that kind would be particularly gratifying to his interior organism.
+It would strengthen him and give him new courage to stand up to the rack
+if they should happen to get into a fight.
+
+"I say. Shorty," he called, "cum 'ere a minnit, quick!"
+
+Si's conscience smote him for calling Shorty from his duty and leaving
+the post unguarded, but the temptation was too strong for him to resist,
+and he yielded to the impulse to take the chances. Shorty came on the
+run, with eyes wide open, thinking his comrade had discovered some
+rebels hanging around.
+
+"Look there!" said Si, pointing to the maternal scene that has been
+alluded to. "Let's have some o' that. We'll git over the fence 'n' you
+jest hold the calf while I milk our canteens full. 'Twont take more'n a
+jiffy!"
+
+"We ort n't to leave the post, ort we?" suggested Shorty.
+
+"Oh, there ain't no danger," Si replied; "an' besides, you can keep
+lookin' out while you're hangin' on to the calf. I was alters a good
+milker 'n' I'll fill up these canteens in a couple o' minnits." So they
+climbed over and leaned their muskets against the fence. Shorty seized
+the calf and held it with a firm grip, in spite of its struggling and
+bleating. The cow seemed disposed at first to resent the interference,
+but Si's persuasive "So, bossy" proved effectual in calming her fears,
+and she stood placidly chewing her cud while Si, spurred on by a guilty
+conscience, milked with all his might.
+
+[Illustration: SHORTY HELD THE CALF 195 ]
+
+The canteens were soon filled, and, with out stopping to drink. Si and
+Shorty hurried back to their post of duty. All was quiet, and no harm
+had resulted from their brief absence.
+
+"I told ye 'twould be all right," said Si. "Now, we'll jest empty one
+o' these canteens--here, take a swig--'n' we'll carry the other to camp.
+It'll be jest bully to have milk in our coffee agin!"
+
+Then they betook themselves to duty with redoubled vigilance, to atone
+for their derelictions. After watching for an hour without seeing
+anything, Si said he would take another little turn around the place.
+
+Boldly advancing to the house, which was some distance in front of their
+post, he was met by a girl of about 18. She was rather pretty, but to
+Si's ardent imagination she was like a vision of surpassing loveliness.
+She greeted him pleasantly--for Si was a comely youth--and, if the truth
+must be told, he actually forgot for the moment all about his duty. When
+she said she would get him a good dinner, and invited him into the house
+to sit while she prepared it, he just went right along.
+
+But his conscience began to thump so loudly that after a few minutes he
+told her he guessed he'd have to go, but would be delighted to return in
+an hour and partake of her hospitality.
+
+"May I bring Shorty--he's my pard--'long with me?" he timidly asked.
+
+"Certainly!" she replied, with a sweet smile; and Si went away, his
+nerves tingling with pleasant emotions to the very tips of his fingers.
+
+"Shorty," he said, as he came up to "I've struck it this time. Over to
+that house there's the purtiest gal I ever see."
+
+"Wha-a-a-a-t!" interjected Shorty, with a look of astonishment; for he
+knew something about Si and Annabel--the girl he left behind him--and he
+was both surprised and pained at Si's treasonable enthusiasm.
+
+Si easily divined his thoughts, for something of the same nature had
+already caused his own heart to palpitate in a reproving way.
+
+"Of--c-c-course--I d-d-don't--mean th-th-that. Shorty," he stammered
+"but she's a nice girl, anyhow, 'n' she's gittin' up a dinner fer me
+'n' you. Bet ye it'll be a nice lay-out, too!"
+
+Shorty did not feel quite at ease in his mind about leaving the
+post again, but Si assured him it would be all right. The peculiar
+circumstances of the case had sadly warped Si's judgment.
+
+So they went to the house and were cordially greeted by their fair young
+hostess, who was flying around, putting the finishing touches to the
+meal she had prepared for them.
+
+"Jiminy, don't that smell good?" said Si to Shorty in an undertone,
+as his sensitive nostrils caught the savory odors that arose from the
+nicely-spread board.
+
+The young soldiers stood their guns on the floor in a corner of the
+room, preliminary to an assault on the edibles.
+
+"Ugh!" exclaimed the young woman, with a coquettish shiver, "be them
+awful things loaded?"
+
+"N--no!" said Si; "they won't hurt ye if ye don't touch 'em!"
+
+Si was learning to fib a little, and he wanted to quiet the girl's
+fears.
+
+The boys were soon seated at the table, bountifully supplied with ham,
+chicken, eggs, bread and butter, honey, and all the accessories of a
+well-ordered repast. They fell to with an eagerness that was, perhaps,
+justified by the long time that had elapsed since they had had a "square
+meal." Si thought that never in his life had anything tasted so good.
+
+While they were thus engaged, without a thought of impending danger, the
+girl suddenly opened the door, leading to the dining room. A wild-eyed
+man--who proved to be her brother--in the uniform of a rebel
+soldier, dashed in, and, presenting a cocked revolver, demanded their
+unconditional and immediate surrender.
+
+They were in a tight place. But Si proved equal to the sudden and
+appalling emergency. It flashed through his mind in an instant how the
+girl had "played it" on him. He made up his mind that he would rather be
+shot than be captured under such circumstances.
+
+[Illustration: SI SPRANG UPON HIM 199 ]
+
+Si sprang up, and the rebel, true to his word, fired. Si dodged, and the
+ball only chipped a piece from his left ear. There was not time to get
+and use his gun. With the quickness of a cat Si sprang upon him, and
+with a blow of his fist laid him sprawling upon the floor. Disarming
+him, he placed the revolver at his head and triumphantly exclaimed:
+
+"Now, gol durn ye, you're my prisoner. I'd like to blow the top o' yer
+head off fer spilin' my dinner, but I won't do it this time. But you
+jist git up 'n' come 'long with me!"
+
+With his complete mastery of the situation, Si's confidence returned,
+and Shorty, who had been dazed and helpless at first, recovered himself
+and came to his assistance.
+
+But at this instant their ears caught the sound of horses' hoofs
+galloping down the pike. Si's quick perception told him that is was a
+dash of rebel cavalrymen, and that a few moments later escape would be
+impossible.
+
+"Grab yer gun an' git!" he said to Shorty, at the same time casting one
+ferocious glance at the terrified girl, who stood, white and speechless,
+contemplating the scene.
+
+Si and Shorty dashed out of the house and started for the reserve, at
+the highest speed of which their legs were capable. On clattered the
+horses, and a few shots from the carbines of the swift-riding horsemen
+whistled through the air.
+
+Six feet at a jump, with thumping hearts and bulging eyes, the fugitives
+almost flew over the ground, throwing quick glances at their pursuers, and
+then ahead, in the hope of catching a glimpse of succor.
+
+[Illustration: "SHORTY IF WE--ONLY GIT--OUT O' THIS--" 203 ]
+
+"Shorty, if we only git out o' this--" but Si found he hadn't any
+wind to spare to finish the sentence. We must leave to the reader's
+imagination the good resolutions as to his future conduct that were
+forming in Si's mind at this critical juncture. He saw the awful
+consequences of yielding to the influence of that alluring young woman
+and her seductive dinner. What he had read about Adam and the trouble
+Eve got him into, in pretty much the same way, flashed before him. It
+was a good time to resolve that he wouldn't do so any more.
+
+Shorty, long and lank, was swifter on his feet than Si. Hardtack and
+bacon had not yet reduced the latter's surplus flesh to a degree that
+enabled him to run well. Shorty kept ahead, but would not desert his
+comrade, slowing up for an instant now and then to give Si, who was
+straining to the utmost every nerve, and puffing like a locomotive on an
+upgrade, a chance to keep within supporting distance.
+
+The soldiers of the reserve taking the alarm, came out at a double-quick
+and were fortunately able to cover the retreat of Si and Shorty. The
+half dozen cavalrymen, upon the appearance of so large a force, turned
+their horses and galloped away.
+
+"Hello, Si," said the Orderly of Co. Q, "yer ear's bleedin'. What hurt
+ye?"
+
+"Fell down and scratched it on a brier!" said Si, as soon as he was able
+to speak.
+
+That night Si and Shorty sat on a log by the campfire talking over the
+events of the day.
+
+"Don't ye never blow on this thing," said Si. "It'll be a cold day for
+us if they'd find it out."
+
+"There ain't no danger o' my tellin'," replied Shorty. "But, say, ain't
+that a nice girl out there?"
+
+"She's a mean rebel, that's what she is! But that was a smart trick o'
+her'n, wasn't it?"
+
+"Come mighty near bein' too smart fer us!" replied Shorty. "I don't want
+no more such close shaves in mine. You 'member the story of the spider
+and the fly, don't ye? Well, she was the spider 'n' we was two poor
+little fool flies!"
+
+"Shorty," said Si, "I'd a mighty sight ruther be an angel an' have the
+daisies a-bloomin' over my grave, than to have been tuk a prisoner in
+that house. But that dinner was good, anyhow--what we got of it!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. "THE SWEET SABBATH"
+
+HOW THE BLESSED DAY OF REST WAS SPENT IN THE ARMY.
+
+"TOMORROW'S Sunday, ye know," said the Orderly of Company Q one Saturday
+night at roll-call.
+
+This was in the nature of news to the boys. But for the announcement
+very few of them would have known it. The Orderly was not distinguished
+for his piety, and it is not likely that the approach of Sunday would
+have occurred to him if the Sergeant-Major had not come around with
+orders from the Colonel for a proper observance of the day. The Colonel
+himself would not have thought of it either, if the Chaplain had not
+reminded him of it. Everybody wondered how even the Chaplain could keep
+track of the days well enough to know when Sunday came--but that was
+chiefly what he wore shoulder-straps and drew his salary for. It was the
+general impression that he either carried an almanac in his pocket, or
+else a stick in which he cut a notch every day with his jack-knife, and
+in that way managed to know when a new week began.
+
+"There'll be guard-mountin' at 9 o'clock," continued the Orderly,
+"regimental inspection at 10, preachin' at 11, an' dress-parade at 5 in
+the evenin'. All of ye wants to tumble out right promptly at revellee
+an' git yer breakfast, an' then clean up yer guns an' put all yer traps
+in apple-pie order, 'cause the Colonel's goin' to look at 'em. He's got
+sharp eyes, an' I reck'n he'll be mighty pertickler. If there's anything
+that ain't jest right he'll see it quicker'n litenin'. Ye know we hain't
+had any inspections yet, an' the Cap'n wants us to be the boss company.
+So ye've got to scratch around lively in the mornin'."
+
+"Say," said Corporal Klegg, after the company had broken ranks, "seems
+to me there wa'n't no use in the Orderly tellin' us to 'scratch around,'
+fer we're doin' that purty much all the time, now that the graybacks is
+gittin' in their work on us."
+
+Shorty smiled faintly at what he seemed to consider a rather feeble
+joke, even for Si.
+
+The 200th Ind. had now been in the field for many weeks, but it had been
+continually cantering about the country, and the Generals had kept it
+particularly active on Sundays. Probably this regiment did not manifest
+any more than the average degree of enthusiasm and fervor in religious
+matters, but there were many in its ranks who, at home, had always sat
+under Gospel ministrations, and to tramp on Sundays, the same as other
+days, was, at first, a rude shock to their moral sensibilities. These
+were yet keen, the edges had not been worn off and blunted and battered
+by the hard knocks of army life. True, they could scarcely tell when
+Sunday came, but they knew that they kept right along every day.
+
+"Shorty," said Si, after they had curled up under the blanket for the
+night, "'pears to me it'll seem sort o' nice to keep Sunday agin. At
+the rate we've bin goin' on we'll all be heathens by the time we git
+home--if we ever do. Our Chaplain haint had no chance to preachify yet.
+The boys of Comp'ny X, w'at knows him, says he's a staver, 'n' I b'lieve
+it'll make us all feel better to have him talk to us once. 'Twont do
+us no harm, nohow, I'd like to be home to-morrer 'n' go to church with
+mother, 'n' sister Marier, 'n'--er--I mean the rest of the folks. Then
+I'd jest eat all the afternoon. I ain't goin' ter git homesick, Shorty;
+but a feller can't help feelin' a little streaked once 'n' a while.
+Mebbe it's a good idee fer 'em to keep us on the jump, fer then we don't
+git no chance to think 'bout it. I don't suppose I'm the only boy 'n the
+regiment that 'd be glad to git a jest fer to-morrer. I sh'd want ter be
+back bright 'n' arly to fall in Monday mornin', fer I'm goin' to stick
+to the 200th through thick 'n' thin, if I don't git knocked out. Say,
+Shorty, how d'ye feel, any way?"
+
+But Shorty was already fast asleep. Si spooned up to him and was soon,
+in his dreams, away up in Posey County.
+
+The sound of the bugle and drum, at daylight, fell upon unwilling ears,
+for the soldiers felt the same indisposition to get up early Sunday
+morning that is everywhere One of the characteristics of modern
+civilization. Their beds were hard, but to their weary limbs no couch of
+down ever gave more welcome rest than did the rough ground on which they
+lay. But the wild yell of the Orderly, "Turn out for roll-call!" with
+the thought of the penalties for non-obedience--which some of them had
+abundant reason to remember--quickly brought out the laggards.
+
+Si and Shorty were, as usual, among the first to take their places in
+line. They were pleasantly greeted by the Captain, who had come out on
+the run at the last moment, and wriggled himself into his coat as he
+strode along the company street. The Captain did not very often appear
+at morning rollcall. But one officer of the company was required to be
+present, and the Captain generally loaded this duty upon the Lieutenants
+"turn about." If he did show up, he would go back to bed and snooze for
+an hour while the cook was getting breakfast. If one of the men did that
+he would soon be promenading with a rail on his shoulder or standing on
+a barrel with a stick or a bayonet tied in his mouth.
+
+"I think that's a fust rate notion to mount the guards," said Si to
+Shorty as they sat on a rail by the fire making coffee and frying bacon.
+"It'll be so much better 'n walkin' back 'n' forrard on the beats.
+Wonder 'f they'll give us bosses or mules to ride."
+
+"I'd like to know what put that idee into yer head," said Shorty.
+
+"Whydn't the Ord'ly say last night there 'd be guard-mountin' at 9
+o'clock this mornin'? I s'posed that fer a man to be mounted meant
+straddlin' a boss or s'mother kind of an animal."
+
+"Ain't ye never goin' to larn nuthin'," said Shorty, with a laugh.
+"Guard-mountin' don't mean fer the men to git on hosses. It's only the
+name they gives it in the Army Reggelations. Dunno why they calls it
+that, 'nless it's 'cause the guards has to 'mount' anybody that tries to
+pass 'thout the countersign. But don't ye fool yerself with thinkin'
+yer goin' to get to ride. We'll keep pluggin' along afoot, on guard or
+anywhere else, same's we have all the time."
+
+Thus rudely was shattered another of Si Klegg's bright illusions.
+
+The whole regiment turned out to witness the ceremony of guard-mounting.
+It was the first time the exigencies of the campaign had permitted
+the 200th Ind. to do this in regular style. The Adjutant was the most
+important personage, and stood so straight that he narrowly escaped
+falling over backward. In order to guard against making a mess of it,
+he had spent half the night rehearsing the various commands in his tent.
+Thus prepared, he managed to get through it in very fair shape.
+
+[Illustration: SO STRAIGHT HE LEANED BACKWABD 211 ]
+
+The next thing on the program for the day was the inspection. The
+boys had been industriously engaged in cleaning up their muskets
+and accouterments, and putting their scanty wardrobes in presentable
+condition. In arranging his knapsack for the Colonel's eye, each man
+carefully laid a clean shirt, if he had one, on the top. The garments
+that were not clean he either stowed away in the tent or put at the
+bottom of the knapsack. In this he was actuated by the same principle
+that prompts the thrifty farmer to put the biggest apples and
+strawberries at the top of his measure.
+
+The clothing of the regiment was already in an advanced stage of
+demoralization. It was of the "shoddy" sort that a good hard wind would
+almost blow to pieces.
+
+Corporal Klegg was anxious that not only his person, but all his
+belongings, should make as good an appearance as possible. He put on the
+best and cleanest garments he had, and then betook himself to fixing his
+knapsack so it would pass muster.
+
+"Them duds is a bad lot," he said to Shorty, casting rueful glances
+at the little heap of soiled and ragged clothes. "Purty hard to make a
+decent show with them things."
+
+"Wait a minute," said Shorty, "an' I'll show ye a little trick."
+
+Taking his poncho under His arm. Shorty went to the rear of the camp,
+where the mules were feeding, and presently returned with a bunch of
+hay.
+
+"What ye goin' to do with that?" asked Si.
+
+"You jest do 's I tell ye, and don't ask no questions. Cram some o' this
+hay into yer knapsack 'n' fill 'er up 'n' then put a shirt or suthin',
+the best ye kin find, on top, 'n' the Colonel 'll think she's full o'
+clothes right from the laundry. I'm goin' to fix mine that way."
+
+"Shorty, you're a trump!" said Si, approvingly. "That 'll be a bully
+scheme."
+
+It required but a few minutes to carry out the plan. The hay was stuffed
+into the knapsack, and all vagrant spears were carefully tucked in.
+
+Then a garment, folded so as to conceal its worst features, was nicely
+spread over the hay, the flaps were closed and buckled, and the young
+Hoosiers were ready for inspection.
+
+"S'posen the Colonel sh'd take a notion to go pokin' down into them
+knapsacks," said Si; "don't ye think it'd be purty cold weather for us?"
+
+"P'r'aps it mout," answered Shorty; "but we've got ter take the chances.
+He's got seven or eight hundred knapsacks to 'nspect, 'n' I don't
+b'lieve he'll stick his nose down into very many on 'em!"
+
+At the appointed time the battalion was formed and the inspection was
+gone through with in good style. The Colonel and the field and staff
+officers, escorted by the Captain of each successive company, moved
+gradually between the ranks, their swords dangling around and getting
+mixed up with their legs. The soldiers stood facing inward like so many
+wooden men, with their open knapsacks lying upon the ground at their
+feet. The Colonel looked sharply right and left, stopped now and then to
+commend a soldier whose "straps" were in particularly good condition, or
+to "go for" another whose slouchy appearance betokened untidy habits. If
+a button was missing, or a shoe untied, his eye was keen to detect it,
+and a word of reproof was administered to the delinquent.
+
+As the Colonel started down the line of Company Q Si watched him out of
+the corners of his eyes with no little anxiety. His heart thumped as he
+saw him occasionally stoop and fumble over the contents of a knapsack,
+evidently to test the truth of Longfellow's declaration that "things are
+not what they seem." What if the Colonel should go down into the bowels
+of Si's knapsack! Si fairly shuddered at the thought.
+
+Si, being the shortest of the Corporals, was at the foot of the company,
+while Shorty, on account of his hight, was well up toward the head. Si
+almost fainted when he saw the Colonel stop in front of his "pard"
+and make an examination of his fatlooking knapsack. Military official
+dignity gave way when the removal of the single garment exposed the
+stuffing of hay. The officers burst into a laugh at the unexpected
+revelation, while the boys on either side almost exploded in their
+enjoyment of Shorty's discomfiture.
+
+[Illustration: SI ALMOST PANTED WHEN THE COLONEL STOPPED 215 ]
+
+"Captain," said the Colonel, with as much sternness as he could command,
+"as soon as your company is dismissed detail a guard to take charge of
+this man. Have him take the hay out of his knapsack and fill it with
+stones--and see that it is filled full. Have this man put it on and
+march him up and down the company street till church-call, and then take
+him to hear the Chaplain. He needs to be preached to. Perhaps, between
+the knapsack-drill and the Chaplain, we can straight him out."
+
+Corporal Klegg heard all this, and he wished the ground might open
+and swallow him. "These stripes is gone this time, sure!" he said to
+himself, as he looked at the chevrons on his arm. "But there's no use
+givin' yourself away, Si. Brace up, 'n' mebbe the Colonel 'll skip ye."
+
+Si had been badly shaken up by the Colonel's episode with Shorty, but
+by a great effort he gathered himself together and was at his best,
+externally, when the Colonel reached him, though his thoughts were in a
+raging condition. His face was clean and rosy, and his general make-up
+was as good as could be expected under the circumstances.
+
+The Colonel had always remembered Si as the soldier he had promoted
+to be a Corporal for his gallantry in the little skirmish a few days
+before. As he came up he greeted the Corporal with a smile and a nod of
+recognition. He was evidently pleased at his tidy appearance. He cast
+a glance at the voluptuous knapsack, and Si's heart seemed to sink away
+down into his shoes.
+
+But the fates smiled on Si that day. The Colonel turned to the Captain
+and told him that Corporal Klegg was the model soldier of Company Q. Si
+was the happiest man in the universe at that precise moment. It was not
+on account of the compliment the Colonel had paid him, but because his
+knapsack had escaped a critical inspection of its contents.
+
+The inspection over, Company Q marched back to its quarters and was
+dismissed. Poor Shorty was soon tramping to and fro, under guard,
+humping his back to ease the load that had been put upon it. Si was
+very sorry for him, and at the same time felt a glow of pleasure at the
+thought that it was not his own knapsack instead of Shorty's that the
+Colonel had examined. He could not help feeling, too, that it was a
+great joke on Shorty to be caught in his own trap.
+
+[Illustration: SHORTY WAS THERE--WITH A GUARD 217 ]
+
+Shorty took his medicine like a man, marching up and down the row
+of tents bravely and patiently, unheeding the gibes and jeers of his
+hard-hearted comrades.
+
+The bugle sounded the call for religious services. Shorty was not in a
+frame of mind that fitted him for devout worship. In fact, few in the
+regiment had greater need of the regenerating influence. He had never
+been inside of a church but two or three times in his life, and he
+really felt that to be compelled to go and listen to the Chaplain's
+sermon was the hardest part of the double punishment the Colonel had
+inflicted upon him.
+
+The companies were all marched to a wooded knoll just outside the camp.
+Shorty went by himself, save the companionship of the guard, with fixed
+bayonet. He had been permitted to leave his knapsack behind. He was
+taken to a point near the Chaplain, that he might get the full benefit
+of the preacher's words.
+
+Under the spreading trees, whose foliage was brilliant with the hues
+of Autumn, in the mellow sunshine of that October day the men seated
+themselves upon the ground to hear the Gospel preached. The Chaplain,
+in his best uniform, stood and prayed fervently for Divine guidance
+and protection and blessing, while the soldiers listened, with heads
+reverently bowed. Then he gave out the familiar Methodist hymn,
+
+     "Am I a soldier of the cross,"
+
+and all joined in the old tune "Balerma," their voices swelling in
+mighty chorus. As they sang,
+
+     "Are there no foes for me to face?"
+
+there came to the minds of many a practical application of the words, in
+view of the long and fruitless chase after the rebels in which they had
+been engaged for nearly a month.
+
+The Chaplain had formerly been an old-fashioned Methodist circuit-rider
+in Indiana. He was full of fiery zeal, and portrayed the terrors of
+eternal punishment so vividly that His hearers could almost feel the
+heat of the flame and smell the fumes of brimstone that are popularly
+believed to roll out unceasingly from the mouth of the bottomless pit.
+It ought to have had a salutary effect upon Shorty, but it is greatly
+to be feared that he steeled his stubborn heart against all that the
+Chaplain said.
+
+It was always difficult not to feel that there was something
+contradictory and anomalous about religious services in the army.
+Grim-visaged, hideous war, and all its attendant circumstances,
+seemed so utterly at variance with the principles of the Bible and
+the teachings of Him who was meek and lowly, that few soldiers had
+philosophy enough to reconcile them.
+
+The soldiers spent the afternoon in reading what few stray books
+and fugitive, well-worn newspapers there were in camp, mending their
+clothes, sleeping, and some of them, we are pained to add, in playing
+eucher, old sledge, and other sinful games. Dress parade closed the
+day that had brought welcome rest to the way-worn soldiers of the 200th
+Ind..
+
+"Shorty," said Si, after they had gone to bed that night, "I sh'd be
+mighty sorry if I'd ha' got up that knapsack trick this mornin', 'cause
+you got left on it so bad."
+
+"There's a good many things," replied Shorty, "that's all right when ye
+don't git ketched. It worked tip top with you, Si, 'n' I'm glad of it.
+But I put ye up to it, 'n' I shouldn't never got over it if the Colonel
+had caught ye, on account of them stripes on yer arm. He'd ha' snatched
+'em baldheaded, sure's yer born. You're my pard, 'n' I'm jest as proud
+of 'em as you be yerself. I'm only a privit,' 'n' they can't rejuce me
+any lower! Besides, I 'low it sarved me right 'n' I don't keer fer the
+knapsack drill, so I didn't git you into a scrape."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY LEARNING
+
+THE GREAT MILITARY TRUTH
+
+THAT IN THE ARMY THE MOST LIKELY THING TO HAPPEN IS SOMETHING ENTIRELY
+UNLIKELY.
+
+COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, as his name would indicate, had first
+opened his eyes where the blue heavens bend over the evergreen sod of
+Ireland. Naturally, therefore, he thought himself a born soldier,
+and this conviction had been confirmed by a year's service as Second
+Lieutenant of Volunteers in the Mexican War, and subsequent connection
+with the Indiana Militia. Being an Irishman, when he went in for
+anything, and especially soldiering, he went in with all his might.
+He had associated with Regular Army officers whenever there was an
+opportunity, and he looked up to them with the reverence and emulation
+that an amateur gives to a professional. Naturally he shared their
+idea that an inspection and parade was the summit of military art.
+Consequently, the main thing to make the 200th Ind. the regiment it
+should be were frequent and rigid inspections.
+
+Fine weather, two days of idleness, and the prospect that the regiment
+would remain there some time watching the crossing of the Cumberland
+were enough and more than enough to set the Colonel going. The Adjutant
+published the following order:
+
+     Headquarters 200th Indiana,
+     In the Field, on the Cumberland,
+
+     Nov. 25, 1862.
+
+     I. The Regiment will be paraded for inspection tomorrow
+     afternoon at 4 o'clock.
+
+     II. Captains will be expected to parade the full strength of
+     their companies.
+
+     III. A half hour before the parade. Captains will form their
+     companies in the company streets and inspect every man.
+
+     IV. The men will be required to have their clothes neatly
+     brushed, blouses buttoned up, clean underclothes, shoes
+     blacked, letters and numbers polished, and arms and
+     accouterments in best condition. They will wear white
+     gloves.
+
+     V. The man who has his clothes, arms and accouterments in
+     the best order will be selected for the Colonel's Orderly.
+
+     By command of
+
+     Attest: COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, Colonel.
+
+     B. B. LAUGHLIN, Adjutant.
+
+
+When Capt. McGillicuddy marched Co. Q back to its street, he called
+attention to the order with a few terse admonitions as to what it meant
+to every one.
+
+"Get at this as soon as you break ranks, boys," urged the Captain. "You
+can do a whole lot between now and tattoo. The others will, and you must
+not let them get ahead of you. No straw in knapsacks this time."
+
+Company spirit was high, and it would be little short of a calamity to
+have Co. Q beaten in anything.
+
+There was a rush to the Sutler for white gloves, blacking, needles,
+thread, paper collars, sweet oil and rotten stone for the guns.
+
+That genial bird of prey added 50 per cent to his prices, because it
+was the first business he had done for some weeks; 50 per cent more for
+keeping open in the evening, another 50 per cent for giving credit till
+pay day, and still another for good will.
+
+The Government had just offered some very tempting gold-interest bonds,
+of which he wanted a swad.
+
+"'Tain't right to let them green boys have their hull $13 a month to
+waste in foolishness," he said. "Some good man should gather it up and
+make a right use of it."
+
+Like Indiana farmer boys of his class. Si Klegg was cleanly but not
+neat. Thanks to his mother and sisters, his Sunday clothes were always
+"respectable," and he put on a few extra touches when he expected to
+meet Annabel. He took his first bath for the year in the Wabash a week
+or two after the suckers began to run, and his last just before the
+water got so cold as to make the fish bite freely.
+
+Such a thing as a "dandy" was particularly distasteful to him.
+
+"Shorty," said Si, as he watched some of the boys laboring with
+sandpaper, rotten stone and oil to make the gunbarrels shine like
+silver, "what's the cense o' bein' so partickler about the outside of a
+gun? The business part's inside. Making them screw heads look like beads
+don't make it no surer of gitting Mr. Butternut."
+
+"Trouble about you folks on the Wabash," answered Shorty, as he twisted
+a screw head against some emery paper, "is that you don't pay enough
+attention to style. Style goes a long ways in this vain and wicked world,"
+(and his eyes became as if meditating on worlds he had known which were
+not so vain and wicked), "and when I see them Kokomo persimmon knockers
+of Co. B hustling to put on frills, I'm going to beat 'em if I don't lay
+up a cent."
+
+"Same here," said Si, falling to work on his gunbarrel. "Just as' nice
+people moved into Posey County as squatted in Kokomo. Gang o' hoss
+thieves first settled Howard County."
+
+"Recollect that big two fister from Kokomo who said he'd knock your
+head off if you ever throwed that up to him again?" grinned Shorty.
+"You invited him to try it on, an' he said your stripes stopped him. You
+pulled off your blouse, and you said you had no stripes on your shirt
+sleeves. But I wouldn't say it again until those Co. B fellers try again
+to buck us out of our place in the ration line. It's too good a slam to
+waste."
+
+Tattoo sounded before they had finished their guns and accouterments.
+These were laid aside to be completed in the full light of day.
+
+The next morning work was resumed with industry stimulated by reports of
+the unusual things being done by the other companies.
+
+"This Tennessee mud sticks closer'n a $500 mortgage to a 40-acre tract,"
+sighed Si, as he stopped beating and brushing his blouse and pantaloons.
+
+     "Or,
+     "'Aunt Jemima's plaster,
+     "The more you try to pull it off the more it sticks
+                     the faster."
+
+hummed Shorty, with what breath he had left from his violent exercise.
+
+So well did they work that by dinner time they felt ready for
+inspection, careful reconnoissances of the other companies showing them
+to have no advantages.
+
+Next to the Sutler's for the prescribed white gloves.
+
+Si' had never worn anything on his hands but warm, woolen mittens knit
+for him by his mother, but the order said white gloves, and gloves
+they must have. The accommodating sutler made another stoppage in their
+month's pay of $1 for a pair of cheap, white cotton gloves. By this time
+the sutler had accumulated enough from the 200th Ind. to secure quite a
+handful of gold interest-bearing bonds.
+
+"Well, what do you think of them. Si?" said Shorty, as he worked his
+generous hands into a pair of the largest sized gloves and held them up
+to view.
+
+"If they were only painted yaller and had a label on them," said Si,
+"they could be issued for Cincinnati canvas covered hams."
+
+Shorty's retort was checked by hearing the bugle sound the officers'
+call. The Colonel announced to them that owing to the threatening look
+of the skies the parade and inspection would take place in an hour.
+
+There was feverish haste to finish undone things, but when Capt.
+McGillicuddy looked over his men in the company street, he declared
+himself proud to stack up Co. Q against any other in the regiment. Gun
+barrels and bayonets shone like silver, rammers rang clear, and came out
+without a stain to the Captain's white gloves.
+
+The band on the parade ground struck up the rollicking
+
+     "O, ain't I glad to git out of the wilderness,
+     Out of the wilderness-Out of the wilderness,"
+
+and Capt. McGillicuddy marched proudly out at the head of 75
+broad-shouldered, well-thewed young Indianians, fit and fine as any
+south of the Ohio.
+
+The guides, holding their muskets butts up, indicated where the line was
+to form, the trim little Adjutant, glorious as the day in a new uniform
+and full breasted as a pouter-pigeon, was strutting over toward the
+band, and the towering red-headed Colonel, martial from his waving plume
+to his jangling spurs, stood before his tent in massive dignity, waiting
+for the color company to come up and receive the precious regimental
+standard.
+
+This scene of orderly pomp and pageantry was rudely disturbed by an
+Aid dashing in on a sweating horse, and calling out to the statuesque
+commander:
+
+"Colonel, a train is stalled in the creek about three miles from here,
+and is threatened with capture by Morgan's cavalry. The General
+presents his compliments, and directs that you take your regiment on the
+double-quick to the assistance of the train. You v'e not a moment lose."
+
+"Tare and 'ounds!" swore the Colonel in the classic he used when excited,
+"am I niver to have a dacint inspection? Orderly, bring me me harse.
+Stop that band's ijiotic blatting. Get into line there, quick as love
+will let you, you unblessed Indiana spalpeans. Without doubling; right
+face! Forward, M-a-r-c-h!"
+
+Col. McTarnaghan, still wearing his parade grandeur, was soon at the
+head of the column, on that long-striding horse which always set such a
+hot pace for the regiment; especially over such a rough, gullied road as
+they were now traveling.
+
+Still, the progress was not fast enough to suit the impatient Colonel,
+who had an eye to the report he would have to make to the Brigadier
+General, who was a Regular.
+
+"Capt. McGillicuddy," commanded he, turning in his saddle, "send forward
+a Corporal and five men for an advance guard."
+
+"Corporal Klegg, take five men and go to the front," commanded the
+Captain.
+
+"Now you b'yes, get ahead as fast as you can. Get a move on them durty
+spalpanes of tamesters. We must get back to camp before this storm
+strikes us. Shove out, now, as if the divil or Jahn Morgan was after
+yez."
+
+It was awful double-quicking over that rocky, rutty road, but taking
+Shorty and four others. Si went on the keen jump to arrive hot and
+breathless on the banks of the creek. There he found a large bearded
+man wearing an officer's slouched hat sitting on a log, smoking a
+black pipe, and gazing calmly on the ruck of wagons piled up behind one
+stalled in the creek, which all the mules they could hitch to it had
+failed to pull out.
+
+It was the Wagon Master, and his calmness was that of exhaustion. He had
+yelled and sworn himself dry, and was collecting another fund of abuse
+to spout at men and animals.
+
+"Here, why don't you git a move on them wagons?" said Si hotly, for he
+was angered at the man's apparent indifference.
+
+"'Tend to your own business and I'll tend to mine," said the Wagon
+Master, sullenly, without removing his pipe or looking at Si.
+
+"Look here, I'm a Corporal, commanding the advance guard," said Si. "I
+order you!"
+
+This seemed to open the fountains of the man's soul.
+
+"You order me?" he yelled, "you splay-footed, knock-kneed,
+chuckled-headed paper-collared, whitegloved sprat from a milk-sick
+prairie. Corporal! I outrank all the Corporals from here to Christmas of
+next year."
+
+"The gentleman seems to have something on his mind," grinned Shorty.
+"Mebbe his dinner didn't set well."
+
+"Shorty?" inquired Si, "how does a Wagon Master rank? Seems to me nobody
+lower'n a Brigadier-General should dare talk to me that way."
+
+"Dunno," answered Shorty, doubtfully. "Seems as if I'd heard some of
+them Wagon Masters rank as Kurnels. He swears like one."
+
+"Corporal!" shouted the Wagon Master with infinite scorn. "Measly
+$2-a-month water toter for the camp-guard, order me!" and he went off
+into a rolling stream of choice "army language."
+
+"He must certainly be a Kurnel," said Shorty.
+
+"Here," continued the Wagon Master, "if you don't want them two
+shoat-brands jerked offen you, jump in and get them wagons acrost.
+That's what you were sent to do. Hump yourself, if you know what's good
+for you. I've done all I can. Now it's your turn."
+
+Dazed and awed by the man's authoritativeness the boys ran down to the
+water to see what was the trouble.
+
+They found the usual difficulty in Southern crossings. The stupid
+tinkerers with the road had sought to prevent it running down into the
+stream by laying a log at the edge of the water. This was an enormous
+one two feet in diameter, with a chuckhole before it, formed by the
+efforts of the teams to mount the log. The heavily laden ammunition
+wagon had its hub below the top of the log, whence no amount of
+mule-power could extricate it.
+
+Si, with Indiana commonsense, saw that the only help was to push the
+wagon back and lay a pile of poles to make a gradual ascent. He and the
+rest laid their carefully polished muskets on dry leaves at the side,
+pulled off their white gloves, and sending two men to hunt thru the
+wagons for axes to cut the poles. Si and Shorty roused up the stupid
+teamsters to unhitch the mules and get them behind the wagon to pull
+it back. Alas for their carefully brushed pantaloons and well-blackened
+shoes, which did not last a minute in the splashing mud.
+
+The Wagon Master had in the meanwhile laid in a fresh supply of epithets
+and had a fresh batch to swear at. He stood up on the bank and yelled
+profane injunctions at the soldiers like a Mississippi River Mate at a
+boat landing. They would not work fast enough for him, nor do the right
+thing.
+
+The storm at last burst. November storms in Tennessee are like the
+charge of a pack of wolves upon a herd of buffalo. There are wild,
+furious rushes, alternating with calmer intervals. The rain came down
+for a few minutes as if it would beat the face off the earth, and the
+stream swelled into a muddy torrent. Si's paper collar and cuffs at once
+became pulpy paste, and his boiled shirt a clammy rag. In spite of this
+his temper rose to the boiling point as he struggled thru the sweeping
+rush of muddy water to get the other wagons out of the road and the
+ammunition wagon pulled back a little ways to allow the poles to be
+piled in front of it.
+
+The dashing downpour did not check the Wagon Master's flow of profanity.
+He only yelled the louder to make himself heard above the roar. The
+rain stopped for a few minutes as suddenly as it had begun and Col.
+McTarnaghan came up with all his parade finery drenched and dripping
+like the feathers of a prize rooster in a rainy barnyard. His Irish
+temper was at the steaming point, and he was in search of something to
+vent it on.
+
+"You blab-mouthed son of a thief," he shouted at the Wagon Master, "what
+are you ordering my men around for? They are sent here to order you, not
+you to order them. Shut that ugly potato trap of yours and get down to
+work, or I'll wear my saber out on you. Get down there and put your own
+shoulders to the wheels, you misbegotten villain. Get down there into
+the water, I tell you. Corporal, see that he does his juty!"
+
+The Wagon Master slunk down the hill, where Shorty grabbed him by the
+collar and yanked him over to help push one of the wagons back. The
+other boys had meanwhile found axes, cut down and trimmed up some pine
+poles and were piling them into the chuckhole under Si's practical
+guidance. A double team was put on the ammunition wagon, and the rest of
+Co. Q came up wet, mad and panting. A rope was found and stretched ahead
+of the mules, on which the company lined itself, the Colonel took his
+place on the bank and gave the word, and with a mighty effort the wagon
+was dragged up the hill. Some other heavily loaded ammunition wagons
+followed. The whole regiment was now up, and the bigger part of it lined
+on the rope so that these wagons came up more easily, even tho the rain
+resumed its wicked pounding upon the clay soil.
+
+Wading around thru the whirling water. Si had discovered, to his
+discomfiture, that there was a narrow, crooked reef that had to be kept
+to. There were deep overturning holes on either side. Into one of these
+Si had gone, to come again floundering and spurting muddy water from his
+mouth.
+
+Shorty noted the place and took the first opportunity to crowd the Wagon
+Master into it.
+
+A wagon loaded with crackers and pork missed the reef and went over
+hopelessly on its side, to the rage of Col. McTamaghan.
+
+"Lave it there; lave it there, ye blithering numbskulls," he yelled,
+"Unhitch those mules and get 'em out. The pork and wagon we can get when
+the water goes down. If another wagon goes over Oi'll rejuce it every
+mother's son of yez, and tie yez up by the thumbs besides."
+
+Si and Shorty waded around to unhitch the struggling mules, and then,
+taking poles in hand to steady themselves, took their stations in the
+stream where they could head the mules right.
+
+Thru the beating storm and the growing darkness, the wagons were, one by
+one, laboriously worked over until, as midnight approached, only three
+or four remained on the other side. Chilled to the bone, and almost
+dropping with fatigue from hours of standing in the deep water running
+like a mill race. Si called Al Klapp, Sib Ball and Jesse Langley to take
+their poles and act as guides.
+
+Al Klapp had it in for the sutlers. He was a worm that was ready to
+turn. He had seen some previous service, and had never gone to the
+Paymaster's table but to see the most of his $13 a month swept away
+by the sutler's remorseless hand. He and Jesse got the remaining army
+wagons over all right. The last wagon was a four-horse team belonging to
+a sutler.
+
+The fire of long-watched-for vengeance gleamed in Al's eye as he made
+out its character in the dim light. It reached the center of the stream,
+when over it went in the rushing current of muddy water.
+
+Al and Jesse busied themselves unhooking the struggling mules.
+
+The Colonel raged. "Lave it there! Lave it there!" he yelled after
+exhausting his plentiful stock of Irish expletives. "But we must lave a
+guard with it. Capt. Sidney Hyde, your company has been doing less
+than any other. Detail a Sergeant and 10 men to stand guard here until
+tomorrow, and put them two thick-headed oudmahouns in the creek on guard
+with them. Make them stand double tricks.
+
+"All right. It was worth it," said Al Klapp, as the Sergeant put him on
+post, with the water running in rivulets from his clothes. "It'll take
+a whole lot of skinning for the sutlers to get even for the dose I've
+given one of them."
+
+"B'yes, yoi've done just splendid," said the Colonel, coming over to
+where Si and Shorty were sitting wringing the water and mud from their
+pantaloons and blouses. "You're hayroes, both of yez. Take a wee drap
+from my canteen. It'll kape yez from catching cold."
+
+"No, thankee, Kurnel," said Si, blushing with delight, and forgetting
+his fatigue and discomfort, in this condescension and praise from his
+commanding officer. "I'm a Good Templar."
+
+"Sinsible b'y," said the Colonel approvingly, and handing his canteen to
+Shorty.
+
+"I'm mightily afraid of catching cold," said Shorty, reaching eagerly
+for the canteen, and modestly turning his back on the Colonel that he
+might not see how deep his draft.
+
+"Should think you were," mused the Colonel, hefting the lightened
+vessel. "Bugler, sound the assembly and let's get back to camp."
+
+The next day the number of rusty muskets, dilapidated accouterments
+and quantity of soiled clothes in the camp of the 200th Ind. was only
+equaled by the number of unutterably weary and disgusted boys.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. A NIGHT OF SONG
+
+HOME-SICKNESS AND ITS OUTPOURING IN MUSIC.
+
+IT WAS Sunday again, and the 200th Ind. still lingered near Nashville.
+For some inscrutible reason known only to the commanding officers the
+brigade had been for nearly a week in camp on the banks of the swift
+running Cumberland. They had been bright, sunshiny days, the last two of
+them. Much rain in the hill country had swollen the swift waters of the
+Cumberland and they fiercely clamored their devious way to the broad
+Ohio. The gentle roar as the rippling wavelets dashed against the rock
+bound shores sounded almost surf-life, but to Si, who had never
+heard the salt waves play hide-and-go-seek on the pebbly beach, the
+Cumberland's angry flood sang only songs of home on the Wabash. He had
+seen the Wabash raging in flood time and had helped to yank many a head
+of stock from its engulfing fury. He had seen the Ohio, too, when she
+ran bank full with her arched center carrying the Spring floods
+and hundreds of acres of good soil down to the continent-dividing
+Mississippi, and on out to sea. His strong arms and stout muscles had
+piloted many a boat-load of boys and girls through the Wabash eddies
+and rapids during the Spring rise, and as he stood now, looking over the
+vast width of this dreary waste of waters, a great wave of home-sickness
+swept over him.
+
+After all, Si was only a kid of a boy, like thousands of his comrades.'
+True, he was past his majority a few months, but his environment from
+youth to his enlistment had so sheltered him that he was a boy at heart.
+
+"The like precurse of fierce events and prologue to the omen coming
+on" had as yet made small impression upon him. Grim visaged war had
+not frightened him much up to that time. He was to get his regenerating
+baptism of blood at Murfreesboro a few weeks later. Just now Si Klegg was
+simply a boy grown big, a little over fat, fond of mother's cooking,
+mother's nice clean feather beds, mother's mothering, if the truth must
+be told. He had never in his life before been three nights from under
+the roof of the comfortable old house in which he was born. He had now
+been wearing the blue uniform of the Union a little more than three
+months, and had not felt mother's work-hardened hands smoothing his
+rebellious hair or seen her face or heard a prayer like she could make
+in all that three months.
+
+"Shucks!" he said fretfully to himself as he looked back at the droning,
+half asleep brigade camp, and then off to the north, across the boiling
+yellow flood of waters that tumbled past the rocks far below him.
+
+"A feller sure does git tired of doin' nothin'."
+
+Lusty, young, and bred to an active life, Si, while he did not really
+crave hustle and bustle, was yet wedded to "keeping things moving." He
+had already forgotten the fierce suffering of his early marching--it
+seemed three years to him instead of three months back; he had forgotten
+the graybacks, the wet nights, the foraging expeditions, the extra guard
+duty and all that. There had been two days of soft Autumn sunshine in a
+camp that was almost ideal. Everything was cleaned up, mended up, and
+the men had washed and barbered themselves into almost dude-like
+neatness. Their heaviest duties had been lazy camp guard duty, which
+Shorty, growing indolent, had declared to be "dumned foolishness," and
+the only excitement offered came from returning foraging parties. There
+was no lurking enemy to fear, for the country had been cleared of
+guerrillas, and in very truth the ease and quietness of the days of
+inactivity was almost demoralizing the men.
+
+There had been no Sunday services. The 200th Ind. was sprawled out on
+the ground in its several hundred attitudes of ease, and those with whom
+they were brigaded were just as carelessly disposed.
+
+As Si sauntered aimlessly back to look for Shorty, the early twilight
+began to close in as the sun slid down behind the distant hills.
+Campfires began to glow as belated foragers prepared their suppers,
+and the gentle hum of voices came pleasantly to the ear, punctuated by
+laughter, often boisterous, but quite as often just the babbling, cheery
+laugh of carefree boys.
+
+Si felt--well, Si was just plain homesick for mother and the girls, and
+one particular girl, whose front name was Annabel, and he almost felt as
+though he didn't care who knew it.
+
+The air was redolent with the odor of frying meat. Mingled with this
+were vagrant whiffs of cooking potatoes, onions, chickens, and the
+fragrance of coffee steaming to blackest strength, all telling tales of
+skillful and successful foraging, and it all reminded Si of home and the
+odors in his mother's kitchen.
+
+Si couldn't find Shorty, so he hunched down, silent and alone, beside
+his tent, a prey to the blue devils. It would soon be Christmas at home.
+He could see the great apple bins in the cellar; the pumpkins in the
+hay in the barn; the turkeys roosting above the woodshed; the yards
+of encased sausages in the attic; he could even smell the mince meat
+seasoning in the great stone jar; the honey in the bee cellar; the huge
+fruit cake in the milk pan in the pantry; since he could remember he
+seen and smelled all these, with 57 varieties of preserves, "jells,"
+marmalades, and fruit-butters thrown in for good measure at Christmas
+time. He had even contemplated with equanimity all these 21 Christmases,
+the dose of "blue pills" that inevitably followed over-feeding at Mother
+Klegg's, and now on his 22d Christmas he might be providing a target for
+a rebel bullet.
+
+Suddenly Si noticed that the dark had come; the fragrance of tobacco
+from hundreds of pipes was filling the air, and from away off in the
+distance the almost Indian Summer zephyrs were bringing soft rythmic
+sounds like--surely--yes, he caught it now, it was that mighty soother
+of tired hearts--
+
+     "Jesus, lover of my soul,
+     Let me to Thy bosom fly.
+     While the billows near me roll.
+     While the tempest still is high."
+
+Si shut his eyes lest the tear drops welling suddenly up fall on his
+uniform, not stopping to think that in the gloom they could not be seen.
+
+Miles away the singers seemed to be when Si caught the first sounds,
+but as the long, swinging notes reached out in the darkness, squad after
+squad, company after company, regiment after regiment took up the grand
+old hymn until Si himself lifted up his not untuneful voice and with the
+thousands of others was pleading--
+
+     "Hide me, oh, my Savior hide,
+     'Till the storm of life is past;
+     Safe into the haven guide.
+     Oh, receive my soul at last."
+
+and the song rose and swelled out and up toward heaven, and stole away
+off to the horizon till the whole vast universe seemed filled with the
+sacred melody. As the last words and their music faded out in space.
+Shorty lunged down beside Si.
+
+"Say, Pard," he began banteringly, "you've missed yer callin'. Op'ry
+oughter have been yer trade."
+
+"Oh, chop off yer chin music for a minute. Shorty," broke in Si. "In
+the dark here it seemed most as though I was at home in the little old
+church with Maria and Annabel and Pap and Mother, and us all singing
+together, and you've busted it--ah! listen!"
+
+From not far away a bugler had tuned up and through the fragrant night
+came piercingly sweet--
+
+     "I will sing you a song of that beautiful land--"
+
+Then near at hand a strong, clear, musical tenor voice took up the
+second line,
+
+     "The far away home of the soul,"
+
+and almost instantly a deep, resonant bass voice boomed in--
+
+     "Where no storms ever beat on that glittering strand
+     While the years of eternity roll,"
+
+and soon a hundred voices were making melody of the spheres as they sang
+Philip Phillips's beautiful song.
+
+"That was Wilse Hornbeck singin' tenor," said Si, as the song ended.
+
+"And it was Hen Withers doin' the bass stunt," returned Shorty.
+
+"You just oughter hear him do the ornamental on a mule whacker. Why, Si,
+he's an artist at cussing. Hen Withers is. Sodom and Gomorrah would git
+jealous of him if he planted himself near 'em, he's that wicked."
+
+"Well, he can sing all right," grunted Si.
+
+Just then Hen Withers, in the squad some 50 feet away broke into song
+again--
+
+    "Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light"
+
+It welled up from his throat like the pipe from a church organ, and as
+mellow as the strains from a French horn. When the refrain rolled out
+fully 3,000 men were singing, yelling and shouting in frenzied fervor--
+
+    "And the Star Spangled banner.
+    In triumph shall wave,
+    O'er the land of the free,
+    And the home of the brave."
+
+While Hen Withers rested on his well-earned laurels, a strong, clear
+voice, whose owner was probably thinking of home and the shady gloom
+of the walk through the grove to singing school with his sweetheart,
+trilled an apostrophe to the queen of light.
+
+    "Roll on, silvery moon,
+    Guide the traveler on his way,"
+
+but he had it pretty much to himself, for not many knew the words, and
+he trailed off into
+
+    "I loved a little beauty, Bell Brandon,"
+
+then his music died out in the night.
+
+It was now the "tenore robusto" who chimed in bells, on a new battle song
+that held a mile square of camp spellbound:
+
+     "Oh, wrap the flag around me, boys,
+
+     To die were far more sweet
+     With freedom's starry emblem, boys.
+
+     To be my winding sheet.
+     In life I loved to see it wave
+
+     And follow where it led,
+     And now my eyes grow dim, my hands
+
+     Would clasp its last bright shred.
+     Oh, I had thought to meet you, boys,
+
+     On many a well-worn field
+     When to our starry emblem, boys,
+
+     The trait'rous foe should yield.
+     But now, alas, I am denied
+
+     My dearest earthly prayer,
+     You'll follow and you'll meet the foe,
+
+     But I shall not be there."
+
+Wilse Hornback knew by the hush of the camp as the sound of his
+wonderful voice died on the far horizon that he had his laurels, too,
+and so he sang on while the mile square of camp went music-mad again as
+it sang with him--
+
+     "We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+     And we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+
+Chorus:
+
+     "The Union forever! Hurrah, boys. Hurrah;
+     Down with the traitor and up with the Star,
+     While we rally 'round the Flag, boys,
+     We'll rally once again,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And although they may be poor, not a man shall
+     be a slave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+
+In the almighty hush that followed the billows of sound, some
+sweet-voiced fellow started Annie Laurie, and then sang--
+
+     "In the prison cell I sit"
+
+with grand chorus accompaniment. Then Wilse Hornback started and Hen
+Withers joined in singing the Battle Hymn--
+
+     "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,"
+
+and oh, God of Battles! how that army of voices took up the refrain--
+
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah,"
+
+and tossed and flung it back and forth from hill to hill and shore to
+shore till it seemed as though Lee and his cohorts must have heard and
+quailed before the fearful prophecy and arraignment.
+
+Then the "tenore robusto" and the "basso profundo" opened a regular
+concert program, more or less sprinkled with magnificent chorus:
+singing, as it was easy or difficult for the men to recall the words.
+You must rummage in the closets of memory for most of them! The Old
+Oaken Bucket; Nellie Gray; Anna Lisle; No, Ne'er Can Thy Home be Mine;
+Tramp, Tramp, Tramp; We are Coming, Father Abraham; Just as I Am; By
+Cold Siloam's Shady Rill--how those home-loving Sunday school young
+boys did sing that! It seemed incongruous, but every now and then they
+dropped into these old hymn tunes, which many a mother had sung her baby
+to sleep with in those elder and better days.
+
+The war songs are all frazzled and torn fragments of memory now, covered
+with dust and oblivion, but they were great songs in and for their day.
+No other country ever had so many.
+
+Laughter and badinage had long since ceased. Flat on their backs,
+gazing up at the stars through the pine and hemlock boughs, the boys
+lay quietly smoking while the "tenore robusto" assisted by the "basso
+profundo" and hundreds of others sang "Willie, We Have Missed You,"
+"Just Before the Battle, Mother," "Brave Boys Are They," and the "Vacant
+Chair."
+
+In a little break in the singing. Hen Withers sang a wonderful song, now
+almost forgotten. It was new to the boys then, but the bugler had heard
+it, and as Hen's magnificent voice rolled forth its fervid words the
+bugle caught up the high note theme, and never did the stars sing
+together more entrancingly than did the "wicked mule whacker" and that
+bugle--
+
+     "Lift up your eyes, desponding freemen.
+     Fling to the winds your needless fears.
+     He who unfurled our beauteous banner
+     Says it shall wave a thousand years."
+
+On the glorious chorus a thousand voices took up the refrain in droning
+fashion that made one think of "The Sound of the Great Amen."
+
+     "A thousand years, my own Columbia!
+     Tis the glad day so long foretold!
+     'Tis the glad mom whose early twilight
+     Washington saw in times of old."
+
+By the time Hen had sung all of the seven verses the whole brigade
+knew the refrain and roared it forth as a defiance to the Southern
+Confederacy, which took on physical vigor in the days that came after,
+when the 200th Ind. went into battle to come off victorious on many a
+fiercely contested field.
+
+Then the tenor sang that doleful, woe begone, hope effacing,
+heart-string-cracking "Lorena." Some writer has said that it sung the
+heart right out of the Southern Confederacy.
+
+     "The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,
+     The snow is on the grass again."
+
+As Wilse Hornbeck let his splendid voice out on the mournful cadences,
+Si felt his very heart strings snap, and even Shorty drew his breath
+hard, while some of the men simply rolled over, and burying their faces
+in their arms, sobbed audibly.
+
+Wilse had not counted on losing his own nerve, but found his voice
+breaking on the melancholy last lines, and bounding to his feet with a
+petulant,
+
+     "Oh, hang it!"
+
+     "Say, darkies, hab you seen de Massa"
+
+came dancing up from the jubilating chords of that wonderful human music
+box, and soon the camp was reeling giddily with the jolly, rollicking,
+
+     "Or Massa ran, ha! ha!!
+     The darkies stay, ho! ho!!"
+
+Then, far in the distance a bugle sounded "lights out," and the songfest
+was at an end; as bugler after bugler took it up, one by one the
+campfires blinked out, and squad after squad sank into quiet.
+
+"I feel a heap better somehow," remarked Si, as he crawled under his
+blanket.
+
+"Dogged if I hain't had a sort of uplift, too," muttered Shorty, as he
+wrapped his blanket round his head. In the distance a tenor voice was
+singing as he kicked out his fire and got ready for bed--
+
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
+
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diff --git a/31771-8.zip b/31771-8.zip
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@@ -0,0 +1,7766 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Si Klegg, by John Mcelroy.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    .indent5   { margin-left: 5%;}
+    .indent10  { margin-left: 10%;}
+    .indent15  { margin-left: 15%;}
+    .indent20  { margin-left: 20%;}
+    .indent30  { margin-left: 30%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 100%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    .side      { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em;
+               border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left;
+               text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;
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+    p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0}
+    span.dropcap         { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 }
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+    -->
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6)
+       His Transformation From A Raw Recruit To A Veteran
+
+Author: John McElroy
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31771]
+Last Updated: July 18, 2014
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SI KLEGG, BOOK 1 (OF 6) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+ <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+
+<h3>Format Choice</h3>
+
+<div class="mynote">
+The present format is best for most <b>laptops</b> and <b>computers</b>, and generates well to <b>.mobi</b> and <b>.epub</b> files. The higher quality images in this file do not reduce in size to fit the small screens of Tablets and Smart Phones&mdash;part of the larger images may run off the side.
+Another format is available by clicking on the following line:<br /><br />
+<i><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31771/old/files/relative.htm">2. A file with images which automatically accomodate to any screen size; this is the best choice for the small screens of <b>Tablets</b> and <b>Smart Phones</b>.
+</a></i>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      SI KLEGG
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      His Transformation From a Raw Recruit To A Veteran.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By John McElroy.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="Frontispiece " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="Title Page" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      PUBLISHED BY <br /><br /> THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE CO., <br /><br /> WASHINGTON,
+      D. C
+    </h3>
+    <h4>
+      SECOND EDITION <br /><br /><br /> COPYRIGHT 1910
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIX VOLUMES
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3">
+      <tbody>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31771/31771-h/31771-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book I, Transformation From a Raw Recruit&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31772/31772-h/31772-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book II, Through the Stone River Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31773/31773-h/31773-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book III, Meets Mr. Rosenbaum, the Spy&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31774/31774-h/31774-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book IV, On The Great Tullahoma Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31775/31775-h/31775-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book V, Deacon's Adventures At Chattanooga&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31776/31776-h/31776-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book VI, Enter On The Atlanta Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+      </tbody>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      "Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., and Shorty, his Partner," were born more
+      than 25 years ago in the brain of John McElroy, editor of The National
+      Tribune, who invented the names and characters, outlined the general plan,
+      and wrote a number of the chapters. Subsequently, the editor, having many
+      other important things pressing upon his attention, called in an assistant
+      to help on the work, and this assistant, under the direction and guidance
+      of the editor, wrote some of these chapters. Subsequently, without the
+      editor's knowledge or consent, the assistant adopted all the material as
+      his own, and expanded it into a book which had a limited sale and then
+      passed into the usual oblivion of shortlived subscription books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sketches in this first number are the original ones published in The
+      National Tribune in 1885-6, revised and enlarged somewhat by the editor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those in the second and all following numbers appeared in The National
+      Tribune when the editor, John McElroy, resumed the story in 1897, 12 years
+      after the first publication, and continued it for the unprecedented period
+      of seven years, with constantly growing interest and popularity. They gave
+      "Si Klegg" a nation-wide and enduring celebrity. Gen. Lew Wallace, the
+      foremost literary man of his day, pronounced "Si Klegg" the "great idyll
+      of the war."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How true they are to nature every veteran can abundantly testify from his
+      own service. Really, only the name of the regiment was invented. There is
+      no doubt that there were several men of the name of Josiah Klegg in the
+      Union Army, and who did valiant service for the Government. They had
+      experiences akin to, if not identical with, those narrated here, and
+      substantially every man who faithfully and bravely carried a musket in
+      defense of the best Government on earth had sometimes, if not often,
+      experiences of with those of Si Klegg, Shorty and the boys are strong
+      reminders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the illustrations in this first number are by the late Geo. Y.
+      Coffin, deceased, a talented artist, whose work embellished The National
+      Tribune for many years. He was the artist of The National Tribune until
+      his lamented and premature death, and all his military work was done by
+      daily consultation, instruction and direction of the editor of The
+      National Tribune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE. <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>SI KLEGG</b> </a><br /><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>GOING TO WAR&mdash;SI KLEGG'S
+        COMPLETE EQUIPMENT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>THE
+        DEADLY BAYONET <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>THE
+        OLD CANTEEN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>THE
+        AWFUL HARDTACK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>FAT
+        PORK&mdash;INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>DETAILED AS COOK&mdash;SI FINDS
+        RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII.
+        </a>IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER
+        VIII. </a>ON COMPANY DRILL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER
+        IX. </a>SI GETS A LETTER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X.
+        </a>SI AND THE DOCTORS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI.
+        </a>THE PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012">
+        CHAPTER XII. </a>A WET NIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER
+        XIII. </a>SI "STRAGGLED" <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER
+        XIV. </a>SI AND THE MULES <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER
+        XV. </a>UNDER FIRE&mdash;SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a>ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH" <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a>FORAGING ON THE WAY <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>A SUNDAY OFF
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>A CLOSE CALL <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>"THE SWEET SABBATH" <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY
+        LEARNING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>A NIGHT
+        OF SONG <br /><br /> <br /> <br />
+      </p>
+      <hr />
+      <p>
+        <br /> <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0001"> Title Page </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Frontispiece </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0003"> Si Decides to Enlist </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0004"> Off to the War </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0005"> As Si Looked when he Landed at Louisville
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0006"> Si's Load Begins to Get Heavy </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0007"> Si's Chum, "shorty" Elliott </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0008"> The Diverse Uses of the Good Old Canteen </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0009"> What the Bayonet Was Good for </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0010"> As Maria Pictured Si Using his Bayonet </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0011"> He Tries the Butt of his Gun on It </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0012"> The Best Way After All </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0013"> The Veteran Talks to Si </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0014"> Drawing Rations </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0015"> "All Right, Boss; Dats a Go" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0016"> Si Falls out With his Food </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0017"> Si Thinks It over </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0018"> The Trouble Begins </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0019"> The Rice Gets the Bulge </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0020"> Si Makes the Acquaintance of The Guard House
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0021"> "Right Shoulder Shift&mdash;Arms!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0022"> "Fix&mdash;bayonets!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0023"> Brought his Gun Down on the Man's Foot </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0024"> Don't Care a Continental </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0025"> "Right&mdash;face!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0026"> "Forward&mdash;march!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0027"> "Company&mdash;right Wheel!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0028"> It's from Annabel </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0029"> Si Carries a Rail </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0030"> Si Writes to "deer Annie." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0031"> An Army Writing-desk </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0032"> Laying the Foundation </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0033"> A Rude Awakening </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0034"> Visits the Doctor </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0035"> "Let Yer Nails Grow; Ye'll Need 'em" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0036"> "Say, Cap, What Kind O' Bug is This?" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0037"> "Skirmishing" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0038"> "Naw! Lemme Show Ye How!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0039"> Struck by a Cyclone </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0040"> Supper Under Difficulties </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0041"> A Field Shanty </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0042"> It's the Morning </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0043"> Taking the Top Rail </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0044"> "Don't Stab Me." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0045"> Hydropathic Treatment </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0046"> Si Defies a Regiment </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0047"> He Let Both Heels Fly </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0048"> Si Went Sprawling </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0049"> Stuck in the Mud </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0050"> It Burst With a Loud "bang." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0051"> Si Takes a Crack at A Reb </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0052"> Si Captures a Johnny </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0053"> Corporal si Klegg </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0054"> One of the "Non-Com Mish." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0055"> "Not 'less Ye Say 'Bunker Hill.'" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0056"> They Had Shot a Mule </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0057"> The 200th Ind. Was Not Without Talent in
+        Foraging </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0058"> Si Beat a Retreat </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0059"> Si Being Worked for a "good Thing." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0060"> Si Was Disposed to Grumble </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0061"> Showing the Old Man a Trick </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0062"> Waiting for Their Clothes to Dry </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0063"> An Assault on the Well-filled Corn Crib </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0064"> Shorty Held the Calf </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0065"> Si Sprang Upon Him </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0066"> "Shorty if We&mdash;only Git&mdash;out O'
+        This&mdash;" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0067"> So Straight he Leaned Backward </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0068"> Si Almost Fainted when the Colonel Stopped
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0069"> Shorty Was There&mdash;with a Guard </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+    </h3>
+    <h3>
+      TO THE RANK AND FILE
+    </h3>
+    <h3>
+      OF THE GRANDEST ARMY EVER MUSTERED FOR WAR.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      SI KLEGG
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. GOING TO WAR&mdash;SI KLEGG'S COMPLETE EQUIPMENT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND WHAT BECAME OF IT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      AFTER Si Klegg had finally yielded to his cumulative patriotic impulses
+      and enlisted in the 200th Ind. for three years or until the rebellion was
+      put down, with greater earnestness and solemnity to equip himself for his
+      new career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was thrifty and provident, and believed in being ready for any
+      emergency. His friends and family coincided with him. The Quartermaster
+      provided him with a wardrobe that was serviceable, if not stylish, but
+      there were many things that he felt he would need in addition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You must certainly have a few pairs of homeknit socks and some changes of
+      underclothes," said his tearfully-solicitous mother. "They won't weigh
+      much, and they'll in all likelihood save you a spell of sickness."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," responded Josiah, "I wouldn't think of going away without
+      'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Into the capacious knapsack went several pounds of substantial knit woolen
+      goods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You can't get along without a couple of towels and a piece of soap," said
+      his oldest sister, Maria, as she stowed those things alongside the socks
+      and underclothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Si," said Ellen, his second sister, "I got this pocket album for my gift
+      to you. It contains all our pictures, and there is a place for another's
+      picture, whose name I suppose I needn't mention," she added archly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got a little red in the face, but said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nothing could be nicer, Nell. It'll be the greatest comfort in the world
+      to have all your pictures to look at when I'm down in Dixie."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here's a 'housewife' I've made for you with my own hands," added Annabel,
+      who was some other fellow's sister. She handed him a neatly-stitched
+      little cloth affair. "You see, it has needles, thread, buttons, scissors,
+      a fine-tooth comb, and several other things that you'll need very badly
+      after you've been in camp awhile. And" (she got so near Si that she could
+      whisper the rest) "you'll find in a little secret pocket a lock of my
+      hair, which I cut off this morning."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose I'll have a good deal of leisure time while we're in camp,"
+      said Si to himself and the others; "I believe I'll just put this Ray's
+      Arithmetic and Greene's Grammar in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, my young friend," added the Rev. Boanarg, who had just entered the
+      house, "and as you will be exposed to new and unusual temptations, I
+      thought it would be judicious to put this volume of 'Baxter's Call to the
+      Unconverted' in your knapsack, for it may give you good counsel when you
+      need it sorely."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thankee," said Si, stowing away the book. Of course, Si had to have a
+      hair-brush, blackingbrush, a shaving kit, and some other toilet
+      appliances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/017.jpg" alt="Si Decides to Enlist 017 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Then it occurred to his thoughtful sister Maria that he ought to have a
+      good supply of stationery, including pens, a bottle of ink, and a
+      portfolio on which to write when he was far away from tables and desks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These went in, accompanied by a half-pint bottle of "No. 6," which was
+      Si's mother's specific for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Then, the
+      blanket which the Quartermaster had issued seemed very light and
+      insufficient to be all the bed-clothes a man would have when sleeping on
+      the bare ground, and Si rolled up one of the warm counterpanes that had
+      helped make the Indiana Winter nights so comfortable for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems rather heavy," said Si as he put his knapsack on; "but I guess I'll
+      get used to it in a little while. They say that soldiers learn to carry
+      surprising loads on their backs. It'll help cure me of being
+      round-shouldered; it'll be better 'n shoulder-braces for holding me up
+      straight."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, his father couldn't let him go away without giving him
+      something that would contribute to his health and comfort, and at last the
+      old gentleman had a happy thought&mdash;he would get the village shoemaker
+      to make Si a pair of his best stout boots. They would be ever so much
+      better than the shoes the Quartermaster furnished for tramping over the
+      muddy roads and swamps of the South. Si fastened these on top of his
+      knapsack until he should need them worse than at present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His old uncle contributed an immense bowie knife, which he thought would
+      be of great use in the sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts Si would have to
+      wage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the way to the depot Si found some of his comrades gathered around an
+      enterprising retail dealer in hardware, who was convincing them that they
+      could serve their country much better, besides adding to their comfort, by
+      buying from him a light hatchet and a small frying-pan, which he offered,
+      in consideration of their being soldiers, to sell them at remarkable low
+      rates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/019.jpg" alt="Off to the War 019 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si saw at once the great convenience a hatchet and a frying-pan would be,
+      and added them to his kit. An energetic dealer in tinware succeeded in
+      selling him, before he reached the depot, a cunning little coffee-pot and
+      an ingenious combination of knife, fork and spoon which did not weigh more
+      than a pound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he got in the cars he was chagrined to find that several of his
+      comrades had provided themselves with convenient articles that he had not
+      thought of. He consoled himself that the regiment would stop some time in
+      Louisville, when he would have an opportunity of making up his
+      deficiencies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when the 200th reached Louisville there was no leisure for anything.
+      Bragg was then running his celebrated foot-race with Buell for the
+      Kentucky metropolis, and the 200th Ind. was trotted as rapidly as unused
+      legs could carry it to the works several miles from the center of the
+      city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everybody who was in that campaign remembers how terribly hot and dry
+      everything was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si Klegg managed to keep up tolerably near the head of the column until
+      camp was reached, but his shoulders were strained and blisters began to
+      appear on his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That was a mighty tough pull, wasn't it?" he said to his chum as they
+      spread their blankets on the dog-kennel and made some sort of a bed; "but
+      I guess after a day or two we'll get so used to it that we won't mind it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a few days the 200th Ind. lay in camp, but one day there came an order
+      for the regiment to march to Bardstown as rapidly as possible. A battle
+      was imminent. The roads were dusty as ash-heaps, and though the pace was
+      not three miles an hour, the boys' tongues were hanging out before they
+      were out of sight of camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, Captain, don't they never have resting spells in the army?" said
+      Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not on a forced march," answered the Captain, who, having been in the
+      first three months' service, was regarded as a veteran. "Push on, boys;
+      they say that they'll want us before night." Another hour passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/021.jpg"
+      alt="As si Looked when he Landed at Louisville 021 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Captain, I don't believe you can put a pin-point anywhere on my feet that
+      ain't covered with a blister as big as a hen's egg," groaned Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's too bad, I know," answered the officer; "but you must go on. They
+      say Morgan's cavalry are in our rear shooting down every straggler they
+      can find."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si saw the boys around him lightening their knapsacks. He abominated waste
+      above all things, but there seemed no help for it, and, reaching into that
+      receptacle that bore, down upon his aching shoulders like a glacier on a
+      groundhog, he pulled out and tossed into the fence corner the educational
+      works he had anticipated so much benefit from. The bottle of "No. 6"
+      followed, and it seemed as if the knapsack was a ton lighter, but it yet
+      weighed more than any stack of hay on the home farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A cloud of dust whirled up, and out of it appeared a galloping Aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The General says that the 200th Ind. must push on much faster. The enemy
+      is trying to get to the bridge ahead of them," he shouted as he dashed off
+      in another cloud of dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few shots were heard in the rear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Morgan's cavalry are shooting some more stragglers," shouted some one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was getting desperate. He unrolled the counterpane and slashed it into
+      strips with his bowie. "My mother made that with her own hands," he
+      explained to a comrade, "and if I can't have the good of it no infernal
+      rebel shall. He next slashed the boots up and threw them after the quilt,
+      and then hobbled on to overtake the rest of his company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's enough dry-goods and clothing lying along in the fence corners to
+      supply a good-sized town," the Lieutenant-Colonel reported as he rode over
+      the line of march in rear of the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day Si's feet felt as if there was a separate and individual
+      jumping toothache in every sinew, muscle, tendon and toe-nail; but that
+      didn't matter. With Bragg's infantry ahead and John Morgan's cavalry in
+      the rear, the 200th Ind. had to go forward so long as the boys could put
+      one foot before the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/023.jpg" alt="Si's Load Begins to Get Heavy 023 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The unloading went on even more rapidly than the day before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My knapsack looks like an elephant had stept on it," Si said, as he
+      ruefully regarded it in the evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Show me one in the regiment that don't," answered his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thenceforward everything seemed to conspire to teach Si how vain and
+      superfluous were the things of this world. The first rain-storm soaked his
+      cherished album until it fell to pieces, and his sister's portfolio did
+      the same. He put the photographs in his blouse pocket and got along just
+      as well. When he wanted to write he got paper from the sutler. A mule
+      tramped on his fancy coffee-pot, and he found he could make quite as good
+      coffee in a quart-cup. A wagon-wheel lan over his cherished frying-pan,
+      and he melted an old canteen in two and made a lighter and handier pan out
+      of one-half of it. He broke his bowie-knife prying the lid off a
+      cracker-box. He piled his knapsack with the others one day when the
+      regiment was ordered to strip them off for a charge, and neither he nor
+      his comrades ever saw one of them again. He never attempted to replace it.
+      He learned to roll up an extra pair of socks and a change of underclothing
+      in his blanket, tie the ends of this together and throw it over his
+      shoulder sash fashion. Then, with his socks drawn up over the bottoms of
+      his pantaloons, three days' rations in his haversack and 40 rounds in his
+      cartridgebox, he was ready to make his 30 miles a day in any direction he
+      might be sent, and whip anything that he encountered on the road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE DEADLY BAYONET
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      IT IS USED FOR NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE THAN FOR PRODDING MEN.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IN COMMON with every other young man who enlisted to defend the glorious
+      Stars and Stripes, Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., had a profound
+      superstition concerning the bayonet. All the war literature he had ever
+      read abounded in bloodcurdling descriptions of bayonet charges and
+      hand-to-hand conflicts, in which bayonets were repeatedly thrust up to the
+      shanks in the combatants' bodies just as he had put a pitch-fork into a
+      bundle of hay. He had seen pictures of English regiments bristling with
+      bayonets like a porcupine with quills, rushing toward French regiments
+      which looked as prickly as a chestnut-bur, and in his ignorance he
+      supposed that was the way fighting was done. Occasionally he would have
+      qualms at the thought of how little his system was suited to have cold
+      steel thrust through it promiscuous-like, but he comforted himself with
+      the supposition that he would probably get used to it in time&mdash;"soldiers
+      get used to almost anything, you know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th Ind. drew its guns at Indianapolis he examined all the
+      strange accouterments with interest, but gave most to the triangular bit
+      of steel which writers who have never seen a battle make so important a
+      weapon in deciding contests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had milk, molasses, or even applejack, for Si then was not a member of
+      the Independent Order of Good Templars, of which society he is now an
+      honored officer. Nothing could be nicer, when he was on picket, to bring
+      buttermilk in from the neighboring farm-house to his chum Shorty, who
+      stood post while he was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/026.jpg" alt="Si's Chum, 'shorty' Elliott 026 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Later in the service Si learned the inestimable value of coffee to the
+      soldier on the march. Then he stript the cloth from his canteen, fastened
+      the strand with bits of wire and made a fine coffee-pot of it. In the
+      morning he would half fill it with the splendid coffee ihe Government
+      furnished, fill it up with water and hang it from a bush or a stake over
+      the fire, while he went ahead with his other culinary preparations. By the
+      time these were finished he would have at least a quart of magnificent
+      coffee that the cook of the Fifth Avenue could not surpass, and which
+      would last him until the regiment halted in the afternoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bully of the 200th took it into his thick head one day to try to "run
+      over" Si. The latter had just filled his canteen, and the bully found that
+      the momentum of three pints of water swung at arm's length by an angry boy
+      was about equal to a mule's kick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as he was beginning to properly appreciate his canteen, he learned a
+      sharp lesson, that comes to all of us, as to how much "cussedness" there
+      can be in the simplest things when they happen to go wrong. He went out
+      one day and got a canteen of nice sweet milk, which he and "Shorty"
+      Elliott heartily enjoyed. He hung the canteen upon the ridge-pole of the
+      tent, and thought no more about it until the next day, when he came in
+      from drill, and found the tent filled with an odor so vile that it made
+      him cough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why in thunder don't the Colonel send out a detail to find and bury that
+      dead mule? It'll pizen the hull camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been in service just long enough to believe that the Colonel ought
+      to look out for and attend to everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Taint no dead mule," said Shorty, whose nose had come close to the
+      source of the odor. "It's this blamed canteen. What on earth have you been
+      putting in it. Si?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ha'int had nothin' in but that sweet milk yesterday."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's just what's the matter," said the Orderly, who, having been in the
+      three-months' service, knew all about war. He had come in to detail Si and
+      Shorty to help unload Quartermaster's stores. "You must always scald 'out
+      your canteens when you've had milk in 'em. Don't you remember how careful
+      your mother is to scald her milk pans?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the company wagon had run over and hopelessly ruined the neat little
+      frying-pan which Si had brought from Posey County, he was in despair as to
+      how he should fry his meat and cook his "lobscouse." Necessity is the
+      mother of invention. He melted in two a canteen he picked up, and found
+      its halves made two deep tin pans, very light and very handy. A split
+      stick made a handle, and he had as good a frying-pan as the one he had
+      lost, and much more convenient, for when done using the handle was thrown
+      away, and the pan slipt into the haversack, where it lay snug and close,
+      instead of clattering about as the frying-pan did when the regiment moved
+      at the double-quick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other half of the canteen was useful to brown coffee, bake hoe-cake,
+      and serve for toilet purposes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day on the Atlanta campaign the regiment moved up in line to the top
+      of a bald hill. As it rose above the crest it was saluted with a terrific
+      volley, and saw that another crest across the narrow valley was occupied
+      by at least a brigade of rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll stay right here, boys," said the plucky little Colonel, who had
+      only worn Sergeant's stripes when the regiment crossed the Ohio River.
+      "We've preempted this bit of real estate, and we'll hold it against the
+      whole Southern Confederacy. Break for that fence there, boys, and every
+      fellow come back with a couple of rails."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed as if he hardly ceased speaking when the boys came running back
+      with the rails which they laid down along the crest, and dropped flat
+      behind them, began throwing the gravelly soil over them with their useful
+      half-canteens. In vain the shower of rebel bullets struck and sang about
+      them. Not one could penetrate that little ridge of earth and rails, which
+      in an hour grew into a strong rifle-pit against which the whole rebel
+      brigade charged, only to sustain a bloody repulse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The war would have lasted a good deal longer had it not been for the daily
+      help of the ever-useful half-canteen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE OLD CANTEEN
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MANY AND QUEER USES TO WHICH IT WAS AT LAST PUT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/029.jpg"
+      alt="The Diverse Uses of the Good Old Canteen 029 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      WHEN Josiah (called "Si" for short) Klegg, of the 200th Ind., drew his
+      canteen from the Quartermaster at Louisville, he did not have a very high
+      idea of its present or prospective importance. In the 22 hot Summers that
+      he had lived through he had never found himself very far from a well or
+      spring when his thirst cried out to be slacked, and he did not suppose
+      that it was much farther between wells down South.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't see the use of carrying two or three pints o' water along all day
+      right past springs and over cricks," he remarked to his chum, as the two
+      were examining the queer, cloth-covered cans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We've got to take 'em, any way," answered his chum, resignedly, "It's
+      regulations."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his entry into service a boy accepted everything without question when
+      assured that it was "regulations." He would have charged bayonets on a
+      buzz-saw if authoritatively informed that it was required by the
+      mysterious "regulations."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The long march the 200th Ind. made after Bragg over the dusty turnpikes
+      the first week in October, 1862, taught Si the value of a canteen. After
+      that it was rarely allowed to get empty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What are these grooves along each side for?" he asked, pointing out the
+      little hollows which give the "prod" lightness and strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why," answered the Orderly, who, having been in the three-months'
+      service, assumed to know more about war than the Duke of Wellington, "the
+      intention of those is to make a wound the lips of which will close up when
+      the bayonet is pulled out, so that the man'll be certain to die."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Naturally so diabolical an intention sent cold shivers down Si's back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night before Si left for "the front" he had taken his musket and
+      couterments home to show them to his mother and sisters&mdash;and the
+      other fellow's sister, whose picture and lock of hair he had safely stowed
+      away. They looked upon the bayonet with a dreadful awe. Tears came into
+      Maria's eyes as she thought of Si roaming about through the South like a
+      bandit plunging that cruel steel into people's bowels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is the way it's done," said Si, as he charged about the room in an
+      imaginary duel with a rebel, winding up with a terrifying lunge. "Die,
+      Tur-r-rraitor, gaul durn ye," he exclaimed, for he was really getting
+      excited over the matter, while the girls screamed and jumped upon the
+      chairs, and his good mother almost fainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attention that the 200th Ind. had to give to the bayonet drill
+      confirmed Si's deep respect for the weapon, and he practiced assiduously
+      all the "lunges," "parries," and "guards" in the Manual, in the hope that
+      proficiency so gained would save his own dearly-beloved hide from
+      puncture, and enable him to punch any luckless rebel that he might
+      encounter as full of holes as a fishing net.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/033.jpg" alt="What the Bayonet Was Good for 033 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind.'s first fight was at Perryville, but though it routed the
+      rebel force in front of it, it would have taken a bayonet half-a-mile long
+      to touch the nearest "Johnny." Si thought it odd that the rebels didn't
+      let him get close enough to them to try his new bayonet, and pitch a dozen
+      or two of them over into the next field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the truth must be told, the first blood that stained Si's bayonet was
+      not that of a fellow-man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si Klegg's company was on picket one day, while Gen. Buell was trying to
+      make up his mind what to do with Bragg. Rations had been a little short
+      for a week or so. In fact, they had been scarcely sufficient to meet the
+      demands of Si's appetite, and his haversack had nothing in it to speak of.
+      Strict orders against foraging had been, issued. It was the day of
+      "guarding rebel onion patches." Si couldn't quite get it straight in his
+      head why the General should be so mighty particular about a few pigs and
+      chickens and sweet potatoes, for he was really getting hungry, and when a
+      man is in this condition he is not in a fit mood to grapple with fine-spun
+      theories of governmental policy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So when a fat pig came wabbling and grunting toward his post, it was to Si
+      like a vision of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness. A
+      wild, uncontrollable desire to taste a fresh spare-rib took possession of
+      him. Naturally, his first idea was to send a bullet through the animal,
+      but on second thought he saw that wouldn't do at all. It would "give him
+      away" at once, and, besides, he had found that a single shot on the
+      picket-line would keep Buell's entire army in line-of-battle for a whole
+      day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si wrote to his mother that his bright new bayonet was stained with
+      Southern blood, and the old lady shuddered at the awful thought. "But,"
+      added Si, "it was only a pig, and not a man, that I killed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm so glad!" she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/035.jpg" alt="As Maria Pictured si Using his Bayonet 035 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      By the time Si had been in the service a year there was less zeal in the
+      enforcement of orders of this kind, and Si had become a very skillful and
+      successful forager. He had still been unable to reach with his bayonet the
+      body of a single one of his misguided fellow citizens, but he had stabbed
+      a great many pigs and sheep. In fact, Si found his bayonet a most useful
+      auxiliary in his predatory operations. He could not well have gotten along
+      without it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Uncle Sam generally furnished Si with plenty of coffee&mdash;roasted and
+      unground&mdash;but did not supply him with a coffee mill. Si thought at
+      first that the Government had forgotten something. He saw that several of
+      the old veterans of '61 had coffee mills, but he found on inquiry that
+      they had been obtained by confiscation only. He determined to supply
+      himself at the first opportunity, but in the meantime he was obliged to
+      'use his bayonet as a substitute, just as all the rest of the soldiers
+      did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We regret to say that Si, having thrown away his "Baxter's Call to the
+      Unconverted" in his first march, and having allowed himself to forget the
+      lessons he had learned but a few years before in Sunday-school, soon
+      learned to play poker and other sinful games. These, at night, developed
+      another use for the bayonet. In its capacity as a "handy" candlestick it
+      was "equaled by few and excelled by none." The "shank" was always ready to
+      receive the candle, while the point could be thrust into the ground in an
+      instant, and nothing more was necessary. This was perhaps the most general
+      sphere of usefulness found by the bayonet during the war. Barrels of
+      candle-grease flowed down the furrowed sides of this weapon for every drop
+      of human blood that dimmed its luster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THE AWFUL HARDTACK
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE HARD AND SOLID STAFF OF MILITARY LIFE.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "APPETITE'S a queer thing," said Si to Shorty one day, when both were in a
+      philosophical mood. "It's an awful bother when you haven't it, and it's a
+      great deal worse when you have it, and can't get anything for it." "Same
+      as money," returned sage Shorty. During the first few months of Si Klegg's
+      service in the army the one thing that bothered him more than anything
+      else was his appetite. It was a very robust, healthy one that Si had, for
+      he had grown up on his father's farm in Indiana, and had never known what
+      it was to be hungry without abundant means at hand for appeasing his
+      desires in that direction. His mother's cupboard was never known to be in
+      the condition of Old Mother Hubbard's, described in the nursery rhyme. The
+      Kleggs might not have much tapestry and bric-a-brac in their home, but
+      their smoke-house was always full, and Mrs. Klegg's kitchen could have fed
+      a camp-meeting any time without warning. So it was that when Si enlisted
+      his full, rosy face and his roundness of limb showed that he had been well
+      fed, and that nature had made good use of the ample daily supplies that
+      were provided. His digestive organs were kept in perfect condition by
+      constant exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After Si had put down his name on the roll of Co. Q of the 200th Ind. he
+      had but a few days to remain at home before his regiment was to start for
+      Louisville. During this time his mother and sisters kept him filled up
+      with "goodies" of every sort. In fact, it was the biggest thing in the way
+      of a protracted picnic that Si had ever struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You must enjoy these things while you can, Si," said his mother, "for
+      goodness knows what you'll do when you really git into the army. I've
+      heerd 'em tell awful things about how the poor sogers don't have half
+      enough to eat, and what they do git goes agin' any Christian stomach.
+      Here, take another piece of this pie. A little while, and it'll be a long
+      time, I reckon, till ye git any more."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't keer if I do!" said Si, for there was scarcely any limit to his
+      capacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so during those days and nights the old lady and the girls cooked and
+      cooked, and Si ate and ate, until it seemed as if he wouldn't want any
+      more till the war was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was full, and as soon as Co. Q was, it was ordered to camp, and Si had
+      to go. They loaded him down with good things enough to last him a week.
+      The pretty Annabel&mdash;the neighbor's daughter who had solemnly promised
+      Si that she wouldn't go with any other fellow while he was away&mdash;came
+      around to see Si off and brought him a rich fruit cake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I made that for you," she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bully for you!" said Si, for he felt that he must begin to talk like a
+      soldier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first day or two after reaching Louisville the 200th received rations
+      of "soft bread." But that didn't last long. It was only a way they had of
+      letting the fresh soldier down easy. Orders came to get ready to pull out
+      after Bragg, and then Si'a regiment had its first issue of army rations.
+      As the Orderly pried open a box of hardtack and began to distribute them
+      to the boys, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them's nice-looking soda crackers. I don't believe the grub is going to
+      be so bad, after all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never seen a hardtack before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Better taste one and see how you like it!" said one of Buell's ragged
+      Indiana veterans, who had come over to see the boys of the 200th and hear
+      the latest news from "God's country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It happened that this lot was one of extra quality as to hardness. The
+      baker's watch had stopped, or he had gone to sleep, and they had been left
+      in the oven or dry-kiln too long. Si took one of them and carried it to
+      his mouth. He first tried on it the bite which made such havoc with a
+      quarter section of custard pie, but his incisors made no more impression
+      upon it than if it had been a shingle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You have to bear on hard," said the veteran, with a grim smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Je-ru-sa-lem!" exclaimed Si after he had made two or three attempts
+      equally barren of results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he tried his "back teeth." His molars were in prime order, and his
+      jaw power was sufficient to crack a hickory nut every time. Si crowded one
+      corner of the hardtack as far as he could between his "grinders," where he
+      could get a good "purchase" on it, shut his eyes and turned on a full head
+      of steam. His teeth and jaws fairly cracked under the strain, but he
+      couldn't even "phase" it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If that ain't old pizen!" said Si. "It beats anything I ever seen up in
+      the Wabash country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But his blood was up, and laying the cracker upon a log, he brought the
+      butt of his gun down upon it like a pile-driver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/041.jpg" alt="He Tries the Butt of his Gun on It 041 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I'd fix ye," he said, as he picked up the fragments, and tried
+      his teeth upon the smaller ones. "Have I got to eat such stuff as that?"
+      with a despairing look at his veteran friend. "I'd just as soon be a
+      billy-goat and live on circus-posters, fruit-cans and old hoop-skirts."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'll get used to it after a while, same's we did. You'll see the time
+      when you'll be mighty glad to get even as hard a tack as that!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's heart sank almost into his shoes at the prospect, for the taste of
+      his mother's pie and Annabel's fruit cake were yet fresh in his mouth. But
+      Si was fully bent on being a loyal, obedient soldier, determined to make
+      the best of everything without any more "kicking" than was the inalienable
+      right of every man who wore a uniform.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the first time in his life Si went to bed hungry that night. Impelled
+      by the gnawings of his appetite he made repeated assaults upon the
+      hardtack, but the result was wholly insufficient to satisfy the longings
+      of his stomach. His supper wasn't anything to speak of. Before going to
+      bed he began to exercise his ingenuity on various schemes to reduce the
+      hardtack to a condition in which it would be more gratifying to his taste
+      and better suited to the means with which nature had provided him for
+      disposing of his rations. Naturally Si thought that soaking in water would
+      have a beneficial effect. So he laid five or six of them in the bottom of
+      a camp-kettle, anchored them down with a stone, and covered them with
+      water. He thought that with the aid of a frying-pan he would get up a
+      breakfast that he could eat, anyway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt a little blue as he lay curled up under his blanket with his head
+      pillowed on his knapsack. He thought some about his mother, and sister
+      Maria, and pretty Annabel, but he thought a good deal more about the beef
+      and potatoes, the pies and the puddings, that were so plentifully spread
+      upon the table at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long time before he got to sleep. As he lay there, thinking and
+      thinking, there came to his mind some ether uses to which it seemed to him
+      the hardtack might be put, which would be much more consistent with its
+      nature than to palm it off on the soldiers as alleged food. He thought he
+      could now understand why, when he enlisted, they examined his teeth so
+      carefully, as if they were going to buy him for a mule. They said it was
+      necessary to have good teeth in order to bite "cartridges" successfully,
+      but now he knew it was with reference to his ability to eat hardtack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't want to be killed if he could help it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While he was lying there he determined to line one of his shirts with
+      hardtacks, and he would put that on whenever there was going to be a
+      fight. He didn't believe the bullets would go through them. He wanted to
+      do all he could toward paralyzing the rebels, and with such a protection
+      he could be very brave, while his comrades were being mowed down around
+      him. The idea of having such' a shirt struck Si as being a brilliant one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, he thought hardtack would be excellent for half-soling his shoes. He
+      didn't think they would ever wear out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If he ran short of ammunition he could ram pieces of hardtack into his gun
+      and he had no doubt they would do terrible execution in the ranks of the
+      enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these things and many more Si thought of until finally he was lost in
+      sleep. Then he dreamed that somebody was trying to cram stones down his
+      throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The company was called out at daylight, and immediately after roll-call Si
+      went to look after the hardtacks he had put to soak the night before. He
+      thought he had never felt so hungry in his life. He fished out the
+      hardtack and carefully inspected them, to note the result of the
+      submerging and to figure out the chances on his much-needed breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To any old soldier it would be unnecessary to describe the condition in
+      which Si found those hardtacks, and the effect of the soaking. For the
+      information of any who never soaked a hardtack it may be said that Si
+      found them transformed, to all appearances, into sole-leather. They were
+      flexible, but as tough as the hide that was "found in the vat when the
+      tanner died."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si tried to bite a piece off one of them to see what it was like, but he
+      couldn't get his teeth through it. In sheer desperation he laid it on a
+      log, seized a hatchet, and chopped off a corner. He put it in his mouth
+      and chewed on it a while, but found it as tasteless as cold codfish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought he would try the frying-pan. He chopped the hardtacks into
+      bits, put in equal parts of water and grease, sifted over the mixture a
+      little salt and pepper, and then gave it a thorough frying. Si's spirits
+      rose during the gradual development of this scheme, as it seemed to offer
+      a good prospect for his morning meal. And when it came to the eating. Si
+      found it really good, comparatively speaking, even though it was very much
+      like a dish compounded of the sweepings from around a shoemaker's bench. A
+      good appetite was indispensable to a real enjoyment of this&mdash;which
+      the soldiers called by a name that cannot be given here&mdash;but Si had
+      the appetite, and he ate and was thankful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I'd get the bulge on them things some way or other," said Si,
+      as he drank the last of his coffee and arose from his meal, feeling like a
+      giant refreshed with new wine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the next two or three months Si largely devoted his surplus energies
+      to further experimenting with the hardtack. He applied every conceivable
+      process of cookery he could think of that was possible with the meager
+      outfit at his command in the way of utensils and materials. Nearly all of
+      his patient and persevering efforts resulted only in vexation of spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to eat hardtack from day to day, in these various forms, but
+      it was only because he had to do it. He didn't hanker after it, but it was
+      a military necessity&mdash;hardtack or starvation. It was a hard choice,
+      but Si's love of life&mdash;and Annabel&mdash;induced him to choose the
+      hardtack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/045.jpg" alt="The Best Way After All 045 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      But for a long-time Si's stomach was in a state of chronic rebellion, and
+      on the whole he had a hard time of it getting used to this staple article
+      of army diet. He did not become reconciled to it until after his regiment
+      had rations of flour for a week, when the "cracker-line" had been cut by
+      the guerillas and the supply of that substantial edible was exhausted.
+      Si's experience with the flour swept away all his objections to the
+      hardtack. Those slapjacks, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and those
+      lumps of dough, mixed with cold water and dried on flat stones before the
+      fire, as hard as cannon balls, played sad havoc with his internal
+      arrangements. For the first time he was obliged to fall into the
+      cadaverous squad at sick-call and wabble up to the doctor's shop, where he
+      was dosed with castor-oil and blue-mass. Si was glad enough to see
+      hardtack again. Most of the grumbling he did thereafter concerning the
+      hardtack was because he often couldn't get enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About six months taught Si what all the soldiers learned by experience,
+      that the best way to eat the average hardtack was to take it "straight"&mdash;just
+      as it came out of the box, without any soaking or frying or stewing. At
+      meal-time he would make a quart or so of coffee, stab the end of a ramrod
+      through three or four slices of sowbelly, and cook them over the coals,
+      allowing some of the drippings to fall upon the hardtack for lubricating
+      purposes, and these constituted his frugal repast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. FAT PORK&mdash;INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT WAS told in the last chapter how the patriotic impulses of Si Klegg, of
+      the 200th Ind., reached his stomach and digestive apparatus, and brought
+      them under obedient subjection to hardtack. He didn't have quite so rough
+      an experience with that other staple of army diet, which was in fact the
+      very counterpart of the hardtack, and which took its most popular name
+      from that part of the body of the female swine which is usually nearest
+      the ground. Much of Si's muscle and brawn was due to the fact that meat
+      was always plenty on his father's farm. When Si enlisted he was not
+      entirely free from anxiety on the question of meat, for to his appetite it
+      was not even second in importance to bread. If bread was the "staff of
+      life" meat was life itself to Si. It didn't make much difference to him
+      what kind it was, only so it was meat. He didn't suppose Uncle Sam would
+      keep him supplied with quail on toast and porterhouse steaks all the time,
+      but he did hope he would give him as much as he wanted of something in
+      that line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You won't get much pork, unless you're a good forager," said one of Si's
+      friends he met at Louisville, and who had been a year in the service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought he might, with practice and a little encouragement, be fairly
+      successful in foraging on his' own hook, but at the same time he said he
+      wouldn't grumble if he could only get plenty of pork. Fortunately for him
+      he had not been imbued with the teachings of the Hebraic dispensation
+      which declared "unclean" the beast that furnished the great bulk of the
+      animal food for the American defenders of the Union.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Co. Q of the 200th Ind. received with the first issue of army rations at
+      Louisville a bountiful supply of bacon of prime quality, and Si was happy
+      at the prospect. He thought it would always be that way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't see anything the matter with such grub as that!" said Si. "Looks
+      to me as though we were goin' to live like fighting-cocks."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You're just a little bit brash," said his veteran friend, who had just
+      been through the long, hungry march from Huntsville, Ala., to Louisville.
+      "Better eat all you can lay yer hands on now, while ye've got a chance.
+      One o' these days ye'll git into a tight place and ye won't see enough
+      hog's meat in a week to grease a griddle. I've bin there, myself! Jest
+      look at me and see what short rations 'll bring you to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si thought he wouldn't try to cross a bridge till he got to it, nor
+      lie awake nights worrying over troubles that were yet in the future. Si
+      had a philosophical streak in his mental make-up and this, by the way, was
+      a good thing for a soldier to have. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
+      thereof," was an excellent rule for him to go by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Si assimilated all the pork that fell to his share, with an extra bit
+      now and then from a comrade whose appetite was less vigorous. He thrived
+      under its fructifying influence, and gave good promise of military
+      activity and usefulness. No scientific processes of cookery were necessary
+      to prepare it for immediate use. A simple boiling or frying or toasting
+      was all that was required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/049.jpg" alt="The Veteran Talks to si 049 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      During the few days at Louisville fresh beef was issued occasionally. It
+      is true that the animals slain for the soldiers were not always fat and
+      tender, nor did each of them have four hind-quarters. This last fact was
+      the direct cause of a good deal of inflammation in the 200th Ind., as in
+      every other regiment. The boys who got sections of the forward part of the
+      "critter," usually about three-quarters bone, invariably kicked, and fired
+      peppery remarks at those who got the juicy steaks from the rear portion of
+      the animal. Then when their turn came for a piece of hind-quarter the
+      other fellows would growl. Four-fifths of the boys generally had to
+      content themselves with a skinny rib or a soupshank. Si shared the common
+      lot, and did his full quota of grumbling because his "turn" for a slice of
+      steak didn't come every time beef was issued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pickled pork was comparatively free from this cause of irritation. It
+      was all alike, and was simply "Hobson's choice." Si remembered the
+      fragrant and delicious fried ham that so often garnished his mother's
+      breakfast table and wondered why there was not the same proportion of hams
+      and sides in the Commissary that he remembered in the meathouse on the
+      Wabash. He remarked to Shorty one day:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I wonder where all this pork comes from?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It comes from Illinoy, I suppose," said Shorty. "I notice the barrels are
+      all marked 'Chicago'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Must grow funny kind o' hogs out there&mdash;a mile long each, I should
+      say. What do you mean?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, we've drawn a full mile o' sides from the Commissary, and haint
+      struck a ham yit. I'm wonderin' jest how long that hog is!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, you are green. You oughter know by this time that there are only
+      enough hams for the officers."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now and then a few pigs' shoulders were handed round among the boys, but
+      the large proportion of bone they contained was exasperating, and was the
+      cause of much profanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes bacon was issued that had really outlived its usefulness,
+      except, perhaps, for the manufacture of soap. Improperly "cured," it was
+      strong and rancid, or, occasionally, so near a condition of putrefaction
+      that the stench from it offended the nostrils of the whole camp. Some
+      times it was full of "skippers," that tunneled their way through and
+      through it, and grew fat with riotous living.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/051.jpg" alt="Drawing Rations 051 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si drew the line at this point. He had an ironplated stomach, but putrid
+      and maggoty meat was too much for it. Whenever he got any of this he would
+      trade it off to the darkies for chickens. There is nothing like pork for a
+      Southern negro. He wants something that will "stick to his ribs."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a gradual process of development his appetite reached the point when he
+      could eat his fat pork perfectly raw. During a brief halt when on the
+      march he would squat in a fence corner, go down into his haversack for
+      supplies, cut a slice of bacon, lay it on a hardtack, and munch them with
+      a keen relish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/052.jpg" alt="'all Right, Boss; Dats a Go' 052 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      At one of the meetings of the Army of the Cumberland Gen. Garfield told a
+      story which may appropriately close this chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day, while the Army of the Cumberland was beleaguered in Chattanooga
+      and the men were almost starving on quarter rations, Gen. Rosecrans and
+      his staff rode out to inspect the lines. As the brilliant cavalcade dashed
+      by a lank, grizzled soldier growled to a comrade:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It'd be a darned sight better for this army if we had a little more
+      sowbelly and not quite so many brass buttons!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. DETAILED AS COOK&mdash;SI FINDS RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CUSSEDNESS IN IT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IT WOULD have been very strange, indeed, if Si Klegg had not grumbled
+      loudly and frequently about the food that was dished up to him by the
+      company cooks. In the first place, it was as natural for a boy to grumble
+      at the "grub" as it was for him to try to shirk battalion drill or "run
+      the guard." In the next place, the cooking done by the company bean-boiler
+      deserved all the abuse it received, for as a rule the boys who sought
+      places in the hash foundry did so because they were too lazy to drill or
+      do guard duty, and their knowledge of cooking was about like that of the
+      Irishman's of music:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can you play the fiddle, Pat?" he was asked. "Oi don't know, sor-r-r&mdash;Oi
+      niver tried."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's mother, like most of the well-to-do farmers' wives in Indiana, was
+      undoubtedly a good cook, and she trained up her daughters to do honor to
+      her teachings, so that Si undoubtedly knew what properly-prepared food
+      was. From the time he was big enough to spank he had fared sumptuously
+      every day. In the gush of patriotic emotions that prompted him to enlist
+      he scarcely thought of this feature of the case. If it entered his mind at
+      all, he felt that he could safely trust all to the goodness of so
+      beneficent a Government as that for the preservation of which he had
+      offered himself as a target for the rebels to shoot at. He thought it no
+      more than fair to the brave soldiers that Uncle Sam should furnish
+      professional cooks for each company, who would serve everything up in the
+      style of a first-class city restaurant. So, after Si got down among the
+      boys and found how it really was, it was not long till his inside was a
+      volcano of rebellion that threatened serious results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/055.jpg" alt="Si Falls out With his Food 055 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      When, therefore, Si lifted up his voice and cried aloud, and spared not&mdash;when
+      he said that he could get as good coffee as that furnished him by dipping
+      his cup into a tan-vat; when he said that the meat was not good
+      soap-grease, and that the potatoes and beans had not so much taste and
+      nutrition in them as so much pine-shavings, he was probably nearer right
+      than grumblers usually are.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Give it to 'em, Si," his comrades would Say, when he turned up his loud
+      bazoo on the rations question. "They ought to get it ten times worse. When
+      we come out we expected that some of us would get shot by the rebels, but
+      we didn't calculate that we were going to be poisoned in camp by a lot of
+      dirty, lazy potwrastlers."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning after roll-call the Orderly-Sergeant came up to Si and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's been so much chin-music about this cooking-business that the
+      Captain's ordered the cooks to go back to duty, and after this
+      everybody'll have to take his regular turn at cooking. It'll be your turn
+      to-day, and you'll stay in camp and get dinner."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Co. Q marched out for the forenoon drill. Si pulled off his blouse
+      and set down on a convenient log to think out how he should go to work. Up
+      to this time he had been quite certain that he knew all about cooking that
+      it was worth while to know. Just now none of his knowledge seemed to be in
+      usable shape, and the more he thought about it the less able he seemed to
+      be to decide upon any way of beginning. It had always appeared very easy
+      for his mother and sisters to get dinner, and on more than one occasion he
+      had reminded them how much better times they had staying in the house
+      cooking dinner than he had out in the harvest field keeping up with the
+      reaper. At this moment he would rather have kept up with the fastest
+      reaper in Posey County, on the hottest of July days, than to have cooked
+      the coarse dinner which his 75 comrades expected to be ready for them when
+      they returned, tired, hot and hungry, from the morning drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/057.jpg" alt="Si Thinks It over 057 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      He went back to the barracks and inspected the company larder. He found
+      there the same old, coarse, greasy, strong, fat pork, a bushel or so of
+      beans, a few withered potatoes, sugar, coffee, bread, and a box of rice
+      which had been collected from the daily rations because none of the cooks
+      knew how to manage it. The sight of the South Carolina staple recalled the
+      delightful rice puddings his mother used to make. His heart grew buoyant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here's just the thing," he said. "I always was fond of rice, and I know
+      the boys will be delighted with it for a change. I know I can cook it; for
+      all that you've got to do is to put it in a pot with water and boil it
+      till it is done. I've seen mother do that lots o' times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's see," he said, pursuing his ruminations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think each boy can eat about a cupful, so I'll put one for each of 'em
+      in the kettle."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's one for Abner," he continued, pouring a cupful in for the first
+      name on the company-roll; "one for Acklin, one for Adams, one for Barber,
+      one for Brooks," and so on down through the whole well-known list.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It fills the old kettle tol'bly full," he remarked, as he scanned the
+      utensil after depositing the contribution for Williams, the last name on
+      the roll; "but I guess she'll stand it. I've heard mother tell the girls
+      that they must always keep the rice covered with water, and stir it well,
+      so that it wouldn't burn; so here goes. Won't the boys be astonished when
+      they have a nice mess of rice, as a change from that rusty old side-meat!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He hung the kettle on the fire and stepped out to the edge of the
+      parade-ground to watch the boys drilling. It was the first time he had had
+      the sensation of pleasure of seeing them at this without taking part in it
+      himself, and he began to think that he would not mind if he had to cook
+      most of the time. He suddenly remembered about his rice and hurried back
+      to find it boiling, bulging over the top like a small snowdrift.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/059.jpg" alt="The Trouble Begins 059 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I was afraid that kettle was a little too full," he said to himself,
+      hurrying off for another campkettle, in which he put about a third of the
+      contents of the first. "Now they're all right. And it'll cook better and
+      quicker in two than one. Great Scott! what's the matter? They're both
+      boiling over. There must be something wrong with that rice."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pretty soon he had all the company kettles employed, and then all that he
+      could borrow from the other companies. But dip out as much as he would
+      there seemed no abatement in the upheaving of the snowy cereal, and the
+      kettles continued to foam over like so many huge glasses of soda water. He
+      rushed to his bunk and got his gum blanket and heaped upon it a pile as
+      big as a small haycock, but the mass in the kettle seemed larger than it
+      was before this was subtracted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sweat and dipped, and dipped and sweat; burned his hands into blisters
+      with the hot rice and hotter kettles, kicked over one of the largest
+      kettles in one of his spasmodic rushes to save a portion of the food that
+      was boiling over, and sent its white contents streaming over the ground.
+      His misery came to a climax as he heard the quick step of his hungry
+      comrades returning from drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right face; Arms a-port; Break ranks&mdash;March!" commanded the
+      Orderly-Sergeant, and there was a clatter of tin cups and plates as they
+      came rushing toward him to get their dinner&mdash;something to stay their
+      ravenous stomachs. There was a clamor of rage, ridicule, wrath and
+      disappointment as they took in the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/061.jpg" alt="The Rice Gets the Bulge 061 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "What's the matter here?" demanded the Captain, striding back to the
+      company fire. "You young rascal, is this the way you get dinner for your
+      comrades? Is this the way you attend to the duty for which you're
+      detailed? Waste rations in some fool experiment and scatter good food all
+      over the ground? Biler, put on your arms and take Klegg to the
+      guard-houae. I'll make you pay for this nonsense, sir, in a way that you
+      won't forget in a hurry, I'll be bound."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So poor Si marched to the guard-house, where he had to stay for 24 hours,
+      as a punishment for not knowing, until he found out by this experience,
+      that rice would "s-well." The Captain wouldn't let him have anything to
+      eat except that scorched and half-cooked stuff cut of the kettles, and Si
+      thought he never wanted to see any more rice as long as he lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/062.jpg"
+      alt="Si Makes the Acquaintance of The Guard House 062 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In the evening one of the boys took Si's blanket to him, thinking he would
+      want it to sleep in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell ye, pard, this is purty derned tough!" said Si as he wiped a tear
+      out of the southwest corner of his left eye with the sleeve of his blouse.
+      "I think the Cap'n's hard on a feller who didn't mean to do nothin'
+      wrong!" And Si looked as if he had lost all his interest in the old flag,
+      and didn't care a pinch of his burnt rice what became of the Union.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His comrade "allowed" that it was hard, but supposed they, had got to get
+      used to such things. He said he heard the Captain say he would let Si out
+      the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI HAS MANY TRIBULATIONS LEARNING THE MANUAL OP ARMS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      WHEN Si Klegg went into active service with Co. Q of the 200th Ind. his
+      ideas of drill and tactics were exceedingly vague. He knew that a "drill"
+      was something to make holes with, and as he understood that he had been
+      sent down South to make holes through people, he supposed drilling had
+      something to do with it. He handled his musket very much as he would a
+      hoe. A "platoon" might be something to eat, for all he knew. He had a
+      notion that a "wheel" was something that went around, and he thought a
+      "file" was a screeching thing that his father used once a year to sharpen
+      up the old buck saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact was that Si and his companions hardly had a fair shake in this
+      respect, and entered the field at a decided disadvantage. It had been
+      customary for a regiment to be constantly drilled for a month or two in
+      camp in its own State before being sent to the front; but the 200th was
+      rushed off to Kentucky the very day it was mustered in. This was while the
+      cold chills were running up and down the backs of the people in the North
+      on account of the threatened invasion by Bragg's army. The regiment pushed
+      after the fleeing rebels, but whenever Suell's army halted to take breath,
+      "Fall in for drill!" was shouted through its camp three or four times a
+      day. It was liable to be called into action at any moment, and it was
+      deemed indispensable to begin at once the process of making soldiers out
+      of those tender-footed Hoosiers, whose zeal and patriotism as yet far
+      exceeded their knowledge of military things. Most of the officers of the
+      200th were as green as the men, though some of them had seen service in
+      other regiments; so, at first, officers and non-commissioned officers who
+      had been in the field a few months and were considered veterans, and who
+      knew, or thought they knew, all about tactics that was worth knowing, were
+      detailed from the old regiments to put the boys through a course of
+      sprouts in company and squad drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning three or four days after leaving Louisville, word was passed
+      around that the regiment would not move that day, and the boys were so
+      glad at the prospect of a day of rest that they wanted to get right up and
+      yell. Si was sitting on a log, with his shoes off, rubbing his aching
+      limbs and nursing his blisters, when the Orderly came along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Co. Q, be ready in 10 minutes to fall in for drill. Stir around, you men,
+      and get your traps on. Klegg, put on them gunboats, and be lively about
+      it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Orderly," said Si, looking as if he hadn't a friend on earth, "just look
+      at them blisters; I can't drill to-day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'll have to or go to the guard-house," was the reply. "You'd better
+      hustle yourself, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't think of anything to say that would do justice to his
+      feelings; and so, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a few muttered
+      words that he didn't learn in Sunday school, he got ready to take his
+      place in the company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a general combustion of powder by the armies of Buell and Bragg was
+      hourly expected, it was thought best for the 200th to learn first
+      something about shooting. If called suddenly into action it was believed
+      the boys could "git thar," though they had not yet mastered the science of
+      company and battalion evolutions. Co. Q was divided into squads of eight
+      for exercise in the manual of arms. The man who took Si's squad was a
+      grizzled Sergeant, who had been "lugging knapsack, box and gun" for a
+      year. He fully realized his important and responsible functions as
+      instructor of these innocent youths, having at the same time a supreme
+      contempt for their ignorance. "Attention, Squad!" and they all looked at
+      him in a way that meant business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/067.jpg" alt="'right Shoulder Shift--arms!' 067 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Load in nine times&mdash;Load!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't quite understand what the "in" meant, but he had always been
+      handy with a shotgun, to the terror of the squirrels and coons up in Posey
+      County, and he thought he would show the Sergeant how spry he was. So he
+      rammed in a cartridge, put on a cap, held up his musket, and blazed away,
+      and then went to loading again as if his life depended upon his activity.
+      For an instant the Sergeant was speechless with amazement. At length his
+      tongue was loosened, and he roared out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the name of General Jackson are you doing, you measly idiot! Who
+      ordered you to load and fire your piece?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I&mdash;I th&mdash;thought you did!" said Si, trembling as if he had the
+      Wabash ague. "You said for us to load nine times. I thought nine loads
+      would fill 'er chuck full and bust 'er and I didn't see any way but to
+      shute 'em oft as fast as I got 'em in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, sir! I gave the command according to Hardee, 'Load&mdash;in&mdash;nine&mdash;times!'
+      and ef yer hadn't bin in such a hurry you'd 'a' found out what that means.
+      Yer'll git along a good deal faster ef you'll go slower. Yer ought ter be
+      made ter carry a rail, and a big one, for two hours."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si protested that he was sorry, and didn't mean to, and wouldn't do so
+      again, and the drill went on. The master went through all the nine "times"
+      of "Handle&mdash;Cartridge!" "Draw&mdash;Rammer!" etc., each with its two
+      or three "motions." It seemed like nonsense to Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Boss," said he, "I kin get 'er loaded in just half the time ef yer'll let
+      me do it my own way!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Silence!"' thundered the Sergeant. "If you speak another word I'll have
+      ye gagged 'n' tied up by the thumbs!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had always been used to speaking right out when he had anything to say,
+      and had not yet got his "unruly member" under thorough subjection. He saw
+      that it wouldn't do to fool with the Drill Sergeant, however, and he held
+      his peace. But Si kept thinking that if he got into a fight he would ram
+      in the cartridge and fire them out as fast as he could, without bothering
+      his head about the "one time and three motions."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/069.jpg" alt="'fix--bayonets!' 069 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Order&mdash;Arms!" commanded the Sergeant, after he had explained how it
+      was to be done. Si brought his gun down along with the rest like a
+      pile-driver, and it landed squarely on the foot of the man next to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/065.jpg" alt="Brought his Gun Down on the Man's Foot 065 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Ou-ou-ouch!" remarked the victim of Si's inexperience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Didn't do it a'purpose, pard," said Si compassionately; "'pon my word I
+      didn't. I'll be more keerful after this."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His suffering comrade, in very pointed language, urged upon Si the
+      propriety of exercising a little more care. He determined that he would
+      manage to get some other fellow to stand next to Si after that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" ordered the Sergeant, and the guns came straggling
+      up into position. Then, after a few words of instruction, "Right shoulder
+      shift&mdash;Arms!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't you know your right shoulder?" said the Sergeant, with a good deal
+      of vinegar in his tone, to Si, who had his gun on the "larboard" side, as
+      a sailor would say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Beg yer pardon," said Si; "I always was lefthanded. I'll learn if yer
+      only gimme a show!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Silence!" again roared the Sergeant. "One more word, sir, and I will tie
+      ye up, fer a fact!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sergeant got his squad down to an "order arms" again, and then, after
+      showing them how, he gave the order, "Fix&mdash;Bayonets!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was the usual clicking and clattering, during which Si dexterously
+      managed to stick his bayonet into the eye of his comrade, whose toes were
+      still aching from the blow of the butt of Si's musket. Si assured him he
+      was sorry, and that it was all a mistake, but his comrade thought the
+      limit of patience had been passed. So he confidently informed Si that as
+      soon as drill was over he was going to "pound the stuffin'" out of him,
+      and there wouldn't be any mistake about it, either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the hour was up the Captain of the company came around to see how the
+      boys were getting along. The upshot of it was that poor Si was immediately
+      organized into an "awkward squad" all by himself, and drilled an extra
+      hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll see, Mr. Klegg," said the Captain, "if you can't learn to handle
+      your arms without mashing the toes and stabbing the eyes out of the rest
+      of the company."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. ON COMPANY DRILL
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI GETS TANGLED IN THE MAZES OF THE EVOLUTIONS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "ALL in for company drill!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These words struck the unwilling ears of Co. Q, 200th Ind., the next time
+      Buell halted his army to draw a long breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wish somebody would shoot that durned Orderly," muttered Si Klegg. "For
+      two cents I'd do it myself."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't do it, Si," admonished Shorty, "They'd git another one that'd be
+      just as bad. All orderlies are cusses."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si believed it would be a case of justifiable homicide, and, if the truth
+      must be told, this feeling was largely shared by the other members of the
+      company. For more than a week the boys had been tramping over a
+      "macadamized" Kentucky pike. Feet were plentifully decorated with
+      blisters, legs were stiff and sore, and joints almost refused to perform
+      their functions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had rained nearly all the previous day, and the disgusted Hoosiers of
+      the 200th went sloshing along, wet to the skin, for 20 dreary miles. With
+      that diabolical care and method that were generally practiced at such
+      times, the Generals selected the worst possible locations for the camps.
+      The 200th was turned into a cornfield, where the men sank over their
+      shoetops in mud, and were ordered to bivouac for the night. The wagons
+      didn't get up at all. How they passed the slowly-dragging hours of that
+      dismal night will not be told at this time. Indeed, bare mention is enough
+      to recall the scene to those who have "been there."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/073.jpg" alt="Don't Care a Continental 073 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In the morning, when the company was ordered out for drill, Si Klegg was
+      standing before the sputtering fire trying to dry his steaming clothes,
+      every now and then turning around to give the other side a chance. The
+      mercury in his individual thermometer had fallen to a very low point&mdash;in
+      fact, it was a cold day for Si's patriotism. He had reached that stage,
+      not by any means infrequent among the soldiers, when he "didn't care
+      whether school kept or not."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Si, I s'pose you love your country this mornin'!" said Shorty. He
+      was endeavoring to be cheerful under adverse circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I ain't quite as certain about it," said Si, reflectively, "as I was when
+      I left home, up in Posey County. I'm afeared I haven't got enough of it to
+      last me through three years of this sort of thing!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt at that moment as though he was of no account for anything, unless
+      it was to be decked with paint and feathers and stood for a sign in front
+      of a cigar store.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain had ceased, and the Colonel of the 200th felt that he must, like
+      the busy bee, "improve each shining hour" in putting his command into
+      condition for effective service. So he told the Adjutant to have the
+      companies marched over to an adjacent pasture for drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Attention, Co. Q!" shouted the Captain, after the Orderly had got the
+      boys limbered up enough to get into ranks. The Captain didn't know very
+      much about drilling himself, but he had been reading up "Hardee," and
+      thought he could handle the company; but it was a good deal like the blind
+      trying to lead the blind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right&mdash;Face!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not quite half the men faced the wrong way, turning to the left instead of
+      the right, which was doing pretty well for a starter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Get around there, Klegg, and the rest of you fellows! Can't ye ever learn
+      anything."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/075.jpg" alt="'right--face!' 075 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si was so particularly awkward that the Captain put him at the tail-end of
+      the company. Then he tried the right face again, and as the boys seemed to
+      get around in fair shape he commanded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right shoulder shift arms! Forward&mdash;March!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The company started off; but the Captain was not a little surprised, on
+      looking back, to see Si marching: off in the opposite direction. He had
+      faced the wrong way again, and, as he didn't see the others, he thought he
+      was all right, and away he went on his own hook, till a shout from the
+      Captain told him of his mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/076.jpg" alt="'forward--march!' 076 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      When the Captain reached the field which was the drill-ground for the day,
+      he thought he would try a wheel. After a brief lecture to the company on
+      the subject he gave the command for the movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/077.jpg" alt="'company--right Wheel!' 077 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      It is scarcely necessary to say that the first trial was a sad failure.
+      The line bulged out in the center, and the outer flank, unable to keep up,
+      fell behind, the company assuming nearly the shape of a big letter C. Then
+      the boys on the outer end took the double-quick, cutting across the arc of
+      the proper circle, which soon resulted in a hopeless wreck of the whole
+      company. The Captain halted the chaotic mass of struggling men, and with
+      the help of the Orderly finally succeeded in getting them straightened out
+      and into line again. The men had often seen practiced soldiers going
+      through this most difficult of all tactical movements, and it seemed easy
+      enough; they didn't see why they couldn't do it just as well as the other
+      fellows. They kept at it, and in the course of half an hour had improved
+      so much that they could swing around in some kind of shape without the
+      line breaking to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. SI GETS A LETTER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND WRITES ONE TO PRETTY ANNABEL, UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "COMPANY Q, tumble up here and git yer mail!" shouted the Orderly one
+      afternoon, soon after the 200th Ind. turned into a tobacco patch to
+      bivouac for the night. It had been two weeks since the regiment left
+      Louisville, and this was the first mail that had caught up with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to the boys as if they had been away from home a year. For a
+      whole fortnight they hadn't heard a word from their mothers, or sisters,
+      or their "girls." Si Klegg couldn't have felt more lonesome and forsaken
+      if he had been Robinson Crusoe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the excitement of distributing the mail everything else was forgotten..
+      The boys were all getting their suppers, but at the thought of letters
+      from home even hunger had to take a back seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si left his coffee-pot to tip over into the fire, and his bacon sizzling
+      in the frying-pan, as he elbowed his way into the crowd that huddled
+      around the Orderly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If there ain't more'n one letter for me," said Si softly to himself, "I
+      hope it'll be from Annabel; but, of course, I'd like to hear from Ma and
+      sister Marier, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly, with a big package of letters in his hand, was calling out
+      the names, and as the boys received their letters they distributed
+      themselves through the camp, squatting about on rails or on the ground,
+      devouring with the greatest avidity the welcome messages from home. The
+      camp looked as if there had been a snowstorm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si waited anxiously to hear his name called as the pile letters rapidly
+      grew smaller, and he began to think he was going to get left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Josiah Klegg!" at length shouted the Orderly, as he held out two letters.
+      Si snatched them from his hand, went off by himself, and sat down on a
+      log.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked at his letters and saw that one of them was addressed in a
+      pretty hand. He had never received a letter from Annabel before, but he
+      "felt it in his bones" that this one was from her. He glanced around to be
+      certain nobody was looking at him, and gently broke the seal, while a
+      ruddy glow overspread his beardless cheeks. But he was secure from
+      observation, as everybody else was similarly intent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear Si," the letter began. He didn't have to turn over to the bottom of
+      the last page to know what name he would find there. He read those words
+      over and over a dozen times, and they set his nerves tingling clear down
+      to his toe-nails. Si forgot his aches and blisters as he read on through
+      those delicious lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/081.jpg" alt="It's from Annabel 081 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      She wrote how anxious she was to hear from him and how cruel it was of him
+      not to write to her real often; how she lay awake nights thinking about
+      him down among those awful rebels; how she supposed that by this time he
+      must be full of bullet-holes; and didn't he ge' hungry sometimes, and
+      wasn't it about time for him to get a furlough? how it was just too mean
+      for anything that those men down South had to get up a war; how proud she
+      was of Si because he had 'listed, and how she watched the newspapers every
+      day to find some thing about him; how she wondered how many rebels he had
+      killed, and if he had captured any batteries yet&mdash;she said she didn't
+      quite know what batteries were, but she read a good deal about capturing
+      'em, and she supposed it was something all the soldiers did; how she hoped
+      he wouldn't forget her, and she'd like to see how he looked, now that he
+      was a real soldier, and her father had sold the old "mooley" cow, and
+      Sally Perkins was engage to Jim Johnson, who had stayed at home, and as
+      for herself she wouldn't have anybody but a soldier about the size of Si,
+      and 'Squire Jones's son had been trying to shine up to her and cut Si out,
+      but she sent him off with a flea in his ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yours till deth, Annabel."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact that there was a word misspelt now and then did not detract in
+      the least from the letter, so pleasing to Si. In fact, he was a little
+      lame in orthography himself, so that he had neither the ability nor the
+      disposition to scan Annabel's pages with a critic's eye. Si was happy, and
+      as he began to cast about for his supper he even viewed with complacence
+      his bacon burned to a crisp and his capsized coffee-pot helplessly melting
+      away in the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Si, what does she say?" said his friend Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What does who say?" replied Si, getting red in the face, and bristling up
+      and trying to assume an air of indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Just look here now. Si," said Shorty, "you can't play that on me. How
+      about that rosy-cheeked girl up in Posey County?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Si's tender spot. He hadn't got used to that sort of thing yet, and
+      he felt that the emotions that made his heart throb like a sawmill were
+      too sacred to be fooled with. Impelled by a sudden impulse he smote Shorty
+      fairly between the eyes, felling him to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly, who happened to be near, took Si by the ear and marched him
+      up to the Captain's quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have him carry a rail in front of my tent for an hour!" thundered the
+      Captain. "Don't let it be a splinter, either; pick out a good, heavy one.
+      And, Orderly, detail a guard to keep Mr. Klegg moving."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/083.jpg" alt="Si Carries a Rail 083 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Of course, it was very mortifying to Si, and he would have been almost
+      heartbroken had he not been comforted by the thought that it was all for
+      her! At first he felt as if he would like to take that rail and charge
+      around and destroy the whole regiment; but, on thinking it over, he made
+      up his mind that discretion was the better part of valor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Si's hour was up, and he had eaten supper and "made up" with
+      Shorty, he set about answering his letter. When, on his first march, Si
+      cleaned out all the surplusage from his knapsack, he had hung on to a
+      pretty portfolio that his sister gave him. This was stocked with postage
+      stamps and writing materials, including an assortment of the envelopes of
+      the period, bearing in gaudy colors National emblems, stirring legends,
+      and harrowing scenes of slaughter, all intended to stimulate the patriotic
+      impulses and make the breast of the soldier a very volcano of martial
+      ardor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Si got out his nice portfolio he found it to be an utter wreck. It
+      had been jammed into a shapeless mass, and, besides this, it had been
+      soaked with rain; paper and envelopes were a pulpy ruin, and the postage
+      stamps were stuck around here and there in the chaos. It was plain that
+      this memento of home had fallen an early victim to the hardships of
+      campaign life, and that its days of usefulness were over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's no use; 'tain't any good," said Si sorrowfully, as he tossed the
+      debris into the fire, after vainly endeavoring to save from the wreck
+      enough to carry, out his epistolary scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he went to the sutler&mdash;or "skinner," as he was better known&mdash;and
+      paid 10 cents for a sheet of paper and an envelope, on which were the
+      cheerful words, "It is sweet to die for one's country!" and 10 cents more
+      for a 3-cent postage stamp. He borrowed a leadpencil, hunted up a piece of
+      crackerbox, and sat down to his work by the flickering light of the fire.
+      Si wrote:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Deer Annie."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There he stopped, and while he was scratching his head and thinking what
+      he would say next the Orderly came around detailing guards for the night,
+      and directed Klegg to get his traps and report at once for duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/085.jpg" alt="Si Writes to 'deer Annie.' 085 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "It hain't my turn," said Si. "There's Bill Brown, and Jake Schneider, and
+      Pat Dooley, and a dozen more&mdash;I've been since they have!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Orderly did not even deign to reply. Si remembered the
+      guard-house, and his shoulder still ached from the rail he had carried
+      that evening; so he quietly folded up his paper and took his place with
+      the detail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning the army moved early, and Si had no chance to resume his
+      letter. As soon as the regiment halted, after an 18-mile march, he tackled
+      it again. This time nothing better offered in the way of a writing-desk
+      than a tin plate, which he placed face downward upon his knee. Thus
+      provided, Si plunged briskly into the job before him, with the following
+      result:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I now take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well, except the
+      doggoned blisters on my feet, and I hope these few lines may find you
+      enjoying the same blessings."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought this was neat and a good start for his letter. Just as he had
+      caught an idea for the next sentence a few scattering shots were heard on
+      the picket-line, and in an instance the camp was in commotion. "Tall in!"
+      "Be lively, men!" were heard on every hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang as if he had received a galvanic shock, cramming the letter into
+      his pocket. Of course, there wasn't any fight. It was only one of the
+      scares that formed so large a part of that campaign. But it spoiled Si's
+      letter-writing for the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nearly a week before he got his letter done. He wrote part of it
+      using for a desk the back of a comrade who was sitting asleep by the fire.
+      He worked at it whenever he could catch a few minutes between the marches
+      and the numerous details for guard, picket, fatigue and other duty. He
+      said to Annie:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/087.jpg" alt="An Army Writing-desk 087 " /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Bein' a soljer aint quite what they crack it up to be when
+     they're gittin' a fellow to enlist. It's mity rough, and
+     you'd better believe it. You ought to be glad you're a gurl
+     and don't haf to go. I wish't I was a gurl sometimes. I
+     haven't kild enny rebbles yet. I hain't even seen one except
+     a fiew raskils that was tuk in by the critter soljers, they
+     calls em cavilry. Me and all the rest of the boys wants to
+     hav a fite, but it looks like Ginral Buil was afeared, and
+     we don't git no chance. I axed the Ordly couldn't he get me
+     a furlow. The Ordly jest laft and says to me, Si, says he,
+     yer don't know as much as a mule. The Capt'n made me walk up
+     and down for an hour with a big rail on my sholder.
+
+     "You tell Squire Joneses boy that he haint got sand enuff to
+     jine the army, and if he don't keep away from you I'll bust
+     his eer when I git home, if I ever do. Whattle you do if I
+     shouldn't ever see you agin? But you no this glorus Govyment
+     must be pertected, and the bully Stars and Strips must
+     flote, and your Si is goin to help do it.
+
+          "My pen is poor, my ink is pale,
+          My luv for you shall never fale.
+
+     "Yours, aflfeckshnitly, Si Klegg."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. SI AND THE DOCTORS
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HE JOINS THE PALE PROCESSION AT SICK-CALL.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      SI KLEGG was a good specimen of a healthy, robust Hoosier lad&mdash;for he
+      could scarcely be called' a man yet. Since he lay in his cradle and was
+      dosed with paregoric and catnip tea like other babies, he had never seen a
+      sick day, except when he had the mumps on "both sides" at once. He had
+      done all he could to starve the doctors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th Ind. took the field it had the usual outfit of men who
+      wrote their names sandwiched between a military title in front and "M. D."
+      behind, a big hospital tent, and an apothecary shop on wheels, loaded to
+      the guards with quinine, blue-mass, castor oil, epsom salts, and all other
+      devices to assuage the sufferings of humanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys all started out in good shape, and there had been hardly time for
+      them to get sick much yet. So up to this stage of the regiment's history
+      the doctors had found little to do but issue arnica and salve for lame
+      legs and blistered feet, and strut around in their shiny uniforms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there came a day when they had all they could attend to. On going into
+      camp one afternoon, the regiment, well in advance, struck a big field of
+      green corn and an orchard of half-ripe apples. Of course, the boys sailed
+      in, and natural consequences followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now this is something like!" said Si, as he squatted on the ground along
+      with Shorty and half a dozen messmates. They surrounded a camp-kettle full
+      of steaming ears and half a bushel or so of apples heaped on a poncho.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wish we had some o' mother's butter to grease this corn with," observed
+      Si, as he flung a cob into the fire and seized a fresh ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All agreed that Si's head was level on the butter question, but under all
+      the circumstances of the case they were glad enough to have the com
+      without butter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ears went off with amazing rapidity. Every man seemed to be afraid he
+      wouldn't get his share. When the kettle was empty the boys turned
+      themselves loose on the apples, utterly reckless of results. So, they were
+      filled full, and were thankful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Si got up he burst off half the buttons on his clothes. He looked as
+      if he was carrying a bass-drum in front of him. After he began to shrink
+      he had to tie up his clothes with a string until he had a chance to repair
+      damages. But during the next 24 hours he had something else to think of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, it wasn't long till Si began to wish he had eaten an ear of corn
+      and an apple or two less. He didn't feel very well. He turned in early,
+      thinking he would go to sleep and be all right in the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Along in the night he uttered a yell that came near stampeding the
+      company. An enormous colic was raging around in his interior, and Si
+      fairly howled with pain. He thought he was going: to die right away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/091.jpg" alt="Laying the Foundation 091 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said he, between the gripes, to his comrade, "I'm afeared I'm
+      goin' to peter out. After I'm gone you write to&mdash;to&mdash;Annie and
+      tell her I died for my country like a man. I'd ruther been shot than die
+      with the colic, but I 'spose 'twont make much difference after it's all
+      over!" 9 "I'll do it," replied Shorty. "We'll plant you in good shape; and
+      Si, we'll gather up the corn-cobs and build a monument over you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si wasn't cut off in the bloom of youth by that colic. His eruptive
+      condition frightened Shorty, however, and though he was in nearly as bad
+      shape himself, he went up and routed out one of the doctors, who growled a
+      good deal about being disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The debris of the supper scattered about the camp told him what was the
+      matter, and he had no need to make a critical diagnosis of Si's case. He
+      gave him a dose of something or other that made the pain let up a little,
+      and Si managed to rub along through the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately for Si, and for more than half the members of the regiment,
+      the army did not move next day, and the doctors had a good opportunity to
+      get in their work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the usual hour in the morning the bugle blew the "sick-call." A
+      regiment of tanned and grizzled veterans from Ohio lay next to the 200th
+      Ind., and as Si lay there he heard them take up the music:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Git yer qui-nine! Git yer qui-nine!
+     Tumble up you sick and lame and blind;
+     Git a-long right smart, you'll be left be-hind."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Fall in fer yer ipecac!" shouted the Orderly of Co. Q. Si joined the
+      procession and went wabbling up to the "doctor's" shop. He was better than
+      he had been during the night, but still looked a good deal discouraged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a regular matinee that day. The Surgeon and his assistants were all
+      on hand, as the various squads, colicky and cadaverous, came to a focus in
+      front of the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/093.jpg" alt="A Rude Awakening 093 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The doctors worked off the patients at a rapid rate, generally prescribing
+      the same medicine for all, no matter what ailed them. This was the way the
+      army doctors always did, but it happened in this case that they were not
+      far wrong, as the ailments, arising from a common cause, were much the
+      same.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si waited till his turn came, and received his rations from the Hospital
+      Steward. Of course, he was excused from duty for the day, and as he
+      speedily recovered his normal condition he really had a good time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/094.jpg" alt="Visits the Doctor 094 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A few days after this the whole regiment was ordered on fatigue duty to
+      repair an old corduroy road. Si didn't want to go, and "played off." He
+      told the Orderly he wasn't able to work, but the Orderly said he would
+      have to shoulder an ax or a shovel, unless he was excused by the doctor.
+      He went up at sick-call and made a wry face, with his hands clasped over
+      his body in the latitude of his waistband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor gave him a lot of blue-mass pills, which Si threw into the fire
+      as soon as he got back to his quarters. Then he played seven-up all day
+      with Shorty, who had learned before Si did how to get a day off when he
+      wanted it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought it was a great scheme, but he tried it once too often. The
+      doctor "caught on," and said, the next time Si went up, that castor oil
+      was what he needed to fetch him around. So he poured out a large dose and
+      made Si take it right then and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next time fatigue duty was ordered Si thought he felt well enough to
+      go along with the boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INTRODUCTION TO "ONE WHO STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER."
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "HELLO Si; goin' for a soljer, ain't ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You bet!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, you'd better b'lieve its great fun; it's jest a picnic all the
+      time! But, say, Si, let's see yer finger-nails!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like ter know what finger-nails 's got to do with soljerin'!" said
+      Si. "The 'cruitin' ossifer 'n' the man 't keeps the doctor shop made me
+      shuck myself, 'n' then they 'xamined my teeth, 'n' thumped me in the ribs,
+      'n' rubbed down my legs, 'n' looked at my hoofs, same 's if 'I'd bin a
+      hoss they wuz buyin', but they didn't say nothin' 'bout my finger-nails."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest do 's I tell ye; let 'em grow, 'n' keep 'em right sharp. Ye'll
+      find plenty o' use fer 'em arter a while, 'n' 'twont be long, nuther. I
+      know what I'm talkin' 'bout; I've been thar!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation took place a day or two before Si bade farewell to his
+      mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel and left the peaceful
+      precincts of Posey County to march away with the 200th Ind. for that awful
+      place vaguely designated as "the front!" He had promptly responded to the
+      call, and his name was near the top of the list of Company Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/097.jpg" alt="'let Yer Nails Grow; Ye'll Need 'em' 097 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si already had his blue clothes on. By enlisting early he had a good pick
+      of the various garments, and so got a suit that fitted his form&mdash;which
+      was plump as an apple-dumpling tolerably well. It was left for the
+      tail-enders of the company to draw trousers that were six inches too long
+      or too short, and blouses that either wouldn't reach around, and left
+      yawning chasms in front, or were so large that they looked as if they were
+      hung on bean-poles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, Si couldn't be expected to do any more plodding farm work, now
+      that he had "jined" the army. While the company was filling up he spent
+      most of his time on dress parade in the village near by, eliciting
+      admiring smiles from all the girls, and an object of the profoundest awe
+      and wonder to tha small boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day Si was sitting on the sugar-barrel in the corner grocery, gnawing
+      a "blind robin," and telling how he thought the war wouldn't last long
+      after the 200th Ind. got down there and took a hand and got fairly
+      interested in the game; they would wind it up in short meter. Such ardent
+      emotions always seethed and bubbled in the swelling breasts of the new
+      troops when they came down to show the veterans just how to do it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the town boys who had been a year in the service, had got a bullet
+      through his arm in a skirmish, and was at home on furlough, came into the
+      store, and then took place the dialog between him and Si that opens this
+      chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si wondered a good deal what the veteran meant about the finger-nails. He
+      did not even know that there existed in any nature a certain active and
+      industrious insect which, before he had been in the army a great while,
+      would cause his heart to overflow with gratitude to a beneficent
+      Providence for providing him with nails on his fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th left Indiana all the boys had, of course, brand-new outfits
+      right from Uncle Sam's great one-price clothing house. Their garments were
+      nice and clean, their faces well washed, and their hair yet showed marks
+      of the comb. At Louisville they stuck up their noses, with a lofty
+      consciousness of superiority, at the sight of Buell's tanned and ragged
+      tramps, who had just come up on the gallop from Tennessee and northern
+      Alabama.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/099.jpg" alt="'say, Cap, What Kind O' Bug is This?' 099 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      If the new Hoosier regiment had been quartered for a while in long-used
+      barracks, or had pitched its tents in an old camp, Si would very soon have
+      learned, in the school of experience, the delightful uses of finger-nails.
+      But the 200th stayed only a single night in Louisville and then joined the
+      procession that started on the chase after the rebel army. It generally
+      camped on new ground, and under these circumstances the insect to which
+      allusion has been made did not begin its work of devastation with that
+      suddenness that usually marked its attack upon soldiers entering the
+      field. But he never failed to "git there" sooner or later, and it was more
+      frequently sooner than later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One afternoon, when a few days out on this march, a regiment of Wisconsin
+      veterans bivouacked next to the 200th Ind. The strange antics as they
+      threw off their accouterments attracted Si's attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look a' thar," he said to Shorty. "What 'n name of all the prophets 's
+      them fellers up to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems like they was scratchin' theirselves!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I s'pose that's on account of the dust 'n' sweat," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's a mighty sight worse 'n that!" replied Shorty, who knew more about
+      these things than Si did. "I reckon we'll all be doin' like they are 'fore
+      long."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si whistled softly to himself as he watched the Wisconsin boys. They were
+      hitching and twisting their shoulders about, evidently enjoying the
+      friction of the clothing upon their skins. There was a general employment
+      of fingers, and often one would be seen getting come other fellow to
+      scratch his back around where he couldn't reach himself. If everybody was
+      too busy to do this for him he would back up to a tree and rub up and down
+      against the bark.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life has few pleasures that can equal the sensations of delightful
+      enjoyment produced in those days, when graybacks were plenty, by rubbing
+      against a tree that nicely fitted the hollow of the back, after throwing
+      off one's "traps" at the end of a day's march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Directly the Wisconsin chaps began to scatter into the woods. Si watched
+      them as they got behind the trees and threw off their blouses and shirts.
+      He thought at first that perhaps they were going in swimming, but there
+      was no stream of water at hand large enough to justify this theory in
+      explanation of their nudity. As each man set down, spread his nether
+      garment over his knees and appeared to be intently engaged, with eyes and
+      fingers. Si's curiosity was very much excited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Looks 's if they wuz all mendin' up their shirts and sewin' on buttons,"
+      said Si, "Guess it's part o' their regular drill, ain't it, Shorty?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty laughed at Si's ignorant simplicity. He knew what those veterans
+      were doing, and he knew that Si would have to come to it, but he didn't
+      want to shock his tender sensibilities by telling him of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them fellers ain't sewin' on no buttons. Si," he replied; "they're
+      skirmishin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Skirmishin'!" exclaimed Si, opening his eyes very wide. "I haint seen any
+      signs o' rebs 'round here, 'n' there aint any shootin' goin' on, 'nless
+      I've lost my hearin'. Durned if 't aint the funniest skirmishin' I ever
+      hearn tell of!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, don't ax me nuthin' more 'bout it, Si," said Shorty. "All I'm goin'
+      to tell ye is that the longer ye live the more ye'll find things out.
+      Let's flax 'round 'n' git supper!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little while after, as Si was squatting on the ground holding the
+      frying-pan over the fire, he saw a strange insect vaguely wandering about
+      on the sleeve of his blouse. It seemed to be looking for something, and Si
+      became interested as he watched it traveling up and down his arm. He had
+      never seen one like it before, and he thought he would like to know what
+      it was. He would have asked Shorty, but his comrade had gone to the spring
+      for water. Casting his eye around he saw the Captain, who chanced to be
+      sauntering through the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Captain of Co. Q had been the Principal of a seminary in Posey County,
+      and was looked upon with awe by the simple folk as a man who knew about
+      all that was worth knowing. Si thought he might be able to tell him all
+      about the harmless's-looking little stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he put down his frying-pan and stepped up to the Captain, holding out
+      his arm and keeping his eye on the insect so that he shouldn't get away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evenin', Cap.," said Si, touching his hat, and addressing him with
+      that familiar disregard of official dignity that characterised the average
+      volunteer, who generally felt that he was just as good as anybody who wore
+      shoulder straps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evening, Klegg," said the Captain, returning the salute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Cap, you've been ter collidge 'n' got filled up with book-larnin';
+      p'raps ye kin tell me what kind o' bug this is. I'm jest a little bit
+      curious to know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Si pointed to the object of his inquiry that was leisurely creeping
+      toward a hole in the elbow of his outer garment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Josiah," said the Captain, after a brief inspection, "I presume I
+      don't know quite as much as some people think I do; but I guess I can tell
+      you something about that insect. I never had any of them myself, but I've
+      read of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never had 'em himself," thought Si. "What 'n the world does ha mean?" And
+      Si's big eyes opened with wonder and fear at the thought that whatever it
+      was he had "got 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose," continued the Captain, "you would like to know the scientific
+      name?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n that'll do 's well 's any."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, sir, that is a Pediculus. That's a Latin word, but it's his name."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Purty big name fer such a leetle bug, ain't it, Perfessor?" observed Si.
+      "Name's big enough for an el'fant er a 'potamus."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/103.jpg" alt="'skirmishing' 103 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "It may seem so, Klegg; but when you get intimately acquainted with him I
+      think you will find that his name isn't any too large for him. There is a
+      good deal more of him than you think."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young soldier's eyes opened still wider.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was going on to tell you," continued the Captain, "that there are
+      several kinds of Pediculi&mdash;we don't say Pediculuses. There is the
+      Pediculus Capitis&mdash;Latin again&mdash;but it means the kind that lives
+      on the head. I presume when you were a little shaver your mother now and
+      then harrowed your head with a fine-tooth comb?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ya-as" said Si; "she almost took the hide off sometimes, an' made me yell
+      like an Injun."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Klegg, I don't wish to cause you unnecessary alarm, but I will say
+      that the head insect isn't a circumstance to this one on your arm. As you
+      would express it, perhaps, he can't hold a candle to him. This fellow is
+      the Pediculus Corporis!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I s'pose that means they eats up Corporals!" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I do not think the Pediculus Corporis confines himself exclusively to
+      Corporals, as his name might indicate," said the Captain, laughing at Si's
+      literal translation and his personal application of the word. "He no doubt
+      likes a juicy and succulent Corporal, but I don't believe he is any
+      respecter of persons. That's my opinion, from what I've heard about him.
+      It is likely that I 'will be able to speak more definitely, from
+      experience, after a while. Corporis means that he is the kind that
+      pastures on the human body. But there's one thing more about this fellow,
+      some call him Pediculus Vestimenti; that is because he lives around in the
+      clothing."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But we don't wear no vests," said Si, taking a practical view of this new
+      word; "nothin' but blouses, 'n' pants, 'n' shirts."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are too literal, Klegg. That word means any kind of clothes. But I
+      guess I've told you as much about him as you care to know at present. If
+      you want any more information, after two or three weeks, come and see me
+      again. I think by that time you will not find it necessary to ask any more
+      questions."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si went back to his cooking, with the Pediculus still on his arm. He
+      wanted to show it to Shorty. The Captain's profound explanation, with its
+      large words, was a little too much for Si. He did not yet clearly
+      comprehend the matter, and as he walked thoughtfully to where Shorty was
+      "bilin'" the coffee he was trying to get through his head what it all
+      meant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, Si," said Shorty; "whar ye bin? What d'ye mean, goin' off 'n'
+      leavin' yer sowbelly half done?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh-h!" replied Si. "Ye needn't git yer back up about it. Bin talkin' to
+      the Cap'n. Shorty, look at that 'ere bug!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Si pointed to the object of the Captain's lecture on natural history
+      that was still creeping on his arm. Shorty slapped his thigh and burst
+      into a loud laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Was that what ye went to see the Cap'n 'bout?" he asked as soon as he
+      could speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why&mdash;ya-as," replied Si, somewhat surprised at Shorty's unseemly
+      levity. "I saw that thing crawlin' round, 'n' I was a-wonderin' what it
+      was, fer I never seen one afore. I knowed Cap was a scolard, 'n' a
+      perfesser, 'n' all that 'n' I 'lowed he c'd tell me all about it. So I
+      went 'n' axed him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What'd he tell ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He told me lots o' big, heathenish words, 'n' said this bug was a
+      ridiculous, or suthin' like that."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Diculus be blowed!" said Shorty, "The ole man was a'stuffin' ye. I'll
+      tell ye what that is, Si," he added solemnly, "that's a grayback!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A grayback!" said Si. "I've hearn 'em call the Johnnies graybacks, but I
+      didn't know 's there was any other kind."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n 'twont be long, now, till yer catches on ter the meanin' ol what
+      a grayback is. Ye'll know all 'bout it purty sudden. This ain't the first
+      one I ever seen."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was impressed, as he had often been before, by Shorty's superior wisdom
+      and experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "See here. Si," Shorty continued, as his eye suddenly lighted up with a
+      brilliant thought, "I guess I kin make ye understand what a grayback is.
+      What d'ye call that coat ye've got on?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, that's a fool question; it's a blouse, of course!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jesso!" said Shorty. "Now, knock off the fust letter o' that word, 'n'
+      see what ye got left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked at Shorty as if he thought his conundrums were an indication of
+      approaching idiocy. Then he said, half to himself:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's see! Blouse&mdash;blouse&mdash;take off the 'b' 'n' she spells
+      l-o-u-s-e, louse! Great Scott, Shorty, is that a louse?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's jest the size of it. Si. Ye'll have millions of 'em 'fore the
+      war's over 'f they don't hurry up the cakes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked as if he would like to dig a hole in the ground, get into it,
+      and have Shorty cover him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why didn't the Cap'n tell me it was that? He said suthin' about ridiculus
+      corporalis, and I thought he was makin' fun o' me. He said these bugs
+      liked to eat fat Corporals.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n that's so," replied Shorty; "but they likes other people jest as
+      well&mdash;even a skinny feller like me. They lunches off'n privits, 'n'
+      Corp'rils, 'n' Kurnals, 'n' Gin'rals, all the same. They ain't satisfied
+      with three square meals a day, nuther; they jest eats right along all the
+      time 'tween regular meals. They allus gits hungry in the night, too, and
+      chaws a feller up while he sleeps. They don't give ye no show at all. I
+      rayther think the graybacks likes the ossifers best if they could have
+      their ch'ice, 'cause they's fatter 'n the privits; they gits better grub."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si fairly turned pale as he contemplated the picture so graphically
+      portrayed by Shorty. The latter's explanation was far more effectual in
+      letting the light in upon Si's mind than the scientific disquisition of
+      the "Perfesser." He had now a pretty clear idea of what a "grayback" was.
+      Whatever he lacked to make his knowledge complete was soon supplied in the
+      regular way. But Si was deeply grieved and shocked at what Shorty had told
+      him. It was some minutes before he said anything more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he said, with a sadness in his tone that would almost have moved
+      a mule to tears, "who'd a-thought rd ever git as low down 's this, to have
+      them all-fired graybacks, 's ye call 'em, crawlin' over me. How'd mother
+      feel if she knew about 'em. She wouldn't sleep a wink fer a month!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ye'll have to come to it. Si. All the soljers does, from the
+      Major-Gin'rals down to the tail-end of the mule-whackers. Ye mind them
+      'Sconsin chaps we was lookin' at a little bit ago?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, graybacks was what ailed 'em. The fellers with their shirts on
+      their knees was killin' 'em off. That's what they calls 'skirmishin'.
+      There's other kinds o' skirmishing besides fitin' rebels! Ye'd better git
+      rid of that one on yer arm, if he hasn't got inside already; then there'll
+      be one less of 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si found him after a short search, and proposed to get a chip, carry him
+      to the fire and throw him in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Naw!" said Shorty in disgust, "that's no way. Lemme show yer how!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/107.jpg" alt="'naw! Lemme Show Ye How!' 107 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Shorty placed one thumb-nail on each side of the insect. There was a quick
+      pressure, a snap like the crack of a percussion cap, and all was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si shuddered, and wondered if he could ever engage in such a work of
+      slaughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D'ye s'pose," he said to Shorty, "that there's any more of 'em on me?"
+      And he began to hitch his shoulders about, and to feel a desire to put his
+      fingers to active use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shouldn't wonder," replied Shorty. "Mebbe I've got 'em, to. Let's go
+      out'n do a little skirmishin' ourselves."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'd better go off a good ways," said Si, "so's the boys won't see us."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You're too nice and pertickler for a soljer. Si. They'll all be doin' it,
+      even the Cap'n himself, by termorrer or nex' day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went out back of the camp, where Si insisted on getting behind the
+      largest tree he could find. Then they sat down and engaged in that
+      exciting chase of the Pediculus up and down the seams of their garments,
+      so familiar to all who wore either the blue or the gray. Thousands of nice
+      young men who are now preachers and doctors and lawyers and statesmen,
+      felt just as bad about it at first as Si did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, as they slowly walked back to eat their supper, which
+      had been neglected in the excitement of the hour, "before Co. Q left Posey
+      County to jine the rigiment a feller 't was home on furlow told me ter let
+      my finger-nails grow long 'n' sharp. He said I'd need 'em. I didn't know
+      what he meant then, but I b'lieve I do now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. A WET NIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE DEPRAVITY OF AN ARMY TENT REVEALS ITSELF.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      NIGHT threw her dark mantle over the camp of the 200th Ind. The details of
+      guard and picket had been made. Videts, with sleepless eye and listening
+      ear, kept watch and ward on the outposts, while faithful sentries trod
+      their beats around the great bivouac. All day the army had marched, and
+      was to take the road again at an early hour in the morning. Supper had
+      been eaten, and the tired soldiers were gathered around the campfires that
+      gleamed far and near through the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Si," said Shorty to his chum as they sat on a log beside the dying
+      embers, "how d'ye like soldierin', as fur as ye've got?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's purty hard business," said Si, reflectively, "an' I s'pose we haint
+      seen the worst on it yet, either, from what I've hearn tell. Pity the men
+      that got up this war can't be made to do all the trampin' 'n' fitin'. An'
+      them fellers up in old Injjeanny that come 'round makin' such red-hot
+      speeches to git us boys to 'list, wouldn't it be fun to see 'em humpin'
+      'long with gun 'n' knapsack, 'n' chawin' hardtack, 'n' stan'in' guard
+      nights, 'n' pourin' water on their blisters, 'n' pickin' graybacks off
+      their shirts, 'n' p'leecin' camp, 'n' washin' their own clothes?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think we'd enj'y seein' 'em do all that," said Shorty, laughing at the
+      picture Si had drawn. "I reckon most of 'em 'd peter out purty quick, and
+      I'd like to hear what sort o' speeches they'd, make then. I tell ye, Si,
+      there's a big diff'rence 'tween goin' yerself an' tellin' some other
+      feller to go."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Mebbe they'll git to draftin' after a while," observed Si, "'n' if they
+      do I hope that'll ketch em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, we're in fur it, anyway," said Shorty. "Let's take down the bed 'n'
+      turn in!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It didn't take long to complete the arrangements for the night. They
+      spread their "gum" blankets, or ponchos, on the ground, within the tent,
+      and on these their wool blankets, placed their knapsacks at the head for
+      pillows, and that was all. It was warmer than usual that evening, and they
+      stripped down to their nether garments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Feels good once in a while," said Si, "to peel a feller's clothes oft,
+      'n' sleep in a Christian-like way. But, Great Scott! Shorty, ain't this
+      ground lumpy? It's like lying on a big washboard. I scooted all over the
+      country huntin' fer straw to-night. There wasn't but one little stack
+      within a mile of camp. Them derned Ohio chaps gobbled every smidgin of it.
+      They didn't leave enuff to make a hummin'-bird's nest. The 200th Ind. 'll
+      git even with 'em some day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Si and Shorty crept in between the blankets, drew the top one up to
+      their chins, and adjusted their bodily protuberances as best they could to
+      fit the ridges and hollows beneath them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Si," said Shorty, "don't ye git to fitin' rebels in yer sleep and
+      kick the kiver off, as ye did last night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they lay there their ears caught the music of the bugles sounding the
+      "tattoo." Far and near floated through the clear night air the familiar
+      melody that warned every soldier not on duty to go to bed. Next to the
+      200th Ind. lay a regiment of wild Michigan veterans, who struck up,
+      following the strains of the bugles:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Say, oh Dutch'y, will ye fight mit Si-gel?
+     Zwei glass o' la-ger, Yaw! Yaw! Yaw!!!
+     Will yet fight to help de bul-ly ea-gle?
+
+     Schweitzer-ksse und pret-zels,
+     Hur-raw! raw! raw!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      During the night there came one of those sudden storms that seemed to be
+      sent by an inscrutable Providence especially to give variety to the
+      soldier's life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/111.jpg" alt="Struck by a Cyclone 111 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A well-developed cyclone struck the camp, and Si and Shorty were soon
+      awakened by the racket. The wind was blowing and whirling in fierce gusts,
+      wrenching out the tent-pins or snapping the ropes as if they were threads.
+      Everywhere was heard the flapping of canvas, and the yells and shouts of
+      the men as they dashed about in the darkness and wild confusion. Many of
+      the tents were already prostrate, and their demoralized inmates were
+      crawling out from under the ruin. To crown all the rain began to fall in
+      torrents. The camp was a vast pandemonium. The blackest darkness
+      prevailed, save when the scene was illuminated by flashes of lightning.
+      These were followed by peals of thunder that made the stoutest quake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang up at the first alarm. "Git up, here, you fellers!" he shouted.
+      "We'd better go outside and grab the ropes, or the hull shebang 'll go
+      over."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was not a moment to spare. Si dashed out into the storm and
+      darkness, followed by his comrades. Seizing the ropes, some of which were
+      already loosened, they braced themselves and hung on for dear life, in the
+      drenching rain, their hair and garments streaming in the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's prompt action saved the tent from the general wreck. The fury of the
+      storm was soon past. Si and his comrades, after driving the pins and
+      securing the ropes, re-entered the tent, wet and shivering for the mercury
+      had gone down with a tumble, or rather it would have done so had they been
+      supplied with thermometers. But the scanty costume in which Si found
+      himself afforded a weather indicator sufficiently accurate for all
+      practical purposes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0040" id="linkimage-0040">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/115.jpg" alt="Supper Under Difficulties 115 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The ground was flooded, and their blankets and garments were fast
+      absorbing the water that flowed around in such an exasperating way. Sleep
+      under such conditions was out of the question. Si and Shorty put on their
+      clothes and tried to make the best of their sorry plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time the rain had nearly ceased. Fortunately they had laid in a
+      good stock of fuel the night before, and after a little patient effort
+      they succeeded in getting a fire started. Around this the boys hovered,
+      alternately warming their calves and shins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is a leetle more'n I bargained fer," said Si. Then, taking a
+      philosophical view of the case, he added, "but there's one good thing
+      about it, Shorty, we'll be all fixed for mornin', an' we won't have to get
+      up when they sound the revel-lee. The buglers kin jest bust theirselves
+      a-blowin' fer all I keer!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this way the soldiers spent the remainder of the night. Before daybreak
+      the blast of a hundred bugles rang out, but there was little need for the
+      reveille.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Breakfast was soon over, and in the gray dawn of that murky morning the
+      long column went trailing on its way. The weather gave promise of a sloppy
+      day, and the indications were fully verified. A drizzling rain set in, and
+      continued without cessation. The boys put their heads through the holes in
+      their ponchos, from the corners of which the water streamed. With their
+      muskets at a "secure" they sloshed along through the mud, hour after hour.
+      In spite of their "gums" the water found its way in at the back of the
+      neck and trickled down their bodies. Their clothes became saturated, and
+      they were altogether about as miserable as it is possible for mortals to
+      be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0041" id="linkimage-0041">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/117.jpg" alt="A Field Shanty 117 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Si that the maximum of discomfort had been reached. He had
+      experienced one thing after another during the few weeks since he left
+      home, and he thought each in turn was worse than the last, and about as
+      bad as it could be. But Si learned a good deal more before he graduated.
+      All through the long, dreary day the soldiers plodded on. There was little
+      comfort to be derived from the "rest," for the ground was soaked with
+      water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why didn't we think of it, Shorty," said Si, "'n' make it part o' the
+      bargain' when we 'listed that we were to have umbrellers. These gum things
+      don't amount to shucks, nohow, to keep the rain off. I sh'd think Uncle
+      Sam might do that much for us!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reckon our clothes 'll be purty well washed by the time we git out o'
+      this mess," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Feels that way," said Si; "but how about the bilin'? A cold bath jest
+      refreshes them pesky little varmints, 'n' makes 'em livelier 'n ever. Say,
+      Shorty, ye didn't write home anything 'bout our havin' graybacks, did ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, not yet; but I was thinkin' I'd tell 'em 'bout it one o' these days."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Shorty, I ain't going to tell my folks; it 'd jest make my mother
+      feel awful to know I was that way. And sister Maria, and&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was thinking aloud, and was going to say "Annabel," but he checked
+      himself. That name was not to be mentioned in other ears. But he was
+      afraid she would go back on him if she knew, all about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nearly night when the 200th Ind., dripping and discouraged, filed
+      off into a field of standing corn to pass the night. The men sank to their
+      shoetops in the soft earth. Si remarked to Shorty that he didn't see why
+      the officers should turn 'em loose in such a place as that. But the longer
+      he lived the more he found out about those things. That was the way they
+      always did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0042" id="linkimage-0042">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/119.jpg" alt="It's the Morning 119 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In five minutes after arms were stacked not a cornstalk remained standing
+      in the field. During the afterfnoon the troops had gone over a long
+      stretch of swamp road that was almost impassable for teams. Fears were
+      entertained that the wagons of the regiment would not be up that night,
+      and they would not have their tents to shelter them from the storm. In
+      anticipation of such a calamity the boys, gathered in the cornstalks,
+      having a vague idea that they would help out in case of emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0043" id="linkimage-0043">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/113.jpg" alt="Taking the Top Rail 113 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Then there was a scramble for the fences. Recognizing the need of good
+      fuel, an order from the General was filtered through the various
+      headquarters that the men might take the top rails, only, from the fence
+      inclosing tha field. This order was literally interpreted and carried out,
+      each man, successively, taking the "top rail" as he found it. The very
+      speedy result was that the bottom rails became the "top," and then there
+      weren't any. Almost in the twinkling of an eye the entire fence
+      disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The drizzle continued through the evening, and by the sputtering fires the
+      soldiers prepared and ate their frugal suppers. Word came that, as was
+      feared, the wagons were hopelessly bemired three or four miles back, and
+      the men would have to make such shift as they could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prospect was dreary and cheerless enough. It was little wonder that
+      many of the young Hoosiers felt as if they wanted to quit and go home. But
+      with that wonderful facility for adapting themselves to circumstances that
+      marked the volunteer soldiers, they set about the work of preparing for
+      the night. No one who has not "been there" can imagine how good a degree
+      of comfort&mdash;comparatively speaking, of course&mdash;it was possible
+      to reach, with such surroundings, by the exercise of a little patience,
+      ingenuity and industry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty and the others of the "mess" bestirred themselves, and it
+      did not take them more than 20 minutes to build, out of rails and
+      cornstalks, a shelter that was really inviting. They kindled a big fire in
+      front of it, laid some rails within, covered with stalks, and on these
+      spread their blankets. Si, who had "bossed" the job, viewed the work with
+      great satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell ye, that's no slouch of a shanty!" said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. SI "STRAGGLED"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND THE OTHER BOYS MADE IT MIGHTY LOVELY FOR HIM.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      ONE day while Buell was chasing Bragg, two or three weeks after leaving
+      Louisville, the army was pushing forward at a gait that made the cavalry
+      ahead trot half the time to keep out of the way of the infantry. The
+      extraordinary speed that day was due to the fact that there were no rebels
+      in sight. Half a dozen ragged troopers with shotguns, a mile away, would
+      have caused the whole army to halt, form line-of-battle, and stay thera
+      the rest of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tanned veterans didn't mind the marching. They stretched their legs
+      and went swinging along with a happy-go-lucky air, always ready for
+      anything that might turn up. But it was rough on the new troops, just from
+      home. It taxed their locomotive powers to the utmost limit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys of the 200th Ind. started out bravely. Their fresh, clean faces,
+      new uniforms, and shiny accouterments contrasted strongly with those of
+      the weather-beaten soldiers of '61. You could tell a "tenderfoot" as far
+      as you could see him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They trudged along in fair shape for an hour or two. Before starting in
+      the morning strict orders had been read to the regiment forbidding
+      straggling, for any reason, under the most terrifying pains and penalties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them fellers that's been in the service longer 'n we have think they're
+      smart," said Si Klegg, as he and Shorty plodded on, both already a little
+      blown. "Well show 'em that we can hoof it jest as fast as they can, and
+      jest as fur in a day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems to me we're git'n over the ground party lively to-day," replied
+      Shorty, who was in a grumbling mood. "Wonder if the Gin'ral thinks we're
+      bosses! I'm a little short o' wind, and these pesky gunboats are scrapin'
+      the bark off'n my feet; but I'll keep up or bust."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though e spirit of these young patriots was willing, the flesh was weak.
+      It wasn't long till Si began to limp. Now and then a groan escaped his
+      lips as a fresh blister "broke." But Si clinched his teeth, humped his
+      back to ease his shoulders from the weight of his knapsack, screwed up his
+      courage, and tramped on over the stony pike. He thought the breathing
+      spells were very short and a long way apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's knapsack had experienced the universal shrinkage, as told in a
+      previous chapter of our hero's martial career. He still had, however, a
+      good many things that he thought he couldn't spare, but which he found
+      later he could very well get along without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By noon the 200th began to show signs of going to pieces. The column
+      stretched out longer and longer, like a piece of India-rubber. The ranks
+      looked thin and ragged. Lame and foot-sore, with wo-begone faces, their
+      bodies aching in every bone and tendon, and overcome with a weariness that
+      no one can realize unless he has "been there," the men dropped out one by
+      one and threw themselves into the fence-corners to rest. The officers
+      stormed and drew their swords in vain. Nature&mdash;that is, the nature of
+      a new soldier&mdash;could endure no more. The ambulances were filled to
+      their utmost, but these would not hold a twentieth part of the crippled
+      and suffering men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How're ye gittin' on, Shorty?" said Si, as he and his comrade still
+      struggled along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fair to middlin'," replied Shorty. "I'm goin' to try and pull through!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I could," said Si, "but I'm 'bout played out! I am, fer a fact!
+      I guess ef I rest a bit I'll be able to ketch up after a while."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't know till he found out by experience how hard it was to "ketch
+      up" when a soldier once got behind on the march. Si was too fat for a good
+      roadster, but it didn't take a great while to work off his surplus flesh.
+      Shorty was tall and slim, mostly bone&mdash;one of the sort that always
+      stood the marching best, crept up to the Orderly and told him that he
+      would have to stop and puff a while and give his blisters a rest. He'd
+      pull up with Co. Q in an hour or so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Better not, Si" said the Orderly; "ye know it's agin orders, and the
+      rear-guard 'll punch ye with their bay'net's if they catch ye stragglin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si concluded that if he must die for his country it would be sweeter
+      to do so by having a bayonet inserted in his vitals, and then it would be
+      all over with at once, than to walk himself to death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he gradually fell back till he reached the tail of the company.
+      Watching his opportunity, he left the ranks, crept into a clump of bushes,
+      and lay down, feeling as if he had been run through a grist-mill. Soon the
+      rear-guard of the 200th came along, with fixed bayonets, driving before
+      them like a flock of frightened sheep a motley crowd of limping, groaning
+      men, gathered up by the roadside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si lay very still, hoping to escaoe discovery; but the keen eye of the
+      officer detected the blue heap among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bring that man out!" said he sternly to one of the guards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Poor Si scarcely dare to breathe. He hoped the man would think he was
+      dead, and therefore no longer of any account. But the soldier began to
+      prod him with his bayonet, ordering him to get up and move on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0044" id="linkimage-0044">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/123.jpg" alt="'don't Stab Me.' 123 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Look-a-here, pard," said Si, "don't stab me with that thing! I jest can't
+      git along any furder till I blow a little. You please lemme be, an' I'll
+      do as much for you. P'rhaps some time you'll get played out and I'll be on
+      the rear-guard. The Cap'n 'll tell me ter fotch ye 'long, an' I'll jest
+      let ye rest, so I will!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This view of the case struck the guard with some force. Moved with
+      compassion, he turned away, leaving Si to enjoy his rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0045" id="linkimage-0045">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/125.jpg" alt="Hydropathic Treatment 125 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si threw aside his traps, took off his shoes and stockings, and bathed his
+      feet with water from his canteen. He ate a couple of hardtack, and in the
+      course of half an hour began to feel more like Si Klegg. He geared himself
+      up, shouldered his gun, and started to "ketch up."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this time the stream of troops&mdash;regiments, brigades and divisions&mdash;had
+      flowed on. Of course, soldiers who were with their colors had the right of
+      way, and the stragglers were obliged to stumble along as best they could,
+      over the logs and through the bushes at the sides of the roads or skirt
+      along the edges of the fields and woods adjoining. It was this fact added
+      to their exhausted and crippled condition, that made it almost impossible
+      for stragglers to overtake their regiments until they halted for the
+      night. Even then it was often midnight before the last of the wayfarers,
+      weary and worn, dragged their aching limbs into camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si started forward briskly, but soon found it was no easy matter to gain
+      the mile or so that the 200th Ind. was now ahead of him. It was about all
+      he could do to keep up with the fast-moving column and avoid failing still
+      further to the rear. Presently the bugles sounded a halt for one of the
+      hourly rests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now," said Si to himself, "I'll have a good chance to git along tor'd the
+      front. The soljers 'll all lie down in the fence corners an' leave the
+      road clear. I'll jest git up an' dust!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of the bugles had scarcely died away when the pike was deserted,
+      and on either side, as far as the eye could reach, the prostrate men that
+      covered the ground mingled in a long fringe of blue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got up into the road and started along the lane between these lines of
+      recumbent soldiers. His gait was a little shaky, for the blisters on his
+      feet began to give evidence of renewed activity. He trudged pluckily
+      along, limping some in spite of himself, but on the whole making very good
+      headway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pretty soon he struck a veteran regiment from Illinois, the members of
+      which were sitting and lying around in all the picturesque and
+      indescribable postures which the old soldiers found gave them the greatest
+      comfort during a "rest." Then they commenced&mdash;that is, it was great
+      sport for the Sucker boys, though Si did not readily appreciate the
+      humorous features of the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What rigiment is this?" asked Si, timidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Same old rijiment!" was the answer from half a dozen at once. A single
+      glance told the swarthy veterans that the fresh-looking youth who asked
+      this conundrum belonged to one of the new regiments, and they immediately
+      opened their batteries upon him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Left&mdash;left-=left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot! Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot!" keeping time with Si's
+      somewhat irregular steps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, there, you! Change step and you'll march easier!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look at that 'ere poor feller; the only man left alive of his regiment!
+      Great Cesar, how they must have suffered! Say, what rijiment did you
+      b'long to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Paymaster's comin', boys, here's a chap with a pay-roll round his neck!"
+      Si had put on that morning the last of the paper collars he had brought
+      from home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'd better shed that knapsack, or it'll be the death of ye!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, there, how's all the folks to home?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How d'ye like it as far as you've got, any way?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Git some commissary and pour into them gunboats!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Second relief's come, boys; we can all go home now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grab a root!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How'd ye leave Mary Ann?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never been under such a fire before. He stood it as long as he
+      could, and 'then he stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt!" shouted a chorus of voices. "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" "Order&mdash;Arms!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time Si's wrath was at the boiling point. Casting around him a
+      look of defiance, he exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You cowardly blaggards; I can jest lick any two of ye, an' I'll dare ye
+      to come on. If the 200th Ind. was here we'd clean out the hull pack of ye
+      quicker'n ye can say scat!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is where Si made a mistake. He ought to have kept right on and said
+      nothing. But Si had to find out all these things by experience, as the
+      rest of the boys did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0046" id="linkimage-0046">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/129.jpg" alt="Si Defies a Regiment 129 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      All the members took a hand in the game. They just got right up and
+      yelled, discharging at Si a volley of expletives and pointed remarks that
+      drove him to desperation. Instinctively he brought up his gun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Load in nine times&mdash;Load!" shouted a dozen of the Illinois tramps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If Si's gun had been loaded he would have shot somebody, regardless of
+      consequences. Thinking of his bayonet, he jerked it quickly from its
+      scabbard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fix&mdash;Bay'net!" yelled the ragged veterans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he did, though it was more from the promptings of his own hostile
+      feelings than in obedience to the orders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Charge&mdash;Bay'net!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had completely lost control of himself in his overpowering rage. With
+      blood in his eye, he came to, a charge, glancing fiercely from one side of
+      the road to the other, uncertain where to begin the assault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly there was a loud clicking all along the line. The Illinois
+      soldiers, almost to a man, fixed their bayonets. Half of them sprang to
+      their feet, and all aimed their shining points at the poor young Hoosier
+      patriot, filling the air with shouts of derision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was plain, even to Si in his inflamed state of mind, that the odds
+      against him were too heavy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Unfix&mdash;Bay'net!" came from half the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si concluded he had better get out of a bad scrape the best way he could.
+      So he took off his bayonet and put it back in its place. He shouted words
+      of defiance to his tormentors, but they could not be heard in the din.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" "Right&mdash;Face!" "Right shoulder shift&mdash;Arms!"
+      "Forward&mdash;March!" These commands came in quick succession from the
+      ranks amidst roars of laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si obeyed the orders and started off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Left&mdash;left&mdash;left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Forgetting his blisters. Si took the double-quick while the mob swung
+      their caps and howled with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't "ketch up" with the 200 Ind. until after it had gone into camp.
+      Shorty had a quart of hot coffee waiting for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si as they sat by the fire,&mdash;"I'm goin' to drop dead
+      in my tracks before I'll fall out again."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, what's the matter?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, nothin'; only you jest try it," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had it not been for the "fun" the soldiers had in the army to brighten
+      their otherwise dark and cheerless lives, they would all have died. Si was
+      a true type of those who had to suffer for the good of others until they
+      learned wisdom in the school of experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. SI AND THE MULES
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ONE DAY'S RICH EXPERIENCE AS COMPANY TEAMSTER.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "I'VE GOT to have a man to drive team for a few days," said the Orderly of
+      Co. Q of the 200th Ind. one morning at roll-call. "The teamster's sick and
+      I'm goin' to send him to the hospital to-day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly-Sergeant of Co. Q was a wily fellow. All Orderly-Sergeants
+      have to be. If they are not naturally, they learn it very quickly, or lose
+      the little diamond on their sleeves, if not all their stripes. The man who
+      undertakes to manage 60 or 75 stalwart, high-spirited young Americans
+      through all their moods and tenses, and every kind of weather, has to be
+      as wise as a serpent, though not necessarily as harmless as a dove.
+      Therefore, the Orderly-Sergeant didn't tell the boys what ailed the
+      teamster. The fact was that the heels of the "off=wheeler" caught the
+      teamster in the pit of the stomach and doubled him up so badly that he
+      wouldn't be fit for duty for a week. It was worse than the green-corn
+      colic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tisn't every man," continued the Orderly, "that's gifted with fust-class
+      talent fur drivin' team. I'd like to find the best man to steer them
+      animals, an' if there's a real sientifick mule-whacker in this comp'ny let
+      him speak up an' I'll detail him right off. It'll be a soft thing fur
+      somebody; them mules are daises."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somehow they didn't all speak at once. The company had only had the team
+      two or three weeks, but the boys were not dull of hearing, and ominous
+      sounds had come to them from the rear of the camp at all hours of the
+      night&mdash;the maddening "Yeehaw-w-w!" of the long-eared brutes, and the
+      frantic ejaculations of the teamster, spiced with oaths that would have
+      sent a shudder through "our army in Flanders."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0047" id="linkimage-0047">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/133.jpg" alt="He Let Both Heels Fly 133 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      So they did not apply for the vacant saddle with that alacrity which might
+      have been expected, when so good a chance was offered for a soldier to
+      ride and get his traps carried on a wagon. Whenever an infantryman threw
+      away such an opportunity it is safe to assume that there was some good
+      reason for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the idea of riding for a few days and letting his blisters get well
+      was too much for Si Klegg. Besides, he thought if there was any one thing
+      he could do better than another it was driving a team. He had been doing
+      it on his father's farm all his life. It is true, he didn't know much
+      about mules, but he imagined they were a good deal like horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm your man!" spoke up Si cheerfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said the Orderly. "Company, Right&mdash;Face! Break ranks&mdash;March!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There ain't any trouble about it!" Si said to Shorty as they walked back
+      to the tent. "I reckon it's easy enough to manage mules if you go at 'em
+      right. It'll be just fun for me to drive team. And say. Shorty, I'll carry
+      all your traps on my wagon. That'll be a heap better'n totin' 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si gathered up his outfit and started to enter upon his new sphere of
+      usefulness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shall I take my gun and bay'net along?" he asked the Orderly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess you'd better; they might come handy!" replied the Orderly, as he
+      thought of the teamster's disastrous encounter with the "off-wheeler."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After Shorty had eaten his breakfast he thought he would go back to the
+      tent and see how Si was getting on. With thoughtful care Si had fed his
+      mules before appeasing his own appetite, and Shorty found him just waiting
+      for his coffee to cool a bit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, them 'ere mules is jist as gentle'n' peaceful-like ez so many
+      kittens. Look at 'em, Shorty!" and Si pointed with a proud and gratified
+      air to where the six "daisies" were standing, three on each side of the
+      wagon-pole, with their noses in the feed-box, quietly munching their
+      matutinal rations, and whisking their paint-brush tails about in evident
+      enjoyment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, to look at those mules one who was ignorant of the peculiar
+      characteristics of the species would not have thought that beneath those
+      meek exteriors there were hearts filled with the raging fires of total
+      depravity. Shorty thought how it would be, but he didn't say anything. He
+      was sure that Si would find out about it soon enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brigade to which the 200th Ind. belonged was to march in the rear of
+      the long procession that day. This was lucky for Si, as it gave him an
+      hour or two more than he would otherwise have had to get hitched up. But
+      all the same he thought he would begin early, so as to be on hand with his
+      team in good time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Want any help?" asked Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said Si; "I can hitch 'em up slick's a whistle. I can't see why so
+      many makes sich a fuss 'bout handlin' mules."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty lighted his cob pipe and sat down on a stump to watch Si. "Kinder
+      think there'll be a circus!" he said to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got up from his coffee and hardtack, and addressed himself to the
+      business of the hour. It proved to be just as much as he could attend to.
+      When Si poured half a bushel of corn into the feed box it was all very
+      nice, and the animals rubbed their heads against him to give expression to
+      their grateful emotions. But when it came to putting on the harness, that
+      was quite a different thing. The mere touch of a strap was enough to
+      stimulate into baleful activity all the evil passions of mule-nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Pete and Jim and Susan, we must git ready to pull out!" said Si to
+      his charge, in a familiar, soothing tone, preliminary to getting down to
+      business. It was his evident desire to maintain the friendly relations
+      that he thought he had already established. At the first rattle of the
+      harness Pete and Susan and the rest, moved by a common impulse, laid back
+      their ears and began to bray, their heels at the same time showing
+      symptoms of impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whoa, there&mdash;whoa!" exclaimed Si, in a conciliatory way, as he
+      advanced with a bridle in his hand toward one of the big wheelers, whose
+      ears were flapping about like the fans of a windmill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si imprudently crept up from the rear. A flank movement would have been
+      better. As soon as he had got fairly within range the mule winked
+      viciously, lowered his head, and let fly both heels. Si was a spry boy,
+      and a quick dodge saved him from the fate of his predecessor. One of the
+      heels whizzed past his ear with the speed of a cannon ball, caught his
+      hat, and sent it spinning through the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty, who was whittling up a piece of Kentucky twist to recharge his
+      pipe, laughed till he rolled off the stump all in a heap. A few of the
+      other boys had stayed out to see the fun, and were lounging around the
+      outskirts of the corral. "Go for 'em, Si!" they shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was plucky, and again advanced with more caution. This time he was
+      successful, after a spirited engagement, in getting the bridle on. He
+      thought he would ride him down to the creek for water, and this would give
+      him a chance to get acquainted with him, as it were. He patted the
+      animal's neck, called him pet names, and gently stroked his stubby mane.
+      Alas, Si didn't know then what an utter waste of material it was to give
+      taffy to an army mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a quick spring Si vaulted upon the back of the mule. He started off
+      in good shape, waving his hand exultingly to the boys with the air of a
+      General who has just won a great battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All at once the animal stopped as suddenly as if he had run against a
+      stone wall. He planted his fore feet, throwing his ears back and his head
+      down. There was a simultaneous rear elevation, with the heels at an upward
+      angle of about 45 degrees. Si went sprawling among the bushes. This
+      performance was greeted with great enthusiasm by the fast increasing crowd
+      of spectators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0048" id="linkimage-0048">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/137.jpg" alt="Si Went Sprawling 137 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I oughter have told you that saddle-mule's the worst bucker in the Army
+      o' the Ohio," said the Quartermaster-Sergeant, who was among the
+      onlookers. "Why, he'd buck off the stripe that runs down his back, if he
+      took it into his measly head. He bucked off a chattel mortgage, and that's
+      the way he come into the army. You can't ride him without using one of
+      Aunt Jemima's sticking plasters."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Much obliged for your information. But I will ride him all the same,"
+      said Si, whose temper had risen to the exploding point. "I kin ride him if
+      he ties himself in a double bow-knot."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was too much of a farmer boy to give in to anything that walked on four
+      legs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had hung on to the bridle rein, and after addressing a few impressive
+      words to the obstreperous mule he again leaped upon his back. The mule
+      took a docile turn, his motive having apparently been merely to show Si
+      what he could do when he took a notion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The space at command will not permit us to follow Si through all the
+      details of "hitching up" that team. He did finally "git thar, Eli," after
+      much strategic effort. The mules brayed and kicked a good deal, and Si's
+      wrath was fully aroused before he got through. He became convinced that
+      soft words were of no account in such a contest, and he enforced
+      discipline by the judicious use of a big club, together with such
+      appropriate language as he could think of. Si hadn't yet learned to swear
+      with that wonderful and appalling proficiency that was so soon acquired by
+      the army teamsters. In the management of mules profanity was considered an
+      invaluable accessory in times of great emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last Si climbed into the saddle, as proud as a King. Seizing the long,
+      single line running to the "leaders"&mdash;by which contrivance the army
+      team was always guided&mdash;he shouted "Git up, thar, Pete! G'lang
+      Susan!" and the caravan started. But the unregenerated brutes didn't go
+      far. Si was gaily cracking his whip, trying to hit a big blue-bottle fly
+      that was perched on the ear of one of the "swing" mules.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As if by a preconcerted plan, the establishment came to a sudden halt and
+      the mules began to rear and kick and plunge around in utter disregard of
+      consequences. It didn't take more than a minute for them to get into a
+      hopeless tangle. They were in all conceivable shapes&mdash;heads and tails
+      together, crosswise and "every which way," tied up with the straps of the
+      harness. The air in all directions was full of heels. There was a
+      maddening chorus of discordant braying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of the scrimmage Si found himself on the ground. Gathering
+      himself up, he gazed in utter amazement at the twisted, writhing mass. At
+      this moment a messenger came from the Captain to "hurry up that team," and
+      poor Si didn't know what to do. He wished he could only swear like the old
+      mule drivers. He thought it would make him feel better. There was no one
+      to help him out of his dilemma, as the members of the company were all
+      getting ready for the march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A veteran teamster happened along that way, and took in the situation at a
+      glance. He saw that Si had bit off more than he could chew, and
+      volunteered his assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, young feller," said he, "lemme show ye how to take the stiffenin'
+      out o' them ere dod-gasted mules!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seizing the whip at the small end of the stock he began laying on right
+      and left with the butt, taking care to keep out of range of the heels.
+      During these persuasive efforts he was shouting at the top of his voice
+      words that fairly hissed through the air. Si thought he could smell the
+      brimstone and see the smoke issuing from the old teamster's mouth and
+      nostrils. This is a section of what that experienced mule driver said, as
+      nearly as we can express it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "_________;;_____________!!!***???!!!! ____???________???!!!!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thanked the veteran for these timely suggestions in the way of
+      language, and said he would remember them. He had no doubt they would help
+      him out the next time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They finally got the team untied, and Si drove over to the company ground.
+      The regiment had been gone some time, a detail having been left to load
+      the wagon. After getting out upon the road the mules plodded along without
+      objection, and Si got on famously. But having lost his place in the column
+      in consequence of the delay, he was obliged to fall in rear of the
+      division train, and it was noon before he got well started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Along towards evening Si struck a section of old corduroy road through a
+      piece of swamp. The passage of the artillery and wagons had left the road
+      in a wretched condition. The logs were lying at all points of the compass,
+      or drifting vaguely about in the mire, while here and there were seas of
+      water and pits of abysmal depth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0049" id="linkimage-0049">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/141.jpg" alt="Stuck in the Mud 141 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      To make the story short, Si's mules stumbled and floundered and kicked,&mdash;while
+      Si laid on with the whip and used some of the words he had learned from
+      the old teamster before starting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the wagon became hopelessly stalled. The wheels sank to the
+      hubs, and Si yelled and cracked his whip in vain. Perhaps if he had had
+      the old teamster there to swear for him he could have pulled through, but
+      as it was he gave it up, dismounted, hunted a dry spot, and sat down to
+      think and wait for something to turn up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just before dark a large detail from Co. Q, which had been sent back on an
+      exploring expedition for Si and his team, reached the spot. After hours of
+      prying and pushing and tugging and yelling they at length got the wagon
+      over the slough, reaching camp about midnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Orderly," said Si, "I believe I'd like to resign my place as mule-driver.
+      It's a nice, soft thing, but I'd jest as lief let s'mother feller have it,
+      so I'll take my gun an' go to hoofin' it agin!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. UNDER FIRE&mdash;SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND GETS PROMOTED.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "SEEMS to me it's 'bout time ter be gitt' into a fite!" said Si Klegg to
+      Shorty one night as they sat around the fire after supper, with their
+      shoes and stockings off, comparing the size and number of their respective
+      blisters. Neither of them had much of the skin they started out with left
+      on their feet. "I always s'posed," he continued, "that bein' a sojer meant
+      fitin' somebody; and here we are roaming over the country like a lot of
+      tramps. I can't see no good in it, nohow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't be in a hurry. Si," replied Shorty; "I reckon we'll ketch it soon
+      'nuff. From what I've hearn the old soldiers tell a battle ain't such a
+      funny thing as a feller thinks who don't know anything about it, like
+      you'n me. The boys is always hungry at first for shootin' and bein' shot
+      at, but I've an idee that it sorter takes away their appetite when they
+      gits one square meal of it. They don't hanker after it no more. It's
+      likely we'll git filled full one o' these days. I'm willin' to wait!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall," said Si, "I sh'd think we might have a little skirmish, anyway.
+      I'd like to have a chance to try my gun and to hear what kind of a noise
+      bullets make. Of course, I'd ruther they'd hit some other feller besides
+      me, but I'm ready to take the chances on that. I don't b'lieve I'd be
+      afeard."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was ambitious, and full of the martial ardor that blazed in the breast
+      of every young volunteer. He was really glad when the Orderly came around
+      presently and told them that the 200th Ind. would have the advance next
+      day, and Co. Q would be on the skirmish-line. He told the boys to see that
+      their cartridge-boxes were all full and their guns in good order, as they
+      would be very like to run foul of the rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was just before the battle of Perryville. The rebels were very saucy,
+      and there seemed to be a fair prospect that the curiosity of the members
+      of the 200th Ind. to "see the elephant" would be at least measurably
+      gratified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Si went to bed he cleaned up his gun and made sure that it would
+      "go off" whenever he wanted it to. Then he and Shorty crawled under the
+      blankets, and as they lay "spoon fashion," thinking about what might
+      happen the next day. Si said he hoped they would both have "lots of sand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All night Si dreamed about awful scenes of slaughter. Before morning he
+      had destroyed a large part of the Confederate army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was yet dark when the reveille sounded through the camp. Si and Shorty
+      kicked off the blankets at first blast of bugle, and were promptly in
+      their places for roll-call. Then, almost in a moment, a hundred fires were
+      gleaming, and the soldiers gathered around them to prepare their hasty
+      breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the sun was up the bugles rang out again upon the morning air. In
+      quick succession came the "general," the "assembly," and "to the colors."
+      The 200th marched out upon the pike, but soon filed off into a cornfield
+      to take its assigned place in the line, for the advance division was to
+      move in order of battle, brigade front, that day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In obedience to orders, Co. Q moved briskly out and deployed as
+      skirmishers, covering the regimental front. As the line advanced through
+      field and thicket Si Klegg's heart was not the only one that thumped
+      against the blouse that covered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not long till a squad of cavalrymen came galloping back, yelling
+      that the rebels were just ahead. The line was halted for a few minutes;
+      while the Generals swept the surrounding country with their field glasses
+      and took in the situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The skirmishers, for fear of accidents, took advantage of such cover as
+      they could find. Si and Shorty found themselves to leeward of a large
+      stump.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D'ye reckon a bullet 'd go through this 'ere stump?" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Shorty could answer something else happened that absorbed their
+      entire attention. For the time they didn't think of anything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Boom-m-m-m!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Great Scott! d'ye hear that?" said Si through his chattering teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, and there's somethin' comin' over this way," replied Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A shell came screaming and swishing through the air. The young Hoosiers
+      curled around the roots of that stump and flattened themselves out like a
+      pair of griddle-cakes. If it was Si that the rebel gunners were after,
+      they timed the shell to a second, for it burst with a loud bang just over
+      them. The fragments flew all around, one striking the stump and others
+      tearing up the dirt on every side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0050" id="linkimage-0050">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/145.jpg" alt="It Burst With a Loud 'bang.' 145 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      To say that for the moment those two soldiers were demoralized would be
+      drawing it very mildly. They showed symptoms of a panic. It seemed as
+      though they would be hopelessly stampeded. Their tongues were paralyzed,
+      and they could only look silently into each other's white faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was the first to recover himself, although it could hardly be expected
+      that he could get over his scare all at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D-d-did it hit ye, Sh-Shorty?" he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "N-no, I guess not; b-b-but ain't it aw-awful. Si? You look so bad I
+      th-thought you was k-k-killed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who's afeard?" said Si. "I was only skeered of you. Shorty. Brace up, now
+      same's I do!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Skirmishers&mdash;Forward!" was heard along the line. "Come on, Shorty!"
+      said Si, and they plunged bravely ahead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emerging suddenly from a thick wood, they came upon the rebel skirmishers
+      in full view, posted on the opposite side of the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crack! Crack!&mdash;Zip! Zip!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess there's a bee-tree somewhere around here, from the way the bees are
+      buzzin'," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Taint no bees," replied Shorty; "it's a mighty sight worse'n that.
+      Them's bullets, Si Don't ye see the dumed galoots over yonder a-shootin'
+      at us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was no coward, and he was determined to show that he wasn't. The shell
+      a little while before had taken the starch out of him for a few minutes,
+      but that was nothing to his discredit. Many a seasoned veteran found
+      himself exceedingly limber under such circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's give the rascals a dose," said he; "the best we've got in stock!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suiting the action to the word, Si crept up to a fence, thrust his gun
+      between the rails, took good aim and fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0051" id="linkimage-0051">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/147.jpg" alt="Si Takes a Crack at A Reb 147 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A bullet from one of the other fellows made the splinters fly from a rail
+      a foot or two from Si's head; but he was getting excited now, and he
+      didn't mind it any more than if it had been a paper wad from a
+      pea-shooter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It makes a great difference with a soldier under fire whether he can take
+      a hand in the game himself, or whether he must lie idle and let the enemy
+      "play it alone."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Did ye hear him squeal?" said Si, as he dropped upon the ground and began
+      to reload with all his might. "I hit that son-of-a-gun, sure. Give 'em H&mdash;Hail
+      Columbia, Shorty. We'll show 'em that the 200th Ind. is in front to-day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Forward, men!" shouted the officers. "Go right for 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The skirmishers sprang over the fence and swept across the field at a
+      "double-quick" in the face of a sputtering fire that did little damage.
+      None of them reached the other side any sooner than Si did. The rebels
+      seemed to have found out that the 200th boys were coming, for they were
+      already on the run, and some of them had started early. Pell-mell through
+      the brush they went, and the blue-blouses after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt, there, or I'll blow ye into the middle o' next week!" yelled Si, as
+      he closed up on a ragged specimen of the Southern Confederacy whose wind
+      had given out. Si thought it would be a tall feather in his hat if he
+      could take a prisoner and march him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0052" id="linkimage-0052">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/149.jpg" alt="Si Captures a Johnny 149 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The "Johnny" gave one glance at his pursuer, hesitated, and was lost. He
+      saw that Si meant business, and surrendered at discretion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come 'long with me!" said Si, his eyes glistening with pleasure and
+      pride. Si marched him back and delivered him to the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well done, my brave fellow!" said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is a glorious day for the 200th Ind., and you've taken its first
+      prisoner. What's your name my boy?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Josiah Klegg, sir!" said Si, blushing to the very roots of his hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What company do you belong to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Company Q, sir!" and Si saluted the officer as nicely as he knew how.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll see your Captain to-night, Mr. Klegg, and you shall be rewarded for
+      your good conduct. You may now return to your company."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the proudest moment of Si's life up to date. He stammered out his
+      thanks to the Colonel, and then, throwing his gun up to a right
+      shoulder-shift, he started off on a canter to rejoin the skirmishers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Si Klegg was the subject of a short conversation between his
+      Captain and the Colonel. They agreed that Si had behaved very handsomely,
+      and deserved to be promoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are there any vacancies in your non-commissioned officers?" asked the
+      Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," was the reply, "but there ought to be. One of my Corporals skulked
+      back to the rear this morning and crawled into a wagon. I think we had
+      better reduce him to the ranks and appoint Mr. Klegg."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do so at once," said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning when the 200th was drawn up in line an order was read by the
+      Adjutant reducing the skulker and promoting Si to the full rank of
+      Corporal, with a few words commending the gallantry of the latter. These
+      orders announcing rewards and punishments were supposed to have a salutary
+      effect in stimulating the men to deeds of glory, and as a warning to those
+      who were a little short of "sand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0053" id="linkimage-0053">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/151.jpg" alt="Corporal si Klegg 151 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The boys of Co. Q showered their congratulations upon Si in the usual way.
+      They made it very lively for him that day. In the evening: Si hunted up
+      some white cloth, borrowed a needle and thread, went off back of the tent,
+      rammed his bayonet into the ground, stuck a candle in the socket, and
+      sewed chevrons on the sleeves of his blouse. Then he wrote a short letter:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Deer Annie: I once more take my pen in hand to tell you
+     there's grate news. I'm an ossifer. We had an awful fite
+     yisterdy. I don't know how menny rebbles I kild, but I guess
+     thare was enuff to start a good sized graveyard. I tuk a
+     prizner, too, and the Kurnal says to me bully fer you,
+     Mister Klegg, or sumthin to that effeck. This mornin they
+     made me a Corporil, and red it out before the hull rijiment
+     I guess youd been prowd if you could have seen me. To-night
+     the boys is hollerin hurraw fer Corporal Klegg all over
+     camp. I ain't as big is the Ginrals and gum of the other
+     ossifers, but thars no tellin how hi I'll get in three
+     years.
+
+          "Rownd is the ring that haint no end,
+          So is my luv to you my friend.
+
+     "Yours, same as before,
+
+     "Corporal Si Klegg."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      A NIGHT'S ADVENTURES AS "CORPORAL OF THE GUARD."
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "CORPORAL Klegg, you will go on duty to-night with the camp guard!" said
+      the Orderly of Co. Q one evening, as the 200th Ind. filed off into a piece
+      of woods to bivouac for the night, two or three days after Si had been
+      promoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chevrons on his arms had raised Si several degrees in the estimation
+      not only of himself, but of the other members of the company. His conduct
+      in the skirmish had shown that he had in him the material for a good
+      soldier, and even the Orderly began to treat him with that respect due to
+      his new rank as one of the "non-commish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like every other man who put on the army blue and marched away so bold,
+      "With gay and gallant tread," Si could not tell whether he was going to
+      amount to anything as a soldier until he had gone through the test of
+      being under fire. There were many men who walked very erect, talked
+      bravely, drilled well, and made a fine appearance on dress parade, before
+      they reached "the front," but who wilted at the "zip" of bullets like
+      tender corn blades nipped by untimely frost. And a good many of them
+      continued in that wilted condition. Perhaps they really couldn't help it.
+      An inscrutable Providence had seen fit to omit putting any "sand in their
+      gizzards," as the boys expressed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It must be confessed that Si was somewhat unduly elated and puffed up
+      over, his own achievements as a skirmisher and his success in climbing the
+      ladder of military rank and fame. It is true, it wasn't much of a fight
+      they had that day, but Si thought it was pretty fair for a starter, and
+      enough to prove to both himself and his comrades that he wouldn't be one
+      of the "coffee coolers" when there was business on hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was sorry that his regiment did not get into the fight at Perryville.
+      The 200th Ind. belonged to one of the two corps of Buell's army that lay
+      under the trees two or three miles away all through that October
+      afternoon, while McCook's gallant men were in a life-and-death struggle
+      against overwhelming odds. It bothered Si as much to understand it all as
+      it did 30,000 other soldiers that day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si responded with alacrity when he was detailed for guard duty. He had
+      walked a beat once or twice as a common tramp, and had not found it
+      particularly pleasant, especially in stormy weather; but now he was a peg
+      higher, and he thought as Corporal he would have a better time. He had
+      already observed that the rude winds of army life were tempered, if not to
+      the shorn lambs, at least to the officers, in a degree proportionate to
+      their rank. The latter had the first pick of everything, and the men took
+      what was left. The officers always got the softest rails to sleep on, the
+      hardtack that was least tunneled through by the worms, the bacon that had
+      the fewest maggots, and the biggest trees in a fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Forward&mdash;March!" shouted the officer in command, when the detachment
+      was ready. Si stepped off very proudly, thinking how glad his good old
+      mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel would be if they could see him
+      at that moment. He was determined to discharge his official duties "right
+      up to the handle," and make the boys stand around in lively style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the guard reached the place selected for headquarters the officer
+      drily lectured them in regard to their duties, impressing upon them the
+      necessity of being alert and vigilant. There was only a thin picket-line
+      between them and the enemy. The safety of the army depended upon the
+      faithfulness of those appointed to watch while others slept. He gave them
+      the countersign, "Bunker Hill," and ordered them under no circumstances to
+      allow any person to pass without giving it, not even the Commanding
+      General himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the guards were posted, the "beats" laid off and numbered, and as the
+      fast-gathering shadows deepened among the trees the sentinels paced to and
+      fro around the tired army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For an hour or two after the guards were stationed all was quiet along the
+      line. The noise of the great camp was hushed for the night, and no sound
+      broke the stillness of the gloomy forest. The moon rose and peeped timidly
+      through the branches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal of the Guard; Post No. 6."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's quick ear, as he lay curled up at the foot of a tree, caught these
+      words, rapidly repeated by one sentinel after another. It was his first
+      summons. He sprang to his feet, gun in hand, his heart beating at the
+      thought of adventure, and started on the run for "Post No. 6."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's up?" he said to the guard, with a perceptible tremor in his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's one o' the boys tryin' to run the guards!" was the answer. "He's
+      been out foragin', I reckon. He's got a lot o' plunder he wants to git
+      into camp with. See him, out there in the bush?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The forager, for such he proved to be, was nimbly dodging from tree to
+      tree, watching for a chance to cross the line, but the alertness of the'
+      guards had thus far kept him outside. He had tried to bribe one or two of
+      the boys by offering to "whack up" if they would let him pass or give him
+      the countersign, so that he could get in at some other point in the
+      cordon. But the guards were incorruptible. They were "fresh" yet, and had
+      not caught on to the plan of accepting an offered chicken, a section of
+      succulent pig, or a few sweet potatoes, and then walking off to the remote
+      limit of the beat, with eyes to the front, while the forager shot across
+      the line in safety. They learned all about this after a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The raider tried to parley with Si, but Si wouldn't have it. Raising his
+      gun to a "ready" he ordered the man to come in or he would put a hole
+      through him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The best thing to do under the circumstances was to obey. The forager, who
+      belonged to Si's company, crept up to Corporal Klegg and in a conciliatory
+      tone opened negotiations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest let me pass, and you may have your pick of this stuff," said he,
+      holding up a fowl in one hand and a ham in the other. "It'll be all right,
+      and nobody 'll ever know nothin' 'bout it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si hesitated; it was human nature. The offer was a tempting one, but he
+      remembered his responsibility to his country, and his stomach appealed in
+      vain. Duty came before stewed chicken or roasted sparerib.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can't do it!" said Si. "You've got hold of the wrong man this time. I
+      ain't goin' to have nobody monkeyin' 'round while I'm Corporal of this
+      'ere guard. Come along with me, and step out lively, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si marched the culprit back to headquarters and delivered him up to the
+      officer, who commended Si for his fidelity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day the ground back of the Colonel's tent was strewn with feathers,
+      chicken bones, ham rinds, and potato skins, while the unlucky forager who
+      had provided the field officers' mess with such a royal meal was humped
+      around for two hours on "knapsack drill," and condemned to spend 24 hours
+      in the guard-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour later Si had another experience. The Captain of Co. Q felt a
+      kindly interest, and not a little pride in him, since the skirmish, and he
+      thought he would take a turn that night and see whether his newly-made
+      Corporal was "up to snuff."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Post No. 3," was Si's second call. He responded promptly, and as he
+      approached the guard the latter said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal, here's the Cap'n, and he wants to get in! He hain't got the
+      countersign; shall I pass him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evening. Corporal!" said the Captain, as Si came up, at the same
+      time extending his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was thrown completely off his guard. Dropping the butt of his gun
+      carelessly to the ground he replied cheerily, "Good evening, Cap'n,"
+      touching his hat by way of salute. Then he took the proffered hand,
+      pleased at the Captain's mark of kindly recognition. He didn't understand
+      the scheme then. "How are you getting on, Mr. Klegg?" "First rate!" said
+      Si, with the air of one conscious that he had done his duty well. "I
+      capchered a forager a little bit ago and took him to headquarters!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0054" id="linkimage-0054">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/159.jpg" alt="One of the 'non-com Mish.' 159 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Well done, Corporal I have no doubt you will honor the good name of the
+      200th Ind. in general and Company Q in particular, I got caught outside to
+      night, and I want to get back into camp. Of course, you know me and it's
+      all right!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly, sir!" said Si, as he stood leaning on his gun and allowed the
+      officer to pass the magic line. "Good night, Cap'n!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good night, Corporal! By the way," said the Captain, retracing his steps,
+      "I notice that you do not carry your gun just right. Let me show you how
+      to handle it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't know what a flagrant offense it was for a soldier on guard to
+      let his gun go out of his hands; nor had he the faintest suspicion that
+      the Captain was playing it on him. So he promptly handed his picee to the
+      Captain, who immediately brought it down to a "charge," with the bayonet
+      at Si's breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Suppose, now, I was a rebel in disguise," said the Captain, "what kind of
+      a fix would you be in?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Light began to dawn upon Si, and he started back in terror at the thought
+      of the mistake he had made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course, I wouldn't let anybody else have it," he stammered; "but I
+      knew you, Cap'n!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That makes no difference to a man on duty. Corporal. You hang on to your
+      gun the rest of the night, and if anybody&mdash;I don't care if it's Gen.
+      Buell himself&mdash;insists on your giving it to him, let him have two or
+      three inches of the point of your bayonet. Don't let anybody pass without
+      the countersign, either! Come to my quarters when you are relieved
+      tomorrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this illustrates the way the officers had of testing new soldiers and
+      teaching them a thing or two, when, as was frequently the case, they were
+      not yet up to the mark. A trick of extra duty for the hapless novitiate
+      was generally the penance for his simplicity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cold chills ran up and down Si's back as he took his gun and slowly
+      returned to the guard fire. He felt that he had utterly spoiled his good
+      record.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Lieutenant," he said to the officer, "I wish you'd please detail a man to
+      kick me for about an hour."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Lieutenant wanted to know what the matter was, and Si told him all
+      about it, ending with:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "So now I s'pose the Cap'n 'll yank the stripes off'n my blouse!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer quieted his fears by assuring him that there was no cause for
+      alarm. The Captain knew that he was trying to do his duty, and what he had
+      done was for Si's own good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sat down by the fire and was thinking it over when there was another
+      call, "Corporal of the guard!" He was soon at the point indicated and
+      found two officers on horseback, whom he recognized as the Colonel and
+      Adjutant of the 200th Ind. Si's friend Shorty was the guard who had halted
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Corporal Klegg," said Si to himself, laying his finger alongside his
+      nose, "you jist watch out this time. Here's big game! Shouldn't wonder if
+      them ossifers had bin out skylarkin', and they're tryin' to git in. Don't
+      ye let 'em fool ye as the Cap'n did!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was right in his surmise. The Colonel and Adjutant had been enjoying a
+      good supper at a house half a mile away, and had not the slightest idea
+      what the countersign was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was determined not to "get left" this time. As he approached, the
+      Colonel saw that it was soldier he had commended for his gallantry at the
+      time of the skirmish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah, Corporal Klegg, I'm glad to see you so prompt in your duty. I was
+      sure we had made no mistake when we promoted you. Of course, you can see
+      who I am. I'm your Colonel, and this is the Adjutant. We are,
+      unfortunately, outside without the countersign; but you can just let us
+      through."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel's taffy had no effect on Si. He just brought himself into a
+      hostile attitude, with his bayonet in fair range of the Colonel, as he
+      replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Colonel, my orders is to pass no livin' man unless he says 'Bunker Hill.'
+      I'd be glad to do ye a good turn, but there's no use talkin'. I'm goin' to
+      obey orders, and ye can't pass here."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0055" id="linkimage-0055">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/155.jpg" alt="'not 'less Ye Say 'bunker Hill.'' 155 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel chuckled softly as he dismounted and came up to Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's all right," he said, "of course I know what the countersign is. I
+      was only trying you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hold on there," said Si, "don't come too close. If you've got the
+      countersign, advance and give it. If ye ain't got it, I'll jest call the
+      Officer of the Guard!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning over the point of Si's bayonet the Colonel gently whispered
+      "Bunker Hill".
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Correct!" said Si, and bringing his gun to a shoulder, he respectfully
+      saluted the Colonel. The latter started to remount, but turned back as he
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Just let me show you how to hold your gun. You don't&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not if the court knows herself," said Si, again menacing the Colonel with
+      his bayonet. "That's bin played on me once to-night, and if anybody does
+      it again my name ain't Si Klegg!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's right, Corporal," said the Colonel as he sprang into the saddle;
+      "but don't tell anybody what the countersign is again! Good night!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good night. Colonel," said Si, touching his hat. As the officers rode
+      away Si began to think he had put his foot in it again. He was confirmed
+      in this opinion by seeing Shorty sit down on a log in a paroxysm of
+      laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You give yerself away bad this time!" said Shorty, as soon as he could
+      speak. "What did ye tell him the countersign for?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whew-w-w-w!" observed Si, with a prolonged whistle. "Shorty," said he, "I
+      wish you'd take a club and see if you can't pound a little sense into me;
+      I don't believe I've got any!" Without another word he shouldered his gun
+      and returned to the guard headquarters. "Now I'm a goner, sure!" he said
+      to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his way he found a guard sitting by a tree, sound asleep. Carefully
+      taking away his gun Si awoke him, and frightened him half to death by
+      telling him that he would report him and he would be shot for sleeping on
+      post. Si finally said he wouldn't tell on him this time, but he must never
+      do so again, or he would be a dead man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal of the guard!" was heard again, sometime after midnight. "If
+      they try any more measly tricks on me to-night somebody 'll git hurt!"
+      thought Si as he walked briskly along the line in response to the call.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This time it was a "contraband"&mdash;an old negro, who stood shivering
+      with terror as the guard held him at the point of the bayonet. Recalling
+      the unlucky adventures of the night. Si imagined that it was one of the
+      officers, who had blackened himself like a minstrel, and had come there
+      purposely to "catch him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ye can't get through unless ye've got the counter sign," said he,
+      decisively; "and I shan't give it to ye, nuther! And ye needn't try to
+      show me how to hold my gun! I can handle it well enough to shoot and punch
+      the Bayonet!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't know what dat all means, boss," said the frightened negro; "but fer
+      de good Lawd's sake don't shove dat t'ing frew me. I've only bin ober to
+      de nex' place to a 'possum roast and I'se jist gwine home. I didn't know
+      dese yer ge-yards was heah!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't propose to take any chances, and so he marched the old
+      contraband back and delivered him to the officer, who kept him till
+      morning and then suffered him to go on his way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more that night Si was called, in addition to his tramps with the
+      "reliefs" and the "grand rounds." It was, perhaps, an hour before
+      daylight, and Shorty was the guard who called him. He told Si there was
+      something walking around in the woods, and he believed it was a rebel
+      trying to creep up on them. He had challenged two or three times, but got
+      no answer. The moon had gone down, and in the dark woods objects at any
+      distance could not be distinguished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There, d'ye hear that?" said Shorty, as there came a sound of crackling
+      sticks and rustling leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt!" exclaimed Si. "Who comes there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no response, and Si challenged again with like result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "let's fire both together," and crack went their
+      muskets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment there was a great floundering, and then all was still. As
+      soon as it was light, and Shorty was relieved, he and Si went out to see
+      the result of their fire. To their astonishment they found the prowler
+      cold and stiff in death&mdash;they had shot a big gray mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0056" id="linkimage-0056">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/163.jpg" alt="They Had Shot a Mule 163 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, it was a busy and interesting night for Si. He did not lose
+      his chevrons on account of his mistakes. But he learned something, and the
+      lesson was impressed upon his mind by a few kindly words of caution and
+      advice from the Captain of Co. Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. FORAGING ON THE WAY
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI HAS SOME VARIED EXPERIENCES WITH SOUTHERN PRODUCTS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      THE long chase after Bragg from Louisville to the mountains of
+      southeastern Kentucky was rough on the new troops. It weeded them out very
+      fast, and in every town through which Buell's army passed the buildings
+      were turned into hospitals and filled with sick and crippled soldiers, who
+      had found out early that they were not physically able to endure the
+      hardships of an active campaign. At the end of two or three weeks some of
+      the new regiments were as much reduced in numbers as most of those that
+      went out in '61 were during their first six months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. jogged along bravely, but its ranks had suffered the common
+      skage. Not less than 400 of its men had fallen by the wayside, and were
+      taking quinine and blue-mass and rubbing arnica on their legs all along
+      the tortuous route.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Si Klegg and his friend Shorty proved to be "stayers." Full of
+      life and ambition, they were always prompt for duty and ready for a fight
+      or a frolic. No one was more quick than Si to offer a suffering comrade
+      the last drop of fresh water in his canteen or give him a lift by carrying
+      his gun a piece.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day the regiment started out for an easy, comfortable day's march. The
+      coast was clear of rebels, and there being no excuse for crowding on the
+      steam, the boys were allowed to take their own gait, while the horses of
+      the officers and cavalry had a chance to recover their wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a warm day late in October. The nights at this time were keen and
+      frosty, but the sun at mid-day still showed much of his Summer vigor.
+      Perspiration flowed freely down the faces of those wandering Hoosiers&mdash;faces
+      that were fast assuming the color of half-tanned leather under the
+      influence of sunshine and storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once an hour there was the customary halt, when the boys would stretch
+      their legs by the roadside, hitching their knapsacks up under their heads.
+      When the allotted time had expired the bugler blew "Fall in," the notes of
+      which during the next two years became so familiar to the ears of the
+      200th. Later in '64, the Indiana boys mingled their voices with the rest
+      of Sherman's hundred thousand veterans as they sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "I know you are tired, but still you must go
+     Down to Atlanta to see the big show."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers were in good spirits. As they marched they fired jests at one
+      another, and laughter rippled along the line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only thing that troubled them was the emaciated condition of their
+      haversacks, with a corresponding state of affairs in their several
+      stomachs. The Commissary Department was thoroughly demoralized. The supply
+      train had failed to connect, and rations were almost exhausted. There was
+      no prospect that the aching void would be filled, at least, in the regular
+      way, until they reached a certain place, which would not be until the
+      following day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strict orders against foraging were issued almost daily under the Buell
+      dispensation. These were often read impressively to the new troops, who,
+      in their simplicity, "took it all in" as military gospel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0057" id="linkimage-0057">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/169.jpg"
+      alt="The 200th Ind. Was Not Without Talent in Foraging 169 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The effect was somewhat depressing upon the ardor with which otherwise
+      they would have pursued the panting pig and the fluttering fowl, and
+      reveled in the orchards and potato-fields. A few irrepressible fellows
+      managed to get a choice meal now and then&mdash;just enough to show that
+      the 200th Ind. was not without latent talent in this direction, which only
+      needed a little encouragement to become fruitful of results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But these orders against foraging didn't hold the soldiers of the crop of
+      1861. It was like trying to carry water in a sieve. When rations were
+      short, or if they wanted to vary the rather monotonous bill of fare, they
+      always found a way to make up any existing deficiency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day in question a few hints were thrown out which resulted in a
+      tacit understanding that, in view of the actual need of the soldiers, if
+      they got a good chance to pick up something the eyes of the officers would
+      be closed. In fact, the officers were as hungry as the men, and hoped to
+      come in for a "divide."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after starting in the morning a persimmon tree, well laden with
+      fruit, was seen in a field not far from the road. About fifty men started
+      for it on a run, and in five minutes it was as bare as the barren fig
+      tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The persimmon has some very marked peculiarities. It is a toothsome fruit
+      when well ripened by frost, but if eaten before it has reached the point
+      of full maturity, the effect upon one's interior is unique and startling.
+      The pungent juices take hold of the mouth and pucker it up in such manner
+      as to make even speech for a time impossible. The tongue seems as if it
+      were tied in a knot. If the juice be swallowed, similar results follow all
+      along its course. But the novice does not often get far enough for that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys soon found that the 'simmons, although they looked very tempting,
+      were too green to be eaten with any degree of enjoyment. So they filled
+      their pockets with them to pucker up the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty had joined in the scramble, telling Si he would bring him a good
+      supply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ain't them nice?" he said to Si, holding out three or four of the
+      greenest ones he could find. "Eat 'em; they're jest gorjus! You can't help
+      likin' 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never seen any persimmons before. They were certainly tempting to
+      the eye, and he thought they were sent as manna was supplied to the
+      children of Israel in the wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eagerly seizing them, Si tossed one into his mouth and began to chew it
+      with great vigor. The persimmon got in its work at once. It took hold with
+      a mighty grip, wrinkling him up like the skins on scalded milk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After sputtering vigorously a few minutes, while Shorty laughed at him. Si
+      managed to get his tongue untwisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said he, "them things is nice&mdash;in a horn! 'Twouldn't take many
+      of 'em to make a meal!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little farther on Si's quick eye noticed a row of beehives standing on a
+      bench in the yard of one of the natives. Si had a weakness for honey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said he, "see them hives over there? How'd ye like to have some
+      honey for supper?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty "allowed" that it would be a good thing. Si stopped and waited a
+      few minutes until his own regiment got past, thinking his plan would be
+      less liable to interruption. Then he leaped over the fence, went up to the
+      hives, and boldly tipped one of them over, hoping he could get out a comb
+      or two, fill up his coffee-kettle, and effect his retreat before the bees
+      really found out what he was up to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the bees instantly rallied their forces and made a vigorous assault
+      upon the invader. Si saw that it would be too hot for him, and without
+      standing upon the order of his going he went at once, in a decidedly
+      panicky state of mind. The bees made the most of their opportunity, using
+      their "business ends" on him with great activity and zeal. They seemed to
+      fully' share the common feeling in the South toward the "Yanks."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0058" id="linkimage-0058">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/171.jpg" alt="Si Beat a Retreat 171 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A pretty woman, standing on the porch, had watched Si's raid from the
+      doorway. As he fell back in utter rout she screamed "Sarves ye right!" and
+      then sat down on the doorstep and laughed till she cried. She enjoyed it
+      as much as the bees did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter took hold of Si in various places, and by the time he had
+      caught up with the regiment one eye was closed, and there was a big lump
+      on his nose, besides several more stings which the bees had judiciously
+      distributed about his person. It was very evident that he had been
+      overmatched and had come out second best in the encounter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg presented a picturesque appearance as he reached Co. Q. The
+      boys fairly yelled with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whar's yer honey?" said Shorty. "Pears like ye waked up the wrong
+      passenger that time!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si laughed with the rest, rubbed salt on his stings, and plodded on,
+      consoling himself with the thought that his was not the only case in which
+      the merit of earnest effort had gone unrewarded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after noon the 200th came to a large patch of sweet potatoes. Si and
+      Shorty, as well as a good many of the rest, thought it would be a good
+      place to lay in a supply for supper, as they might not have another So
+      good a chance. From all parts of the column the men, by dozens dashed into
+      the field. In a moment there was a man at every hill, digging away with
+      his bayonet, and chucking the tempting tubers into his haversack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <img alt="173 (74K)" src="images/173.jpg" /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THERE WAS A MAN AT EVERY HILL
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two hours before going into camp the regiment passed a small spring,
+      around which a crowd of soldiers were struggling to fill their canteens.
+      There had been a long stretch without fresh water, and Si thought he would
+      supply himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Gimme your canteen, too, Shorty, and I'll fill it!" he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, Si, you're a bully boy, take mine!" "Mine, too!" "And mine!" said
+      one after another of his comrades. Si good naturedly complied and they
+      loaded him down with about 20 canteens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0059" id="linkimage-0059">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/175.jpg" alt="Si Being Worked for a 'good Thing.' 175 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said Si, "I'll be along with 'em full d'reckly!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had to wait for his turn at the spring, and by the time he had filled
+      all the canteens he was half an hour behind. Slinging them around his neck
+      he started on, with just about as big a load as he could carry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si forged ahead, gradually gaining a little, through the tardy movement of
+      the column that generally preceded going into camp. The canteen straps
+      chafed his shoulders, his back ached, and perspiration streamed from every
+      pore. The smoke of the campfires ahead told that the end of the day's
+      march was near. He kept on and finally came up with Co. Q just as the
+      200th was stacking arms on the bank of a clear stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si threw down his burdens of canteens, himself thoroughly blown and
+      well-nigh exhausted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Purty good load, wasn't it, Si?" said Shorty. "But what made ye lug all
+      that water in here? When ye saw they was goin' into camp ahead ye might
+      ha' knowed there was plenty o' water. Why in blazes didn't ye turn the
+      water out o' them 'ere canteens?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll be hanged if I thought o' that!" said Si, while the boys joined in a
+      hearty laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the command "Break ranks" there was a general scamper to engage in the
+      work of getting supper and preparing to spend the night with as much
+      comfort as possible. The members of each mess scattered in all directions
+      for water, rails, straw, etc., while some went out to scour the adjacent
+      region for edibles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These exercises the soldiers always entered into with the heartiest gusto,
+      and the scene will be well remembered by all those who marched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si threw off his traps and dropped on the ground to rest a few minutes. He
+      got up presently to scratch around with the rest. As he took hold of his
+      haversack he was surprised at its lightness. When he laid it down it was
+      bulging out with sweet potatoes, and a glance showed him that these were
+      all gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dern my buttons!" exclaimed Si, as he forgot his weariness, and his eyes
+      flashed fire. "If I am a Corporal, I kin jest mash the feller that stole
+      my 'taters, I don't keer if he's ten foot high. Won't somebody show 'im to
+      me? There won't be 'nuff of 'im left to hold a fun'ral over?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si pranced around in a high state of inflammation, and it is probable that
+      if he had found the purloiner of his provender there would have been a
+      harder fight than any that occurred between Buell and Bragg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys winked slyly at one another, and all said it was too bad. It was
+      a startling case of turpitude, and Si determined to have revenge by
+      getting even with some other fellow, without pausing to consider the
+      questions of moral philosophy involved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come 'long with me. Shorty!" he said to his friend, and they strode away.
+      Just outside the camp they came upon two members of some other new
+      regiment coming into camp with a fine pig slung over a pole and two or
+      three chickens in their hands. Shorty suggested to Si that this was a good
+      chance for him to even up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt, there!" shouted Si to the foragers. "We're sent out to pick up such
+      fellows as you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect was like a discharge from a masked battery. The men dropped
+      their plunder and fled in wild confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Take hold 'o that pole, Shorty!" said Si, and laying it upon their
+      shoulders they made a triumphant entry into camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There seemed to be no danger of immediate starvation in the ranks of the
+      200th. Each man appeared to have supplied himself during the day. On every
+      hand fires gleamed brightly in the gathering twilight, and around them
+      crowded the hungry soldiers, intent upon the simple culinary processes
+      incident to the evening meal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. A SUNDAY OFF
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI AND SHORTY GET A MUCH-NEEDED WASH-UP.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "YOU can take it easy to-day, boys, for we ain't goin' to move!" said the
+      Orderly of Co. Q one morning at roll-call. "The orders is for to put the
+      camp in nice shape, and for the men to wash up. We're goin' to have an
+      extra ration of soap this mornin', and you fellows want to stir around
+      lively and fix yerselves as if it was Sunday and ye was goin' to meetin'.
+      The fust thing after breakfast all hands 'll turn out and p'leece ther
+      camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the world does he mean by p'leecin' the camp?" Corporal Klegg
+      asked Shorty, as they stood by the fire making coffee and warming up the
+      fragments of chicken that had been left over from supper the night before.
+      "I didn't c'pose," said Si, "that we 'listed to be p'leecemen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty replied that he didn't know, but he reckoned they'd find out soon
+      enough. The 200th Ind. had been on the jump every day since leaving
+      Louisville, and this was the first time it had been called on to "police"
+      a camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as breakfast was over the Orderly directed each man to provide
+      himself with a small bundle of sticks, made by putting together a dozen
+      bits of brush or "switches" three or four feet long, such as are used to
+      rural pedagogs to enforce discipline. These, he said, were the implements
+      used in policing camp, which meant brushing the leaves and loose debris
+      outside the grounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Does Corprils have to do that sort o' thing?" asked Si. He thought army
+      regulations and camp usage ought to show some consideration for his rank.
+      "What's the use of bein' a Corporil," he said to himself, "if it don't
+      give a feller a chance to play off once in a while?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporals ain't no better'n anybody else," replied the Orderly, "'n' you
+      can jist git some brush and go to work, 'long with the rest!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was disposed to grumble a little, but he obeyed orders and was soon
+      scratching up the leaves and dust with great zeal. He did not find it a
+      particularly pleasant occupation, but the camp looked so much better when
+      the job was done, that he thought it was not a bad thing, after all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Shorty," said Si, "let's go down to the creek and do our washin'. My
+      clothes has got to be biled, and I shouldn't wonder if yourn had, too."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, that's a fact!" said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They got a big camp-kettle that had been used, and would be again, for
+      making bean-soup, and started for the stream back of the camp. They had no
+      change of clothing with them. Some days before, in order to lighten their
+      knapsacks, they had taken out their extra shirts and drawers, tied them in
+      a bundle, and put them on the company wagon, and this was somewhere back
+      in the rear, owing to the confusion of the campaign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems to me," observed Si, "it ain't hardly a fair shake for Uncle Sam to
+      make us do our washin'. They ought to confiscate the niggers 'n' set them
+      at it; or I don't see why the Guvyment can't furnish a washin' masheen for
+      each comp'ny! 'Twouldn't be no more'n the square thing!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0060" id="linkimage-0060">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/181.jpg" alt="Si Was Disposed to Grumble 181 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "The wimmen does the washin', ye know, Si, up where we live," said Shorty,
+      "'n' I don't quite like the notion o' doin' that kind o' workt, but I
+      can't jest see how we're goin' to git out of it. It's got to be done,
+      that's sure!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the bank of the stream they quickly threw off their clothes for a bath.
+      Si cast rueful glances at his nether garments as he laid them on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hadn't we better pile some rocks on 'em, Shorty?" said he. I'm affeared
+      if we don't they'll crawl off into the bush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess we had," replied Shorty. "I b'lieve mine's started already!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having made sure of them, they plunged into the water. Far up and down the
+      stream were hundreds of men, swimming and splashing about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers availed themselves of every opportunity to enjoy this luxury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having thoroughly performed their ablutions. Si and Shorty turned their
+      energies toward the clothes, which were in such sore need of soap and hot
+      water. Putting their garments into the kettle and filling it with water,
+      they built a fire under it. After half an hour of vigorous boiling they
+      concluded they were "done." Plenty of soap, rubbing and rinsing finished
+      the work, and the clothes sure presented a remarkable appearance,
+      particularly the blue trousers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How're we going to git 'em dry?" asked Si, as he wrung out the last of
+      his "wash."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hang 'em on the fence in the sun!" replied Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what'll we wear while they're dryin'?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nothin', I reckon!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they spread out their garments, and then dashed again into the water.
+      After splashing awhile they came out and drew on their half-dried
+      trousers. Shorty lighted his pipe as they sat down to wait for the
+      sunshine to do its perfect work. All along the stream were soldiers in
+      similar stages of dishabille. It seemed like the Garden of Eden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0061" id="linkimage-0061">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/183.jpg" alt="Showing the Old Man a Trick 183 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Shorty," said Si, "'taint very wicked to smoke, is it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess not!" was the reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's the way it 'pears to me, 'n' I've been kinder thinkin' lately that
+      I'd learn how. The soljers all seem to enjoy their smokin' so much. You
+      know. Shorty, that I was always a reel good boy&mdash;never smoked, nor
+      chawed terbacker, nor cussed, nor done nothin' that was out o' the
+      straight an' narrer way. When I jined the regiment my good old mother says
+      to me: 'Now, Si,' says she, 'I do hope ye'll 'member what I've always
+      taught ye. I've beam 'em tell that they does dretful things in the army,
+      and I want ye to see if ye can't be as good a boy as ye've been at home.'
+      Of course, I told her I would, 'n' I mean, ter stick to it; but I don't
+      b'lieve there's any harm in smokin'. Is it hard to learn?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I dunno; I reck'n ye can't most always tell till ye try. Take a
+      whiff, 'nd see how she goes!" And Shorty handed him his pipe, which he had
+      just refilled with whittlings of black "navy plug."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Derned if I don't try it!" said Si, as he took the pipe and began to puff
+      with great energy. He made a few wry faces at first, but Shorty told him
+      to stick to it, and he bravely pulled away while the clouds of smoke
+      curled above him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not long till the color left his face, his head was in a whirl, and
+      his stomach began to manifest eruptive symptoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he gasped, "I'm awful sick. If smokin' makes a feller feel like
+      this I don't want any more of it in mine."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Where's all yer sand ye brag so much about?" said Shorty, laughing.
+      "You're mighty poor timber for a soljer if ye can't stand a little pipe o'
+      terbacker like that. You'll get over it purty soon, and it won't bother ye
+      any next time ye try it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si found that he had on hand about as much as he could manage with his
+      dizzy head and the rebellion that was so actively going on at a point a
+      little lower in his physical system. The feeling wore gradually off,
+      however, and by the time he was able to walk their clothes were well
+      dried. They proceeded to "dress up," and then returned to camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the afternoon the camp was visited by natives, black and white,
+      from the region round about, with corn "pones," alleged pies, boiled eggs,
+      and truck of various kinds, which they sought to dispose of for a valuable
+      consideration. They struck a bad crowd, however, in a financial sense. The
+      members of the 200th Ind. were not at this time in a condition of
+      opulence. Most of them had spent what money they brought from home, and
+      they had not been out long enough yet to receive a visit from the
+      Paymaster. The lank men and scrawny women cried their wares vociferously,
+      but with indifferent results. The boys wanted the stuff, but they were
+      "busted," and trade was dull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked wistfully at the "pies," and suggested to Shorty a joint
+      investment. Their purses were nearly empty, but the temptation was too
+      strong to be resisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them looks nice," said Si. They were the first pies he had seen since
+      leaving home, and his judgment was a little "off." As a matter of fact, it
+      was only by the greatest stretch of courtesy that they could be called
+      pies at all. But the word touched Si in a tender spot, and he only thought
+      of such as his mother used to make.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty "pooled in" and bought a pie. Impatiently whipping out his
+      pocket knife Si tried to cut it in two. It was hard work, for the "crust"&mdash;so
+      called&mdash;was as tough as the hide of a mule. By their united efforts
+      they at length succeeded in sawing it asunder. It was a fearful and
+      wonderful specimen of culinary effort. It was made of two slabs of sodden,
+      leathery dough, with a very feeble layer of dried apples sandwiched
+      between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si tried his teeth on the pie, but it was like trying to chew an old
+      boot-leg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, old lady," said he, turning to the female of whom he had bought
+      it, "is these pies pegged or sewed?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look a hyar, young feller," said the woman, with considerable vinegar in
+      her tone, "p'raps you-uns-all thinks it's right smart to insult we-uns; it
+      shows how yer wuz broughten up. I don't 'low yer ever seed any nicer
+      dog-g-goned pies 'n them is. Ye needn't try ter argify 'long 'th me, fur I
+      kin jest knock the spots off'n any woman there is 'round here in cookin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si saw that it would be profitless to discuss the matter, and concluded to
+      make the best of a bad bargain. But he wouldn't eat the pie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, the hucksters fared rather badly. The boys confiscated most
+      of the stuff that was brought in, promising to pay next time they came
+      that way. There was a good deal of grumbling, but the trouble always ended
+      in the soldiers getting the plunder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The climax was reached when a putty-faced citizen drove into camp a bony
+      mule tied with straps and ropes and strings to a crazy cart, on which was
+      a barrel of cider, which he "allowed" to sell out to the boys at 10 cents
+      a drink, or a quarter a canteen full. He had a spigot rigged up in one end
+      and an old tin cup, with which he dealt out the seductive beverage to such
+      as would pay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A thirsty crowd gathered around him, but sales were slow, on account of
+      the scarcity of money. Si and Shorty mingled with the boys, and then drew
+      aside and engaged in a whispered consultation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That'll be jest bully!" said Shorty. "If you can raise an auger somewhere
+      we'll git the bulge on that old chap."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0062" id="linkimage-0062">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/187.jpg" alt="Waiting for Their Clothes to Dry 187 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si returned after a brief absence, with an auger which he had borrowed
+      from the driver of an ammunition wagon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Shorty," said Si, "you git the boys to stand around and keep up a
+      racket, and I'll crawl under the cart and bore a hole into that 'ere
+      barrel. Then pass in yer canteens and army kettles 'n' we'll show the old
+      man a trick!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty quietly broached the scheme to a few of his comrades, who fell in
+      with it at once. Gathering around the cart, they cheered and chattered so
+      as to drown any noise Si might make while carrying out his plan, and which
+      would "give it away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not more than a minute till a gurgling sound was heard, and Si
+      began to pass out to the boys the buckets and canteens which they so
+      freely furnished him, filled with the fast-flowing contents of the barrel.
+      It didn't take long to empty it entirely, nor did the citizen discover the
+      state of affairs until the cider no longer ran from the spigot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had not sold more than a gallon or two, and he was amazed when the
+      liquid ceased to respond. Then he resolved himself into an investigating
+      committee, and after a protracted search he discovered the trick that had
+      been played on him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I'll be gosh-durned!" he exclaimed. "I've hearn tell 'bout Yankee
+      tricks, but dog my cats if this 'ere don't beat 'em all! I'd like to cut
+      the gizzard outen the rascal that bored the hole in that bar'l!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I declare, old pard; that was mean!" said Si, who stood looking on, with
+      his hands in his trousers pockets, the very picture of innocence. "I'm
+      jist goin' to flax 'round 'n' help ye find that feller. If I was you I'd
+      pound the stuffin' out of him&mdash;when ye cotch him!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. A CLOSE CALL
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CORPORAL KLEGG HAS AN EXCITING ADVENTURE GUARDING A FORAGE TRAIN.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "COMPANY Q's bin detailed to go out 'n' help guard a forage train
+      to-morrow," said the Orderly one evening at roll-call. "You fellers wants
+      to all be up 'n' dressed bright 'n' early, with yer cartridge-boxes full
+      'n' a day's rations in yer haversacks. Be sure yer guns is in good order,
+      fer likely's not we'll have a squirmish afore we git back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. had been lying in camp for two or three days, and the
+      ambitious heroes who composed that regiment were getting tired of loafing
+      about. Nothing chafed the raging patriotism of the new troops like a
+      condition, however brief, of masterly inactivity. They refused to be
+      comforted unless they were on the warpath all the time. Their ideal of a
+      soldier's life was to take a rebel battery every morning before breakfast,
+      storm a line of works to give them an appetite for dinner, and spend the
+      afternoon charging with cold steel the serried columns of the foe and
+      wading around through seas of gore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Corporal Klegg and Shorty and the rest of the boys betook themselves
+      with alacrity to the work of preparation for the duties of the morrow.
+      Members of the other companies watched the proceedings with jealous eye.
+      They almost turned green with envy because they were not detailed for the
+      expedition instead of Co. Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Si," remarked Shorty, thoughtfully, "hadn't we better write a letter
+      home? Who knows but we'll be as dead as mackerels to-morrer night!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fiddlesticks!" said Si. "What's the use o' havin' a funeral afore there's
+      any corpse! We've bin through one fight 'n' didn't git hurt, 'n' I've made
+      up my mind there's no use gittin' into a stew over a thing that may hap'n
+      'n' may not. Time 'nuff to fret 'bout it when it comes. I recolleck one
+      thing I learned in Sunday-school&mdash;let's see, it was 'S'ficient unto
+      the day is the evil thereof,' or suthin' like that. Strikes me that's a
+      good passidge o' Scripter fer a soldier to keep pasted in his hat. I ain't
+      goin' ter hang back fer fear a billit 'll hit me, nuther. If we're going
+      to be killed we can't help it, so let's not fret our gizzards out!" And Si
+      crammed a handful of hardtack into his haversack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's cheery view of the case was not without its effect upon Shorty.
+      Indeed, it cannot be denied that there was a great deal of common sense in
+      his homely, good-natured philosophy. Sooner or later every soldier who did
+      not "peter out" came gradually to adopt Si's idea as the governing
+      principle of his military career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shouldn't wonder if you was 'bout right, after all," said Shorty, as he
+      sliced up some bacon to have it ready for an early breakfast. "You're
+      better'n medicine, Si, to a feller w'at gits the blues sometimes!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The preparations were soon made, and Co. Q went to bed early. In the
+      morning the Orderly came around and stirred the boys up an hour before
+      reveille, as they were ordered to be ready to start at daylight. The
+      primary object of the expedition was forage for the animals, the supply of
+      which had run short. Besides this, each man had a secondary purpose, and
+      that was to gather in something on his own hook that would satisfy his
+      longing for a change from the regulation diet. This was always the
+      unwritten part of the order to "go out foraging." Daylight was just
+      streaking over the camp when Co. Q, equipped in light marching order,
+      leaving knapsacks behind, moved out to where the half dozen wagons
+      detailed from the regimental transportation were ready for the start. Each
+      regiment in the brigade furnished a company and the same number of wagons.
+      The impatient mules were braying and flapping their ears, as if they
+      understood that they were to be the chief beneficiaries of the raid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Pile in, boys!" said the Orderly, and they clambered into the wagons. The
+      guards were permitted to ride until there were symptoms of danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the muleteers, bestriding the big "wheelers," cracked their long
+      whips like pistol-snots, addressed to the mules the usual words of
+      exhortation, and the long procession drew out upon the stony pike and took
+      a brisk trot. Considerable foraging had already been done in the vicinity,
+      and it was expected the train would have to go out several miles in order
+      to fully accomplish its object. The boys were in fine spirits and enjoyed
+      their morning ride, albeit the jolting of the wagons gave them a thorough
+      shaking up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I guess they forgot to put any springs in when they built these wagons!"
+      said Shorty, as he shifted his position so that he might catch the bumps
+      in a new place for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jest thinkin' that way myself," replied Si; "but all the same, it beats
+      travelin' on the hoof all holler!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three or four miles out from camp the train was halted while the officers
+      in command made inquiries of a cadaverous native who was sunning himself
+      on the fence and whose principal occupation seemed to be chewing tobacco
+      and distributing the resultant liquid around in a promiscuous way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning, stranger," said the officer, "have you any corn on your
+      place?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Haint got a dog-goned ear left!" was the surly answer. "Some o' you-unses
+      men wuz out here yisterdy 'n' tuk every bit I hed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This may or may not have been true. Inquiries of this nature always
+      developed the fact that it was a man's neighbors who had plenty of corn;
+      he never had any himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's ole man Scroggs," he continued; "he lives a matter of two miles
+      from hyar. I 'low ye'll git sum if ye go thar. He growed a power o' cawn
+      this yeah; he sold a heap, but I reckon he's got a right smart left."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this time a couple of men had been making a hasty examination of
+      the outbuildings on the place. They reported that they could find nothing
+      in the way of forage. If the man had any corn he had carefully concealed
+      it. The train started on to pay a visit to old man Scroggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, old pard," asked Si as his wagon drove past, "is there any rebs
+      'round here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There wuz a few Confedrit critter-men ridin' 'bout hyar this mawnin';&mdash;mebby
+      ye'll run agin 'em 'afore night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How many o' your boys is among em?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'uns is all Union."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jest as long as we're 'round, I s'pose!" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A mile further on those who were in the lead, rising to the crest of a
+      hill, saw&mdash;or thought they saw a few vagrant cavalrymen far ahead.
+      The train was halted and dispositions were made to meet any emergency
+      likely to arise. The men were ordered to "tumble out" of the wagons. The
+      main body was formed in advance. A line of skirmishers was deployed in
+      front and flankers were thrown out on either side. Thus protected, the
+      mule drivers again cracked their whips and the procession moved cautiously
+      forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now keep yer eyes skinned," said Si to Shorty as they trailed along
+      through the woods and fields and over fences, on one of the flanks. "If
+      any of them raskils comes dodgin' 'round here let's try 'n' have the first
+      crack at 'em 'n' git the bulge on the rest o' the boys!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keenly alert, with muskets loaded and capped, they crept carefully along,
+      poking their noses into every thicket and peering around every building.
+      It was clear that there would not be anything in the nature of a surprise
+      if the whole line was as well taken care of as the particular point
+      guarded by Corporal Klegg and his faithful friend Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's some like huntin' squirrels up in the woods of Posey County," said
+      Si, as they forced their way through a patch of brambles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Pears to be rayther more excitin' than huntin' squirrels," said Shorty.
+      "Ye know squirrels doesn't shute back at a feller as them pesky rebbles
+      does, an' the fun 's all on one side. I reckon ef squirrels c'd shute
+      there wouldn't be so much huntin' of 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was really a disappointment to Si that he found no opportunity to
+      squint along the barrel of his musket in range of a foe. If any of his
+      misguided fellow-citizens were in the neighborhood they considered
+      discretion the better part of valor and kept out of harm's way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In due time the Scroggs plantation was reached. A hasty examination showed
+      that there was an abundance of corn on the place to load the wagons, and
+      arrangements for a sudden transfer of the property were quickly made. A
+      third of the force established a cordon of picket-posts around the
+      marauding party, covering all the avenues of approach, with re serves at
+      convenient points. The remainder of the troops stacked arms and entered
+      briskly upon the work of confiscation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0063" id="linkimage-0063">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/191.jpg"
+      alt="An Assault on the Well-filled Corn Crib 191 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Part of the harvest had already been gathered, and the first assault
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      was made on a well-filled cornhouse&mdash;one of a group of dilapidated
+      out-buildings a little way from the dwelling. "Old man" Scroggs protested
+      with profane vehemence, reinforced by the "old woman" and the entire
+      family of children. We say "entire family," because there could not well
+      have been a more numerous progeny in one household anywhere outside of
+      Utah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head of the family cursed and swore, and his wife and the big girls
+      looked as if they wanted to do the same thing, as they stood wringing
+      their hands, their eyes flashing fire while the small-fry stood around and
+      sobbed with a vague idea that some dire calamity had befallen them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old Kentuckian declared that he was a "Union man," and that he would
+      demand of the Government full revenge for this outrage. It was noticed
+      that there were no young men around as there should be according to the
+      economy of nature, to preserve the balance of sex in so large a family.
+      The officer in command asked him where all his sons were.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I kaint tell yer 'zactly whar they is," was the reply. "They ain't
+      to hum jest now. I 'low they've got a right to g'way ef they want ter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer had been informed that there were several representatives of
+      the Scroggs family in the rebel army. The old man's avowal of loyalty was
+      taken for what it was worth. That it was not rated at a high figure was
+      well attested by the appearance of the plantation a few hours later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the soldiers kept right along in the duty assigned them. The
+      corn-house was surrounded by wagons, the roof was gently lifted off, and
+      in scarcely more time than it takes to tell the story six or eight of the
+      wagons were heaped with the contents. The mules wagged their tails and
+      brayed in anticipation of the picnic they would have when they got back to
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the force moved some distance and attacked a large field of standing
+      corn. The stalks had been "topped," but the ears were yet ungathered. The
+      men started in between the rows and swept through that field like a
+      cyclone, plucking the ears right and left. Bags, baskets and boxes were
+      pressed into the service, and as there were not enough of these to go'
+      round many bore the corn to the wagons by armfuls. It did not take more
+      than two or three hours to strip every ear from the field. A visitation of
+      overgrown Kansas grasshoppers could not have done a more thorough job.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fo' de Lawd, boss," said an old darky who had been roosting on the fence
+      watching the spoilers, "I nebber seed de crap gaddered so quick since I'se
+      bawn. You'uns all is powerful smart, da't shuah!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But where were Corporal Klegg and his comrade. Shorty, while all this was
+      going on?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had been stationed as sentinels near a house, half a mile beyond, on
+      the pike. They were cautioned to keep a sharp lookout, and for a time they
+      obeyed their instructions to the letter. Their vigilant eyes swept the
+      surrounding country, and no rebel could have crept up on them without
+      getting a pair of bullets from their ready muskets. They saw no signs of
+      an enemy, and after a while it began to grow monotonous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "I don't b'lieve there's any seceshers in these parts,
+      an' there ain't any use'n us both keepin' this thing up. You jest watch
+      out awhile 'n' I'll skin around 'n' see what I kin find."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty agreed to this, taking it as an order from his superior officer. Si
+      threw his gun up to a "right shoulder shift" and started off, after again
+      urging upon his companion the importance of attending strictly to
+      business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had not gone far till he saw, penned in a corner of the barnyard, a cow
+      with a full udder, from which a frisky young calf was busily engaged in
+      pumping nourishment. A violent feeling of envy toward that calf began
+      immediately to rage in the 'breast of Si. He had not had a draft of fresh
+      milk since he had left home, and he felt that a little refreshment of that
+      kind would be particularly gratifying to his interior organism. It would
+      strengthen him and give him new courage to stand up to the rack if they
+      should happen to get into a fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say. Shorty," he called, "cum 'ere a minnit, quick!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's conscience smote him for calling Shorty from his duty and leaving the
+      post unguarded, but the temptation was too strong for him to resist, and
+      he yielded to the impulse to take the chances. Shorty came on the run,
+      with eyes wide open, thinking his comrade had discovered some rebels
+      hanging around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look there!" said Si, pointing to the maternal scene that has been
+      alluded to. "Let's have some o' that. We'll git over the fence 'n' you
+      jest hold the calf while I milk our canteens full. 'Twont take more'n a
+      jiffy!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We ort n't to leave the post, ort we?" suggested Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, there ain't no danger," Si replied; "an' besides, you can keep
+      lookin' out while you're hangin' on to the calf. I was alters a good
+      milker 'n' I'll fill up these canteens in a couple o' minnits." So they
+      climbed over and leaned their muskets against the fence. Shorty seized the
+      calf and held it with a firm grip, in spite of its struggling and
+      bleating. The cow seemed disposed at first to resent the interference, but
+      Si's persuasive "So, bossy" proved effectual in calming her fears, and she
+      stood placidly chewing her cud while Si, spurred on by a guilty
+      conscience, milked with all his might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0064" id="linkimage-0064">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/195.jpg" alt="Shorty Held the Calf 195 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The canteens were soon filled, and, with out stopping to drink. Si and
+      Shorty hurried back to their post of duty. All was quiet, and no harm had
+      resulted from their brief absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I told ye 'twould be all right," said Si. "Now, we'll jest empty one o'
+      these canteens&mdash;here, take a swig&mdash;'n' we'll carry the other to
+      camp. It'll be jest bully to have milk in our coffee agin!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they betook themselves to duty with redoubled vigilance, to atone for
+      their derelictions. After watching for an hour without seeing anything, Si
+      said he would take another little turn around the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Boldly advancing to the house, which was some distance in front of their
+      post, he was met by a girl of about 18. She was rather pretty, but to Si's
+      ardent imagination she was like a vision of surpassing loveliness. She
+      greeted him pleasantly&mdash;for Si was a comely youth&mdash;and, if the
+      truth must be told, he actually forgot for the moment all about his duty.
+      When she said she would get him a good dinner, and invited him into the
+      house to sit while she prepared it, he just went right along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But his conscience began to thump so loudly that after a few minutes he
+      told her he guessed he'd have to go, but would be delighted to return in
+      an hour and partake of her hospitality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "May I bring Shorty&mdash;he's my pard&mdash;'long with me?" he timidly
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly!" she replied, with a sweet smile; and Si went away, his nerves
+      tingling with pleasant emotions to the very tips of his fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he said, as he came up to "I've struck it this time. Over to
+      that house there's the purtiest gal I ever see."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wha-a-a-a-t!" interjected Shorty, with a look of astonishment; for he
+      knew something about Si and Annabel&mdash;the girl he left behind him&mdash;and
+      he was both surprised and pained at Si's treasonable enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si easily divined his thoughts, for something of the same nature had
+      already caused his own heart to palpitate in a reproving way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of&mdash;c-c-course&mdash;I d-d-don't&mdash;mean th-th-that. Shorty," he
+      stammered "but she's a nice girl, anyhow, 'n' she's gittin' up a dinner
+      fer me 'n' you. Bet ye it'll be a nice lay-out, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty did not feel quite at ease in his mind about leaving the post
+      again, but Si assured him it would be all right. The peculiar
+      circumstances of the case had sadly warped Si's judgment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went to the house and were cordially greeted by their fair young
+      hostess, who was flying around, putting the finishing touches to the meal
+      she had prepared for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jiminy, don't that smell good?" said Si to Shorty in an undertone, as his
+      sensitive nostrils caught the savory odors that arose from the
+      nicely-spread board.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young soldiers stood their guns on the floor in a corner of the room,
+      preliminary to an assault on the edibles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ugh!" exclaimed the young woman, with a coquettish shiver, "be them awful
+      things loaded?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "N&mdash;no!" said Si; "they won't hurt ye if ye don't touch 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was learning to fib a little, and he wanted to quiet the girl's fears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys were soon seated at the table, bountifully supplied with ham,
+      chicken, eggs, bread and butter, honey, and all the accessories of a
+      well-ordered repast. They fell to with an eagerness that was, perhaps,
+      justified by the long time that had elapsed since they had had a "square
+      meal." Si thought that never in his life had anything tasted so good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were thus engaged, without a thought of impending danger, the
+      girl suddenly opened the door, leading to the dining room. A wild-eyed man&mdash;who
+      proved to be her brother&mdash;in the uniform of a rebel soldier, dashed
+      in, and, presenting a cocked revolver, demanded their unconditional and
+      immediate surrender.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in a tight place. But Si proved equal to the sudden and
+      appalling emergency. It flashed through his mind in an instant how the
+      girl had "played it" on him. He made up his mind that he would rather be
+      shot than be captured under such circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0065" id="linkimage-0065">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/199.jpg" alt="Si Sprang Upon Him 199 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang up, and the rebel, true to his word, fired. Si dodged, and the
+      ball only chipped a piece from his left ear. There was not time to get and
+      use his gun. With the quickness of a cat Si sprang upon him, and with a
+      blow of his fist laid him sprawling upon the floor. Disarming him, he
+      placed the revolver at his head and triumphantly exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, gol durn ye, you're my prisoner. I'd like to blow the top o' yer
+      head off fer spilin' my dinner, but I won't do it this time. But you jist
+      git up 'n' come 'long with me!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With his complete mastery of the situation, Si's confidence returned, and
+      Shorty, who had been dazed and helpless at first, recovered himself and
+      came to his assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at this instant their ears caught the sound of horses' hoofs galloping
+      down the pike. Si's quick perception told him that is was a dash of rebel
+      cavalrymen, and that a few moments later escape would be impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grab yer gun an' git!" he said to Shorty, at the same time casting one
+      ferocious glance at the terrified girl, who stood, white and speechless,
+      contemplating the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty dashed out of the house and started for the reserve, at the
+      highest speed of which their legs were capable. On clattered the horses,
+      and a few shots from the carbines of the swift-riding horsemen whistled
+      through the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Six feet at a jump, with thumping hearts and bulging eyes, the fugitives
+      almost flew over the ground, throwing quick glances at their pursuers, and
+      then ahead, in the hope of catching a glimpse of succor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0066" id="linkimage-0066">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/203.jpg"
+      alt="'shorty if We--only Git--out O' This--' 203 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty, if we only git out o' this&mdash;" but Si found he hadn't any
+      wind to spare to finish the sentence. We must leave to the reader's
+      imagination the good resolutions as to his future conduct that were
+      forming in Si's mind at this critical juncture. He saw the awful
+      consequences of yielding to the influence of that alluring young woman and
+      her seductive dinner. What he had read about Adam and the trouble Eve got
+      him into, in pretty much the same way, flashed before him. It was a good
+      time to resolve that he wouldn't do so any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty, long and lank, was swifter on his feet than Si. Hardtack and bacon
+      had not yet reduced the latter's surplus flesh to a degree that enabled
+      him to run well. Shorty kept ahead, but would not desert his comrade,
+      slowing up for an instant now and then to give Si, who was straining to
+      the utmost every nerve, and puffing like a locomotive on an upgrade, a
+      chance to keep within supporting distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers of the reserve taking the alarm, came out at a double-quick
+      and were fortunately able to cover the retreat of Si and Shorty. The half
+      dozen cavalrymen, upon the appearance of so large a force, turned their
+      horses and galloped away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, Si," said the Orderly of Co. Q, "yer ear's bleedin'. What hurt
+      ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fell down and scratched it on a brier!" said Si, as soon as he was able
+      to speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Si and Shorty sat on a log by the campfire talking over the
+      events of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't ye never blow on this thing," said Si. "It'll be a cold day for us
+      if they'd find it out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There ain't no danger o' my tellin'," replied Shorty. "But, say, ain't
+      that a nice girl out there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "She's a mean rebel, that's what she is! But that was a smart trick o'
+      her'n, wasn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come mighty near bein' too smart fer us!" replied Shorty. "I don't want
+      no more such close shaves in mine. You 'member the story of the spider and
+      the fly, don't ye? Well, she was the spider 'n' we was two poor little
+      fool flies!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "I'd a mighty sight ruther be an angel an' have the
+      daisies a-bloomin' over my grave, than to have been tuk a prisoner in that
+      house. But that dinner was good, anyhow&mdash;what we got of it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. "THE SWEET SABBATH"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOW THE BLESSED DAY OF REST WAS SPENT IN THE ARMY.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "TOMORROW'S Sunday, ye know," said the Orderly of Company Q one Saturday
+      night at roll-call.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was in the nature of news to the boys. But for the announcement very
+      few of them would have known it. The Orderly was not distinguished for his
+      piety, and it is not likely that the approach of Sunday would have
+      occurred to him if the Sergeant-Major had not come around with orders from
+      the Colonel for a proper observance of the day. The Colonel himself would
+      not have thought of it either, if the Chaplain had not reminded him of it.
+      Everybody wondered how even the Chaplain could keep track of the days well
+      enough to know when Sunday came&mdash;but that was chiefly what he wore
+      shoulder-straps and drew his salary for. It was the general impression
+      that he either carried an almanac in his pocket, or else a stick in which
+      he cut a notch every day with his jack-knife, and in that way managed to
+      know when a new week began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There'll be guard-mountin' at 9 o'clock," continued the Orderly,
+      "regimental inspection at 10, preachin' at 11, an' dress-parade at 5 in
+      the evenin'. All of ye wants to tumble out right promptly at revellee an'
+      git yer breakfast, an' then clean up yer guns an' put all yer traps in
+      apple-pie order, 'cause the Colonel's goin' to look at 'em. He's got sharp
+      eyes, an' I reck'n he'll be mighty pertickler. If there's anything that
+      ain't jest right he'll see it quicker'n litenin'. Ye know we hain't had
+      any inspections yet, an' the Cap'n wants us to be the boss company. So
+      ye've got to scratch around lively in the mornin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say," said Corporal Klegg, after the company had broken ranks, "seems to
+      me there wa'n't no use in the Orderly tellin' us to 'scratch around,' fer
+      we're doin' that purty much all the time, now that the graybacks is
+      gittin' in their work on us."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty smiled faintly at what he seemed to consider a rather feeble joke,
+      even for Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. had now been in the field for many weeks, but it had been
+      continually cantering about the country, and the Generals had kept it
+      particularly active on Sundays. Probably this regiment did not manifest
+      any more than the average degree of enthusiasm and fervor in religious
+      matters, but there were many in its ranks who, at home, had always sat
+      under Gospel ministrations, and to tramp on Sundays, the same as other
+      days, was, at first, a rude shock to their moral sensibilities. These were
+      yet keen, the edges had not been worn off and blunted and battered by the
+      hard knocks of army life. True, they could scarcely tell when Sunday came,
+      but they knew that they kept right along every day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, after they had curled up under the blanket for the
+      night, "'pears to me it'll seem sort o' nice to keep Sunday agin. At the
+      rate we've bin goin' on we'll all be heathens by the time we git home&mdash;if
+      we ever do. Our Chaplain haint had no chance to preachify yet. The boys of
+      Comp'ny X, w'at knows him, says he's a staver, 'n' I b'lieve it'll make us
+      all feel better to have him talk to us once. 'Twont do us no harm, nohow,
+      I'd like to be home to-morrer 'n' go to church with mother, 'n' sister
+      Marier, 'n'&mdash;er&mdash;I mean the rest of the folks. Then I'd jest eat
+      all the afternoon. I ain't goin' ter git homesick, Shorty; but a feller
+      can't help feelin' a little streaked once 'n' a while. Mebbe it's a good
+      idee fer 'em to keep us on the jump, fer then we don't git no chance to
+      think 'bout it. I don't suppose I'm the only boy 'n the regiment that 'd
+      be glad to git a jest fer to-morrer. I sh'd want ter be back bright 'n'
+      arly to fall in Monday mornin', fer I'm goin' to stick to the 200th
+      through thick 'n' thin, if I don't git knocked out. Say, Shorty, how d'ye
+      feel, any way?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shorty was already fast asleep. Si spooned up to him and was soon, in
+      his dreams, away up in Posey County.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of the bugle and drum, at daylight, fell upon unwilling ears,
+      for the soldiers felt the same indisposition to get up early Sunday
+      morning that is everywhere One of the characteristics of modern
+      civilization. Their beds were hard, but to their weary limbs no couch of
+      down ever gave more welcome rest than did the rough ground on which they
+      lay. But the wild yell of the Orderly, "Turn out for roll-call!" with the
+      thought of the penalties for non-obedience&mdash;which some of them had
+      abundant reason to remember&mdash;quickly brought out the laggards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty were, as usual, among the first to take their places in
+      line. They were pleasantly greeted by the Captain, who had come out on the
+      run at the last moment, and wriggled himself into his coat as he strode
+      along the company street. The Captain did not very often appear at morning
+      rollcall. But one officer of the company was required to be present, and
+      the Captain generally loaded this duty upon the Lieutenants "turn about."
+      If he did show up, he would go back to bed and snooze for an hour while
+      the cook was getting breakfast. If one of the men did that he would soon
+      be promenading with a rail on his shoulder or standing on a barrel with a
+      stick or a bayonet tied in his mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think that's a fust rate notion to mount the guards," said Si to Shorty
+      as they sat on a rail by the fire making coffee and frying bacon. "It'll
+      be so much better 'n walkin' back 'n' forrard on the beats. Wonder 'f
+      they'll give us bosses or mules to ride."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like to know what put that idee into yer head," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whydn't the Ord'ly say last night there 'd be guard-mountin' at 9 o'clock
+      this mornin'? I s'posed that fer a man to be mounted meant straddlin' a
+      boss or s'mother kind of an animal."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ain't ye never goin' to larn nuthin'," said Shorty, with a laugh.
+      "Guard-mountin' don't mean fer the men to git on hosses. It's only the
+      name they gives it in the Army Reggelations. Dunno why they calls it that,
+      'nless it's 'cause the guards has to 'mount' anybody that tries to pass
+      'thout the countersign. But don't ye fool yerself with thinkin' yer goin'
+      to get to ride. We'll keep pluggin' along afoot, on guard or anywhere
+      else, same's we have all the time."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus rudely was shattered another of Si Klegg's bright illusions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole regiment turned out to witness the ceremony of guard-mounting.
+      It was the first time the exigencies of the campaign had permitted the
+      200th Ind. to do this in regular style. The Adjutant was the most
+      important personage, and stood so straight that he narrowly escaped
+      falling over backward. In order to guard against making a mess of it, he
+      had spent half the night rehearsing the various commands in his tent. Thus
+      prepared, he managed to get through it in very fair shape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0067" id="linkimage-0067">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/211.jpg" alt="So Straight he Leaned Backward 211 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The next thing on the program for the day was the inspection. The boys had
+      been industriously engaged in cleaning up their muskets and accouterments,
+      and putting their scanty wardrobes in presentable condition. In arranging
+      his knapsack for the Colonel's eye, each man carefully laid a clean shirt,
+      if he had one, on the top. The garments that were not clean he either
+      stowed away in the tent or put at the bottom of the knapsack. In this he
+      was actuated by the same principle that prompts the thrifty farmer to put
+      the biggest apples and strawberries at the top of his measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clothing of the regiment was already in an advanced stage of
+      demoralization. It was of the "shoddy" sort that a good hard wind would
+      almost blow to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg was anxious that not only his person, but all his
+      belongings, should make as good an appearance as possible. He put on the
+      best and cleanest garments he had, and then betook himself to fixing his
+      knapsack so it would pass muster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them duds is a bad lot," he said to Shorty, casting rueful glances at the
+      little heap of soiled and ragged clothes. "Purty hard to make a decent
+      show with them things."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wait a minute," said Shorty, "an' I'll show ye a little trick."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking his poncho under His arm. Shorty went to the rear of the camp,
+      where the mules were feeding, and presently returned with a bunch of hay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What ye goin' to do with that?" asked Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest do 's I tell ye, and don't ask no questions. Cram some o' this
+      hay into yer knapsack 'n' fill 'er up 'n' then put a shirt or suthin', the
+      best ye kin find, on top, 'n' the Colonel 'll think she's full o' clothes
+      right from the laundry. I'm goin' to fix mine that way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty, you're a trump!" said Si, approvingly. "That 'll be a bully
+      scheme."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It required but a few minutes to carry out the plan. The hay was stuffed
+      into the knapsack, and all vagrant spears were carefully tucked in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a garment, folded so as to conceal its worst features, was nicely
+      spread over the hay, the flaps were closed and buckled, and the young
+      Hoosiers were ready for inspection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "S'posen the Colonel sh'd take a notion to go pokin' down into them
+      knapsacks," said Si; "don't ye think it'd be purty cold weather for us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "P'r'aps it mout," answered Shorty; "but we've got ter take the chances.
+      He's got seven or eight hundred knapsacks to 'nspect, 'n' I don't b'lieve
+      he'll stick his nose down into very many on 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time the battalion was formed and the inspection was gone
+      through with in good style. The Colonel and the field and staff officers,
+      escorted by the Captain of each successive company, moved gradually
+      between the ranks, their swords dangling around and getting mixed up with
+      their legs. The soldiers stood facing inward like so many wooden men, with
+      their open knapsacks lying upon the ground at their feet. The Colonel
+      looked sharply right and left, stopped now and then to commend a soldier
+      whose "straps" were in particularly good condition, or to "go for" another
+      whose slouchy appearance betokened untidy habits. If a button was missing,
+      or a shoe untied, his eye was keen to detect it, and a word of reproof was
+      administered to the delinquent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Colonel started down the line of Company Q Si watched him out of
+      the corners of his eyes with no little anxiety. His heart thumped as he
+      saw him occasionally stoop and fumble over the contents of a knapsack,
+      evidently to test the truth of Longfellow's declaration that "things are
+      not what they seem." What if the Colonel should go down into the bowels of
+      Si's knapsack! Si fairly shuddered at the thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si, being the shortest of the Corporals, was at the foot of the company,
+      while Shorty, on account of his hight, was well up toward the head. Si
+      almost fainted when he saw the Colonel stop in front of his "pard" and
+      make an examination of his fatlooking knapsack. Military official dignity
+      gave way when the removal of the single garment exposed the stuffing of
+      hay. The officers burst into a laugh at the unexpected revelation, while
+      the boys on either side almost exploded in their enjoyment of Shorty's
+      discomfiture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0068" id="linkimage-0068">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/215.jpg"
+      alt="Si Almost Fainted when the Colonel Stopped 215 " /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Captain," said the Colonel, with as much sternness as he could command,
+      "as soon as your company is dismissed detail a guard to take charge of
+      this man. Have him take the hay out of his knapsack and fill it with
+      stones&mdash;and see that it is filled full. Have this man put it on and
+      march him up and down the company street till church-call, and then take
+      him to hear the Chaplain. He needs to be preached to. Perhaps, between the
+      knapsack-drill and the Chaplain, we can straight him out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg heard all this, and he wished the ground might open and
+      swallow him. "These stripes is gone this time, sure!" he said to himself,
+      as he looked at the chevrons on his arm. "But there's no use givin'
+      yourself away, Si. Brace up, 'n' mebbe the Colonel 'll skip ye."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had been badly shaken up by the Colonel's episode with Shorty, but by a
+      great effort he gathered himself together and was at his best, externally,
+      when the Colonel reached him, though his thoughts were in a raging
+      condition. His face was clean and rosy, and his general make-up was as
+      good as could be expected under the circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel had always remembered Si as the soldier he had promoted to be
+      a Corporal for his gallantry in the little skirmish a few days before. As
+      he came up he greeted the Corporal with a smile and a nod of recognition.
+      He was evidently pleased at his tidy appearance. He cast a glance at the
+      voluptuous knapsack, and Si's heart seemed to sink away down into his
+      shoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the fates smiled on Si that day. The Colonel turned to the Captain and
+      told him that Corporal Klegg was the model soldier of Company Q. Si was
+      the happiest man in the universe at that precise moment. It was not on
+      account of the compliment the Colonel had paid him, but because his
+      knapsack had escaped a critical inspection of its contents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspection over, Company Q marched back to its quarters and was
+      dismissed. Poor Shorty was soon tramping to and fro, under guard, humping
+      his back to ease the load that had been put upon it. Si was very sorry for
+      him, and at the same time felt a glow of pleasure at the thought that it
+      was not his own knapsack instead of Shorty's that the Colonel had
+      examined. He could not help feeling, too, that it was a great joke on
+      Shorty to be caught in his own trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0069" id="linkimage-0069">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img src="images/217.jpg" alt="Shorty Was There--with a Guard 217 "
+      /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Shorty took his medicine like a man, marching up and down the row of tents
+      bravely and patiently, unheeding the gibes and jeers of his hard-hearted
+      comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bugle sounded the call for religious services. Shorty was not in a
+      frame of mind that fitted him for devout worship. In fact, few in the
+      regiment had greater need of the regenerating influence. He had never been
+      inside of a church but two or three times in his life, and he really felt
+      that to be compelled to go and listen to the Chaplain's sermon was the
+      hardest part of the double punishment the Colonel had inflicted upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The companies were all marched to a wooded knoll just outside the camp.
+      Shorty went by himself, save the companionship of the guard, with fixed
+      bayonet. He had been permitted to leave his knapsack behind. He was taken
+      to a point near the Chaplain, that he might get the full benefit of the
+      preacher's words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the spreading trees, whose foliage was brilliant with the hues of
+      Autumn, in the mellow sunshine of that October day the men seated
+      themselves upon the ground to hear the Gospel preached. The Chaplain, in
+      his best uniform, stood and prayed fervently for Divine guidance and
+      protection and blessing, while the soldiers listened, with heads
+      reverently bowed. Then he gave out the familiar Methodist hymn,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Am I a soldier of the cross,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and all joined in the old tune "Balerma," their voices swelling in mighty
+      chorus. As they sang,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Are there no foes for me to face?"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      there came to the minds of many a practical application of the words, in
+      view of the long and fruitless chase after the rebels in which they had
+      been engaged for nearly a month.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chaplain had formerly been an old-fashioned Methodist circuit-rider in
+      Indiana. He was full of fiery zeal, and portrayed the terrors of eternal
+      punishment so vividly that His hearers could almost feel the heat of the
+      flame and smell the fumes of brimstone that are popularly believed to roll
+      out unceasingly from the mouth of the bottomless pit. It ought to have had
+      a salutary effect upon Shorty, but it is greatly to be feared that he
+      steeled his stubborn heart against all that the Chaplain said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was always difficult not to feel that there was something contradictory
+      and anomalous about religious services in the army. Grim-visaged, hideous
+      war, and all its attendant circumstances, seemed so utterly at variance
+      with the principles of the Bible and the teachings of Him who was meek and
+      lowly, that few soldiers had philosophy enough to reconcile them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers spent the afternoon in reading what few stray books and
+      fugitive, well-worn newspapers there were in camp, mending their clothes,
+      sleeping, and some of them, we are pained to add, in playing eucher, old
+      sledge, and other sinful games. Dress parade closed the day that had
+      brought welcome rest to the way-worn soldiers of the 200th Ind..
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, after they had gone to bed that night, "I sh'd be
+      mighty sorry if I'd ha' got up that knapsack trick this mornin', 'cause
+      you got left on it so bad."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's a good many things," replied Shorty, "that's all right when ye
+      don't git ketched. It worked tip top with you, Si, 'n' I'm glad of it. But
+      I put ye up to it, 'n' I shouldn't never got over it if the Colonel had
+      caught ye, on account of them stripes on yer arm. He'd ha' snatched 'em
+      baldheaded, sure's yer born. You're my pard, 'n' I'm jest as proud of 'em
+      as you be yerself. I'm only a privit,' 'n' they can't rejuce me any lower!
+      Besides, I 'low it sarved me right 'n' I don't keer fer the knapsack
+      drill, so I didn't git you into a scrape."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY LEARNING
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE GREAT MILITARY TRUTH
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      THAT IN THE ARMY THE MOST LIKELY THING TO HAPPEN IS SOMETHING ENTIRELY
+      UNLIKELY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, as his name would indicate, had first opened
+      his eyes where the blue heavens bend over the evergreen sod of Ireland.
+      Naturally, therefore, he thought himself a born soldier, and this
+      conviction had been confirmed by a year's service as Second Lieutenant of
+      Volunteers in the Mexican War, and subsequent connection with the Indiana
+      Militia. Being an Irishman, when he went in for anything, and especially
+      soldiering, he went in with all his might. He had associated with Regular
+      Army officers whenever there was an opportunity, and he looked up to them
+      with the reverence and emulation that an amateur gives to a professional.
+      Naturally he shared their idea that an inspection and parade was the
+      summit of military art. Consequently, the main thing to make the 200th
+      Ind. the regiment it should be were frequent and rigid inspections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fine weather, two days of idleness, and the prospect that the regiment
+      would remain there some time watching the crossing of the Cumberland were
+      enough and more than enough to set the Colonel going. The Adjutant
+      published the following order:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Headquarters 200th Indiana,
+     In the Field, on the Cumberland,
+
+     Nov. 25, 1862.
+
+     I. The Regiment will be paraded for inspection tomorrow
+     afternoon at 4 o'clock.
+
+     II. Captains will be expected to parade the full strength of
+     their companies.
+
+     III. A half hour before the parade. Captains will form their
+     companies in the company streets and inspect every man.
+
+     IV. The men will be required to have their clothes neatly
+     brushed, blouses buttoned up, clean underclothes, shoes
+     blacked, letters and numbers polished, and arms and
+     accouterments in best condition. They will wear white
+     gloves.
+
+     V. The man who has his clothes, arms and accouterments in
+     the best order will be selected for the Colonel's Orderly.
+
+     By command of
+
+     Attest: COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, Colonel.
+
+     B. B. LAUGHLIN, Adjutant.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      When Capt. McGillicuddy marched Co. Q back to its street, he called
+      attention to the order with a few terse admonitions as to what it meant to
+      every one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Get at this as soon as you break ranks, boys," urged the Captain. "You
+      can do a whole lot between now and tattoo. The others will, and you must
+      not let them get ahead of you. No straw in knapsacks this time."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Company spirit was high, and it would be little short of a calamity to
+      have Co. Q beaten in anything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a rush to the Sutler for white gloves, blacking, needles,
+      thread, paper collars, sweet oil and rotten stone for the guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That genial bird of prey added 50 per cent to his prices, because it was
+      the first business he had done for some weeks; 50 per cent more for
+      keeping open in the evening, another 50 per cent for giving credit till
+      pay day, and still another for good will.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Government had just offered some very tempting gold-interest bonds, of
+      which he wanted a swad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tain't right to let them green boys have their hull $13 a month to waste
+      in foolishness," he said. "Some good man should gather it up and make a
+      right use of it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like Indiana farmer boys of his class. Si Klegg was cleanly but not neat.
+      Thanks to his mother and sisters, his Sunday clothes were always
+      "respectable," and he put on a few extra touches when he expected to meet
+      Annabel. He took his first bath for the year in the Wabash a week or two
+      after the suckers began to run, and his last just before the water got so
+      cold as to make the fish bite freely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a thing as a "dandy" was particularly distasteful to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, as he watched some of the boys laboring with sandpaper,
+      rotten stone and oil to make the gunbarrels shine like silver, "what's the
+      cense o' bein' so partickler about the outside of a gun? The business
+      part's inside. Making them screw heads look like beads don't make it no
+      surer of gitting Mr. Butternut."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Trouble about you folks on the Wabash," answered Shorty, as he twisted a
+      screw head against some emery paper, "is that you don't pay enough
+      attention to style. Style goes a long ways in this vain and wicked world,"
+      (and his eyes became as if meditating on worlds he had known which were
+      not so vain and wicked), "and when I see them Kokomo persimmon knockers of
+      Co. B hustling to put on frills, I'm going to beat 'em if I don't lay up a
+      cent."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Same here," said Si, falling to work on his gunbarrel. "Just as' nice
+      people moved into Posey County as squatted in Kokomo. Gang o' hoss thieves
+      first settled Howard County."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Recollect that big two fister from Kokomo who said he'd knock your head
+      off if you ever throwed that up to him again?" grinned Shorty. "You
+      invited him to try it on, an' he said your stripes stopped him. You pulled
+      off your blouse, and you said you had no stripes on your shirt sleeves.
+      But I wouldn't say it again until those Co. B fellers try again to buck us
+      out of our place in the ration line. It's too good a slam to waste."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tattoo sounded before they had finished their guns and accouterments.
+      These were laid aside to be completed in the full light of day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning work was resumed with industry stimulated by reports of
+      the unusual things being done by the other companies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This Tennessee mud sticks closer'n a $500 mortgage to a 40-acre tract,"
+      sighed Si, as he stopped beating and brushing his blouse and pantaloons.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Or,
+     "'Aunt Jemima's plaster,
+     "The more you try to pull it off the more it sticks
+                     the faster."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      hummed Shorty, with what breath he had left from his violent exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So well did they work that by dinner time they felt ready for inspection,
+      careful reconnoissances of the other companies showing them to have no
+      advantages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the Sutler's for the prescribed white gloves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si' had never worn anything on his hands but warm, woolen mittens knit for
+      him by his mother, but the order said white gloves, and gloves they must
+      have. The accommodating sutler made another stoppage in their month's pay
+      of $1 for a pair of cheap, white cotton gloves. By this time the sutler
+      had accumulated enough from the 200th Ind. to secure quite a handful of
+      gold interest-bearing bonds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, what do you think of them. Si?" said Shorty, as he worked his
+      generous hands into a pair of the largest sized gloves and held them up to
+      view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If they were only painted yaller and had a label on them," said Si, "they
+      could be issued for Cincinnati canvas covered hams."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty's retort was checked by hearing the bugle sound the officers' call.
+      The Colonel announced to them that owing to the threatening look of the
+      skies the parade and inspection would take place in an hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was feverish haste to finish undone things, but when Capt.
+      McGillicuddy looked over his men in the company street, he declared
+      himself proud to stack up Co. Q against any other in the regiment. Gun
+      barrels and bayonets shone like silver, rammers rang clear, and came out
+      without a stain to the Captain's white gloves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The band on the parade ground struck up the rollicking
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "O, ain't I glad to git out of the wilderness,
+     Out of the wilderness-Out of the wilderness,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and Capt. McGillicuddy marched proudly out at the head of 75
+      broad-shouldered, well-thewed young Indianians, fit and fine as any south
+      of the Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guides, holding their muskets butts up, indicated where the line was
+      to form, the trim little Adjutant, glorious as the day in a new uniform
+      and full breasted as a pouter-pigeon, was strutting over toward the band,
+      and the towering red-headed Colonel, martial from his waving plume to his
+      jangling spurs, stood before his tent in massive dignity, waiting for the
+      color company to come up and receive the precious regimental standard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This scene of orderly pomp and pageantry was rudely disturbed by an Aid
+      dashing in on a sweating horse, and calling out to the statuesque
+      commander:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Colonel, a train is stalled in the creek about three miles from here, and
+      is threatened with capture by Morgan's cavalry. The General presents his
+      compliments, and directs that you take your regiment on the double-quick
+      to the assistance of the train. You v'e not a moment lose."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tare and 'ounds!" swore the Colonel in the classic he used when excited,
+      "am I niver to have a dacint inspection? Orderly, bring me me harse. Stop
+      that band's ijiotic blatting. Get into line there, quick as love will let
+      you, you unblessed Indiana spalpeans. Without doubling; right face!
+      Forward, M-a-r-c-h!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Col. McTarnaghan, still wearing his parade grandeur, was soon at the head
+      of the column, on that long-striding horse which always set such a hot
+      pace for the regiment; especially over such a rough, gullied road as they
+      were now traveling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still, the progress was not fast enough to suit the impatient Colonel, who
+      had an eye to the report he would have to make to the Brigadier General,
+      who was a Regular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Capt. McGillicuddy," commanded he, turning in his saddle, "send forward a
+      Corporal and five men for an advance guard."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal Klegg, take five men and go to the front," commanded the
+      Captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now you b'yes, get ahead as fast as you can. Get a move on them durty
+      spalpanes of tamesters. We must get back to camp before this storm strikes
+      us. Shove out, now, as if the divil or Jahn Morgan was after yez."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was awful double-quicking over that rocky, rutty road, but taking
+      Shorty and four others. Si went on the keen jump to arrive hot and
+      breathless on the banks of the creek. There he found a large bearded man
+      wearing an officer's slouched hat sitting on a log, smoking a black pipe,
+      and gazing calmly on the ruck of wagons piled up behind one stalled in the
+      creek, which all the mules they could hitch to it had failed to pull out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the Wagon Master, and his calmness was that of exhaustion. He had
+      yelled and sworn himself dry, and was collecting another fund of abuse to
+      spout at men and animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, why don't you git a move on them wagons?" said Si hotly, for he was
+      angered at the man's apparent indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tend to your own business and I'll tend to mine," said the Wagon Master,
+      sullenly, without removing his pipe or looking at Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look here, I'm a Corporal, commanding the advance guard," said Si. "I
+      order you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This seemed to open the fountains of the man's soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You order me?" he yelled, "you splay-footed, knock-kneed, chuckled-headed
+      paper-collared, whitegloved sprat from a milk-sick prairie. Corporal! I
+      outrank all the Corporals from here to Christmas of next year."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The gentleman seems to have something on his mind," grinned Shorty.
+      "Mebbe his dinner didn't set well."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty?" inquired Si, "how does a Wagon Master rank? Seems to me nobody
+      lower'n a Brigadier-General should dare talk to me that way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dunno," answered Shorty, doubtfully. "Seems as if I'd heard some of them
+      Wagon Masters rank as Kurnels. He swears like one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal!" shouted the Wagon Master with infinite scorn. "Measly
+      $2-a-month water toter for the camp-guard, order me!" and he went off into
+      a rolling stream of choice "army language."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He must certainly be a Kurnel," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here," continued the Wagon Master, "if you don't want them two
+      shoat-brands jerked offen you, jump in and get them wagons acrost. That's
+      what you were sent to do. Hump yourself, if you know what's good for you.
+      I've done all I can. Now it's your turn."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dazed and awed by the man's authoritativeness the boys ran down to the
+      water to see what was the trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They found the usual difficulty in Southern crossings. The stupid
+      tinkerers with the road had sought to prevent it running down into the
+      stream by laying a log at the edge of the water. This was an enormous one
+      two feet in diameter, with a chuckhole before it, formed by the efforts of
+      the teams to mount the log. The heavily laden ammunition wagon had its hub
+      below the top of the log, whence no amount of mule-power could extricate
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si, with Indiana commonsense, saw that the only help was to push the wagon
+      back and lay a pile of poles to make a gradual ascent. He and the rest
+      laid their carefully polished muskets on dry leaves at the side, pulled
+      off their white gloves, and sending two men to hunt thru the wagons for
+      axes to cut the poles. Si and Shorty roused up the stupid teamsters to
+      unhitch the mules and get them behind the wagon to pull it back. Alas for
+      their carefully brushed pantaloons and well-blackened shoes, which did not
+      last a minute in the splashing mud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wagon Master had in the meanwhile laid in a fresh supply of epithets
+      and had a fresh batch to swear at. He stood up on the bank and yelled
+      profane injunctions at the soldiers like a Mississippi River Mate at a
+      boat landing. They would not work fast enough for him, nor do the right
+      thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The storm at last burst. November storms in Tennessee are like the charge
+      of a pack of wolves upon a herd of buffalo. There are wild, furious
+      rushes, alternating with calmer intervals. The rain came down for a few
+      minutes as if it would beat the face off the earth, and the stream swelled
+      into a muddy torrent. Si's paper collar and cuffs at once became pulpy
+      paste, and his boiled shirt a clammy rag. In spite of this his temper rose
+      to the boiling point as he struggled thru the sweeping rush of muddy water
+      to get the other wagons out of the road and the ammunition wagon pulled
+      back a little ways to allow the poles to be piled in front of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dashing downpour did not check the Wagon Master's flow of profanity.
+      He only yelled the louder to make himself heard above the roar. The rain
+      stopped for a few minutes as suddenly as it had begun and Col. McTarnaghan
+      came up with all his parade finery drenched and dripping like the feathers
+      of a prize rooster in a rainy barnyard. His Irish temper was at the
+      steaming point, and he was in search of something to vent it on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You blab-mouthed son of a thief," he shouted at the Wagon Master, "what
+      are you ordering my men around for? They are sent here to order you, not
+      you to order them. Shut that ugly potato trap of yours and get down to
+      work, or I'll wear my saber out on you. Get down there and put your own
+      shoulders to the wheels, you misbegotten villain. Get down there into the
+      water, I tell you. Corporal, see that he does his juty!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wagon Master slunk down the hill, where Shorty grabbed him by the
+      collar and yanked him over to help push one of the wagons back. The other
+      boys had meanwhile found axes, cut down and trimmed up some pine poles and
+      were piling them into the chuckhole under Si's practical guidance. A
+      double team was put on the ammunition wagon, and the rest of Co. Q came up
+      wet, mad and panting. A rope was found and stretched ahead of the mules,
+      on which the company lined itself, the Colonel took his place on the bank
+      and gave the word, and with a mighty effort the wagon was dragged up the
+      hill. Some other heavily loaded ammunition wagons followed. The whole
+      regiment was now up, and the bigger part of it lined on the rope so that
+      these wagons came up more easily, even tho the rain resumed its wicked
+      pounding upon the clay soil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wading around thru the whirling water. Si had discovered, to his
+      discomfiture, that there was a narrow, crooked reef that had to be kept
+      to. There were deep overturning holes on either side. Into one of these Si
+      had gone, to come again floundering and spurting muddy water from his
+      mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty noted the place and took the first opportunity to crowd the Wagon
+      Master into it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A wagon loaded with crackers and pork missed the reef and went over
+      hopelessly on its side, to the rage of Col. McTamaghan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Lave it there; lave it there, ye blithering numbskulls," he yelled,
+      "Unhitch those mules and get 'em out. The pork and wagon we can get when
+      the water goes down. If another wagon goes over Oi'll rejuce it every
+      mother's son of yez, and tie yez up by the thumbs besides."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty waded around to unhitch the struggling mules, and then,
+      taking poles in hand to steady themselves, took their stations in the
+      stream where they could head the mules right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thru the beating storm and the growing darkness, the wagons were, one by
+      one, laboriously worked over until, as midnight approached, only three or
+      four remained on the other side. Chilled to the bone, and almost dropping
+      with fatigue from hours of standing in the deep water running like a mill
+      race. Si called Al Klapp, Sib Ball and Jesse Langley to take their poles
+      and act as guides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Al Klapp had it in for the sutlers. He was a worm that was ready to turn.
+      He had seen some previous service, and had never gone to the Paymaster's
+      table but to see the most of his $13 a month swept away by the sutler's
+      remorseless hand. He and Jesse got the remaining army wagons over all
+      right. The last wagon was a four-horse team belonging to a sutler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fire of long-watched-for vengeance gleamed in Al's eye as he made out
+      its character in the dim light. It reached the center of the stream, when
+      over it went in the rushing current of muddy water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Al and Jesse busied themselves unhooking the struggling mules.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel raged. "Lave it there! Lave it there!" he yelled after
+      exhausting his plentiful stock of Irish expletives. "But we must lave a
+      guard with it. Capt. Sidney Hyde, your company has been doing less than
+      any other. Detail a Sergeant and 10 men to stand guard here until
+      tomorrow, and put them two thick-headed oudmahouns in the creek on guard
+      with them. Make them stand double tricks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right. It was worth it," said Al Klapp, as the Sergeant put him on
+      post, with the water running in rivulets from his clothes. "It'll take a
+      whole lot of skinning for the sutlers to get even for the dose I've given
+      one of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "B'yes, yoi've done just splendid," said the Colonel, coming over to where
+      Si and Shorty were sitting wringing the water and mud from their
+      pantaloons and blouses. "You're hayroes, both of yez. Take a wee drap from
+      my canteen. It'll kape yez from catching cold."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, thankee, Kurnel," said Si, blushing with delight, and forgetting his
+      fatigue and discomfort, in this condescension and praise from his
+      commanding officer. "I'm a Good Templar."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sinsible b'y," said the Colonel approvingly, and handing his canteen to
+      Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm mightily afraid of catching cold," said Shorty, reaching eagerly for
+      the canteen, and modestly turning his back on the Colonel that he might
+      not see how deep his draft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Should think you were," mused the Colonel, hefting the lightened vessel.
+      "Bugler, sound the assembly and let's get back to camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day the number of rusty muskets, dilapidated accouterments and
+      quantity of soiled clothes in the camp of the 200th Ind. was only equaled
+      by the number of unutterably weary and disgusted boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. A NIGHT OF SONG
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOME-SICKNESS AND ITS OUTPOURING IN MUSIC.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IT WAS Sunday again, and the 200th Ind. still lingered near Nashville. For
+      some inscrutible reason known only to the commanding officers the brigade
+      had been for nearly a week in camp on the banks of the swift running
+      Cumberland. They had been bright, sunshiny days, the last two of them.
+      Much rain in the hill country had swollen the swift waters of the
+      Cumberland and they fiercely clamored their devious way to the broad Ohio.
+      The gentle roar as the rippling wavelets dashed against the rock bound
+      shores sounded almost surf-life, but to Si, who had never heard the salt
+      waves play hide-and-go-seek on the pebbly beach, the Cumberland's angry
+      flood sang only songs of home on the Wabash. He had seen the Wabash raging
+      in flood time and had helped to yank many a head of stock from its
+      engulfing fury. He had seen the Ohio, too, when she ran bank full with her
+      arched center carrying the Spring floods and hundreds of acres of good
+      soil down to the continent-dividing Mississippi, and on out to sea. His
+      strong arms and stout muscles had piloted many a boat-load of boys and
+      girls through the Wabash eddies and rapids during the Spring rise, and as
+      he stood now, looking over the vast width of this dreary waste of waters,
+      a great wave of home-sickness swept over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After all, Si was only a kid of a boy, like thousands of his comrades.'
+      True, he was past his majority a few months, but his environment from
+      youth to his enlistment had so sheltered him that he was a boy at heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The like precurse of fierce events and prologue to the omen coming on"
+      had as yet made small impression upon him. Grim visaged war had not
+      frightened him much up to that time. He was to get his regenerating
+      baptism of blood at Murfreesboro a few weeks later. Just now Si Klegg was
+      simply a boy grown big, a little over fat, fond of mother's cooking,
+      mother's nice clean feather beds, mother's mothering, if the truth must be
+      told. He had never in his life before been three nights from under the
+      roof of the comfortable old house in which he was born. He had now been
+      wearing the blue uniform of the Union a little more than three months, and
+      had not felt mother's work-hardened hands smoothing his rebellious hair or
+      seen her face or heard a prayer like she could make in all that three
+      months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shucks!" he said fretfully to himself as he looked back at the droning,
+      half asleep brigade camp, and then off to the north, across the boiling
+      yellow flood of waters that tumbled past the rocks far below him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A feller sure does git tired of doin' nothin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lusty, young, and bred to an active life, Si, while he did not really
+      crave hustle and bustle, was yet wedded to "keeping things moving." He had
+      already forgotten the fierce suffering of his early marching&mdash;it
+      seemed three years to him instead of three months back; he had forgotten
+      the graybacks, the wet nights, the foraging expeditions, the extra guard
+      duty and all that. There had been two days of soft Autumn sunshine in a
+      camp that was almost ideal. Everything was cleaned up, mended up, and the
+      men had washed and barbered themselves into almost dude-like neatness.
+      Their heaviest duties had been lazy camp guard duty, which Shorty, growing
+      indolent, had declared to be "dumned foolishness," and the only excitement
+      offered came from returning foraging parties. There was no lurking enemy
+      to fear, for the country had been cleared of guerrillas, and in very truth
+      the ease and quietness of the days of inactivity was almost demoralizing
+      the men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been no Sunday services. The 200th Ind. was sprawled out on the
+      ground in its several hundred attitudes of ease, and those with whom they
+      were brigaded were just as carelessly disposed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Si sauntered aimlessly back to look for Shorty, the early twilight
+      began to close in as the sun slid down behind the distant hills. Campfires
+      began to glow as belated foragers prepared their suppers, and the gentle
+      hum of voices came pleasantly to the ear, punctuated by laughter, often
+      boisterous, but quite as often just the babbling, cheery laugh of carefree
+      boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt&mdash;well, Si was just plain homesick for mother and the girls,
+      and one particular girl, whose front name was Annabel, and he almost felt
+      as though he didn't care who knew it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air was redolent with the odor of frying meat. Mingled with this were
+      vagrant whiffs of cooking potatoes, onions, chickens, and the fragrance of
+      coffee steaming to blackest strength, all telling tales of skillful and
+      successful foraging, and it all reminded Si of home and the odors in his
+      mother's kitchen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't find Shorty, so he hunched down, silent and alone, beside his
+      tent, a prey to the blue devils. It would soon be Christmas at home. He
+      could see the great apple bins in the cellar; the pumpkins in the hay in
+      the barn; the turkeys roosting above the woodshed; the yards of encased
+      sausages in the attic; he could even smell the mince meat seasoning in the
+      great stone jar; the honey in the bee cellar; the huge fruit cake in the
+      milk pan in the pantry; since he could remember he seen and smelled all
+      these, with 57 varieties of preserves, "jells," marmalades, and
+      fruit-butters thrown in for good measure at Christmas time. He had even
+      contemplated with equanimity all these 21 Christmases, the dose of "blue
+      pills" that inevitably followed over-feeding at Mother Klegg's, and now on
+      his 22d Christmas he might be providing a target for a rebel bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Si noticed that the dark had come; the fragrance of tobacco from
+      hundreds of pipes was filling the air, and from away off in the distance
+      the almost Indian Summer zephyrs were bringing soft rythmic sounds like&mdash;surely&mdash;yes,
+      he caught it now, it was that mighty soother of tired hearts&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Jesus, lover of my soul,
+     Let me to Thy bosom fly.
+     While the billows near me roll.
+     While the tempest still is high."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Si shut his eyes lest the tear drops welling suddenly up fall on his
+      uniform, not stopping to think that in the gloom they could not be seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miles away the singers seemed to be when Si caught the first sounds, but
+      as the long, swinging notes reached out in the darkness, squad after
+      squad, company after company, regiment after regiment took up the grand
+      old hymn until Si himself lifted up his not untuneful voice and with the
+      thousands of others was pleading&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Hide me, oh, my Savior hide,
+     'Till the storm of life is past;
+     Safe into the haven guide.
+     Oh, receive my soul at last."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and the song rose and swelled out and up toward heaven, and stole away off
+      to the horizon till the whole vast universe seemed filled with the sacred
+      melody. As the last words and their music faded out in space. Shorty
+      lunged down beside Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Pard," he began banteringly, "you've missed yer callin'. Op'ry
+      oughter have been yer trade."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, chop off yer chin music for a minute. Shorty," broke in Si. "In the
+      dark here it seemed most as though I was at home in the little old church
+      with Maria and Annabel and Pap and Mother, and us all singing together,
+      and you've busted it&mdash;ah! listen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From not far away a bugler had tuned up and through the fragrant night
+      came piercingly sweet&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "I will sing you a song of that beautiful land&mdash;"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Then near at hand a strong, clear, musical tenor voice took up the second
+      line,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The far away home of the soul,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and almost instantly a deep, resonant bass voice boomed in&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Where no storms ever beat on that glittering strand
+     While the years of eternity roll,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and soon a hundred voices were making melody of the spheres as they sang
+      Philip Phillips's beautiful song.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That was Wilse Hornbeck singin' tenor," said Si, as the song ended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And it was Hen Withers doin' the bass stunt," returned Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You just oughter hear him do the ornamental on a mule whacker. Why, Si,
+      he's an artist at cussing. Hen Withers is. Sodom and Gomorrah would git
+      jealous of him if he planted himself near 'em, he's that wicked."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, he can sing all right," grunted Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then Hen Withers, in the squad some 50 feet away broke into song
+      again&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It welled up from his throat like the pipe from a church organ, and as
+      mellow as the strains from a French horn. When the refrain rolled out
+      fully 3,000 men were singing, yelling and shouting in frenzied fervor&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "And the Star Spangled banner.
+    In triumph shall wave,
+    O'er the land of the free,
+    And the home of the brave."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      While Hen Withers rested on his well-earned laurels, a strong, clear
+      voice, whose owner was probably thinking of home and the shady gloom of
+      the walk through the grove to singing school with his sweetheart, trilled
+      an apostrophe to the queen of light.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "Roll on, silvery moon,
+    Guide the traveler on his way,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      but he had it pretty much to himself, for not many knew the words, and he
+      trailed off into
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "I loved a little beauty, Bell Brandon,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      then his music died out in the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the "tenore robusto" who chimed in bells, on a new battle song
+      that held a mile square of camp spellbound:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Oh, wrap the flag around me, boys,
+
+     To die were far more sweet
+     With freedom's starry emblem, boys.
+
+     To be my winding sheet.
+     In life I loved to see it wave
+
+     And follow where it led,
+     And now my eyes grow dim, my hands
+
+     Would clasp its last bright shred.
+     Oh, I had thought to meet you, boys,
+
+     On many a well-worn field
+     When to our starry emblem, boys,
+
+     The trait'rous foe should yield.
+     But now, alas, I am denied
+
+     My dearest earthly prayer,
+     You'll follow and you'll meet the foe,
+
+     But I shall not be there."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Wilse Hornback knew by the hush of the camp as the sound of his wonderful
+      voice died on the far horizon that he had his laurels, too, and so he sang
+      on while the mile square of camp went music-mad again as it sang with him&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+     And we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Chorus:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The Union forever! Hurrah, boys. Hurrah;
+     Down with the traitor and up with the Star,
+     While we rally 'round the Flag, boys,
+     We'll rally once again,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And although they may be poor, not a man shall
+     be a slave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In the almighty hush that followed the billows of sound, some sweet-voiced
+      fellow started Annie Laurie, and then sang&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "In the prison cell I sit"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      with grand chorus accompaniment. Then Wilse Hornback started and Hen
+      Withers joined in singing the Battle Hymn&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and oh, God of Battles! how that army of voices took up the refrain&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and tossed and flung it back and forth from hill to hill and shore to
+      shore till it seemed as though Lee and his cohorts must have heard and
+      quailed before the fearful prophecy and arraignment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the "tenore robusto" and the "basso profundo" opened a regular
+      concert program, more or less sprinkled with magnificent chorus: singing,
+      as it was easy or difficult for the men to recall the words. You must
+      rummage in the closets of memory for most of them! The Old Oaken Bucket;
+      Nellie Gray; Anna Lisle; No, Ne'er Can Thy Home be Mine; Tramp, Tramp,
+      Tramp; We are Coming, Father Abraham; Just as I Am; By Cold Siloam's Shady
+      Rill&mdash;how those home-loving Sunday school young boys did sing that!
+      It seemed incongruous, but every now and then they dropped into these old
+      hymn tunes, which many a mother had sung her baby to sleep with in those
+      elder and better days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The war songs are all frazzled and torn fragments of memory now, covered
+      with dust and oblivion, but they were great songs in and for their day. No
+      other country ever had so many.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laughter and badinage had long since ceased. Flat on their backs, gazing
+      up at the stars through the pine and hemlock boughs, the boys lay quietly
+      smoking while the "tenore robusto" assisted by the "basso profundo" and
+      hundreds of others sang "Willie, We Have Missed You," "Just Before the
+      Battle, Mother," "Brave Boys Are They," and the "Vacant Chair."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a little break in the singing. Hen Withers sang a wonderful song, now
+      almost forgotten. It was new to the boys then, but the bugler had heard
+      it, and as Hen's magnificent voice rolled forth its fervid words the bugle
+      caught up the high note theme, and never did the stars sing together more
+      entrancingly than did the "wicked mule whacker" and that bugle&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Lift up your eyes, desponding freemen.
+     Fling to the winds your needless fears.
+     He who unfurled our beauteous banner
+     Says it shall wave a thousand years."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      On the glorious chorus a thousand voices took up the refrain in droning
+      fashion that made one think of "The Sound of the Great Amen."
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "A thousand years, my own Columbia!
+     Tis the glad day so long foretold!
+     'Tis the glad mom whose early twilight
+     Washington saw in times of old."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By the time Hen had sung all of the seven verses the whole brigade knew
+      the refrain and roared it forth as a defiance to the Southern Confederacy,
+      which took on physical vigor in the days that came after, when the 200th
+      Ind. went into battle to come off victorious on many a fiercely contested
+      field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the tenor sang that doleful, woe begone, hope effacing,
+      heart-string-cracking "Lorena." Some writer has said that it sung the
+      heart right out of the Southern Confederacy.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,
+     The snow is on the grass again."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      As Wilse Hornbeck let his splendid voice out on the mournful cadences, Si
+      felt his very heart strings snap, and even Shorty drew his breath hard,
+      while some of the men simply rolled over, and burying their faces in their
+      arms, sobbed audibly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wilse had not counted on losing his own nerve, but found his voice
+      breaking on the melancholy last lines, and bounding to his feet with a
+      petulant,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Oh, hang it!"
+
+     "Say, darkies, hab you seen de Massa"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      came dancing up from the jubilating chords of that wonderful human music
+      box, and soon the camp was reeling giddily with the jolly, rollicking,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Or Massa ran, ha! ha!!
+     The darkies stay, ho! ho!!"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Then, far in the distance a bugle sounded "lights out," and the songfest
+      was at an end; as bugler after bugler took it up, one by one the campfires
+      blinked out, and squad after squad sank into quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I feel a heap better somehow," remarked Si, as he crawled under his
+      blanket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dogged if I hain't had a sort of uplift, too," muttered Shorty, as he
+      wrapped his blanket round his head. In the distance a tenor voice was
+      singing as he kicked out his fire and got ready for bed&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
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+  </body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #31771 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31771)
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Si Klegg, by John Mcelroy.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    <!--
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+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6)
+       His Transformation From A Raw Recruit To A Veteran
+
+Author: John McElroy
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2010 [EBook #31771]
+Last Updated: October 31, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SI KLEGG, BOOK 1 (OF 6) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      SI KLEGG
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      His Transformation From a Raw Recruit To A Veteran.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By John McElroy.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="Frontispiece " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="Title Page" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      PUBLISHED BY <br /><br /> THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE CO., <br /><br /> WASHINGTON,
+      D. C
+    </h3>
+    <h4>
+      SECOND EDITION <br /><br /><br /> COPYRIGHT 1910
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIX VOLUMES
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3">
+      <tbody>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31771/31771-h/31771-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book I, Transformation From a Raw Recruit&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31772/31772-h/31772-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book II, Through the Stone River Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31773/31773-h/31773-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book III, Meets Mr. Rosenbaum, the Spy&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31774/31774-h/31774-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book IV, On The Great Tullahoma Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31775/31775-h/31775-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book V, Deacon's Adventures At Chattanooga&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>
+            <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31776/31776-h/31776-h.htm"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;SI
+            KLEGG, Book VI, Enter On The Atlanta Campaign&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></a>
+          </td>
+          <td>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+      </tbody>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      "Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., and Shorty, his Partner," were born more
+      than 25 years ago in the brain of John McElroy, editor of The National
+      Tribune, who invented the names and characters, outlined the general plan,
+      and wrote a number of the chapters. Subsequently, the editor, having many
+      other important things pressing upon his attention, called in an assistant
+      to help on the work, and this assistant, under the direction and guidance
+      of the editor, wrote some of these chapters. Subsequently, without the
+      editor's knowledge or consent, the assistant adopted all the material as
+      his own, and expanded it into a book which had a limited sale and then
+      passed into the usual oblivion of shortlived subscription books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sketches in this first number are the original ones published in The
+      National Tribune in 1885-6, revised and enlarged somewhat by the editor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those in the second and all following numbers appeared in The National
+      Tribune when the editor, John McElroy, resumed the story in 1897, 12 years
+      after the first publication, and continued it for the unprecedented period
+      of seven years, with constantly growing interest and popularity. They gave
+      "Si Klegg" a nation-wide and enduring celebrity. Gen. Lew Wallace, the
+      foremost literary man of his day, pronounced "Si Klegg" the "great idyll
+      of the war."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How true they are to nature every veteran can abundantly testify from his
+      own service. Really, only the name of the regiment was invented. There is
+      no doubt that there were several men of the name of Josiah Klegg in the
+      Union Army, and who did valiant service for the Government. They had
+      experiences akin to, if not identical with, those narrated here, and
+      substantially every man who faithfully and bravely carried a musket in
+      defense of the best Government on earth had sometimes, if not often,
+      experiences of with those of Si Klegg, Shorty and the boys are strong
+      reminders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the illustrations in this first number are by the late Geo. Y.
+      Coffin, deceased, a talented artist, whose work embellished The National
+      Tribune for many years. He was the artist of The National Tribune until
+      his lamented and premature death, and all his military work was done by
+      daily consultation, instruction and direction of the editor of The
+      National Tribune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE. <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>SI KLEGG</b> </a><br /><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>GOING TO WAR&mdash;SI KLEGG'S
+        COMPLETE EQUIPMENT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>THE
+        DEADLY BAYONET <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>THE
+        OLD CANTEEN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>THE
+        AWFUL HARDTACK <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>FAT
+        PORK&mdash;INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>DETAILED AS COOK&mdash;SI FINDS
+        RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII.
+        </a>IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER
+        VIII. </a>ON COMPANY DRILL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER
+        IX. </a>SI GETS A LETTER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X.
+        </a>SI AND THE DOCTORS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI.
+        </a>THE PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012">
+        CHAPTER XII. </a>A WET NIGHT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER
+        XIII. </a>SI "STRAGGLED" <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER
+        XIV. </a>SI AND THE MULES <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER
+        XV. </a>UNDER FIRE&mdash;SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a>ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH" <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a>FORAGING ON THE WAY <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>A SUNDAY OFF
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>A CLOSE CALL <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>"THE SWEET SABBATH" <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY
+        LEARNING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>A NIGHT
+        OF SONG <br /><br /> <br /> <br />
+      </p>
+      <hr />
+      <p>
+        <br /> <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0001"> Title Page </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Frontispiece </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0003"> Si Decides to Enlist </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0004"> Off to the War </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0005"> As Si Looked when he Landed at Louisville
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0006"> Si's Load Begins to Get Heavy </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0007"> Si's Chum, "shorty" Elliott </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0008"> The Diverse Uses of the Good Old Canteen </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0009"> What the Bayonet Was Good for </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0010"> As Maria Pictured Si Using his Bayonet </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0011"> He Tries the Butt of his Gun on It </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0012"> The Best Way After All </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0013"> The Veteran Talks to Si </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0014"> Drawing Rations </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0015"> "All Right, Boss; Dats a Go" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0016"> Si Falls out With his Food </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0017"> Si Thinks It over </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0018"> The Trouble Begins </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0019"> The Rice Gets the Bulge </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0020"> Si Makes the Acquaintance of The Guard House
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0021"> "Right Shoulder Shift&mdash;Arms!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0022"> "Fix&mdash;bayonets!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0023"> Brought his Gun Down on the Man's Foot </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0024"> Don't Care a Continental </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0025"> "Right&mdash;face!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0026"> "Forward&mdash;march!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0027"> "Company&mdash;right Wheel!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0028"> It's from Annabel </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0029"> Si Carries a Rail </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0030"> Si Writes to "deer Annie." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0031"> An Army Writing-desk </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0032"> Laying the Foundation </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0033"> A Rude Awakening </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0034"> Visits the Doctor </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0035"> "Let Yer Nails Grow; Ye'll Need 'em" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0036"> "Say, Cap, What Kind O' Bug is This?" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0037"> "Skirmishing" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0038"> "Naw! Lemme Show Ye How!" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0039"> Struck by a Cyclone </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0040"> Supper Under Difficulties </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0041"> A Field Shanty </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0042"> It's the Morning </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0043"> Taking the Top Rail </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0044"> "Don't Stab Me." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0045"> Hydropathic Treatment </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0046"> Si Defies a Regiment </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0047"> He Let Both Heels Fly </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0048"> Si Went Sprawling </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0049"> Stuck in the Mud </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0050"> It Burst With a Loud "bang." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0051"> Si Takes a Crack at A Reb </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0052"> Si Captures a Johnny </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0053"> Corporal si Klegg </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0054"> One of the "Non-Com Mish." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0055"> "Not 'less Ye Say 'Bunker Hill.'" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0056"> They Had Shot a Mule </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0057"> The 200th Ind. Was Not Without Talent in
+        Foraging </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0058"> Si Beat a Retreat </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0059"> Si Being Worked for a "good Thing." </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0060"> Si Was Disposed to Grumble </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0061"> Showing the Old Man a Trick </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0062"> Waiting for Their Clothes to Dry </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0063"> An Assault on the Well-filled Corn Crib </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0064"> Shorty Held the Calf </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0065"> Si Sprang Upon Him </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0066"> "Shorty if We&mdash;only Git&mdash;out O'
+        This&mdash;" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0067"> So Straight he Leaned Backward </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0068"> Si Almost Fainted when the Colonel Stopped
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#linkimage-0069"> Shorty Was There&mdash;with a Guard </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+    </h3>
+    <h3>
+      TO THE RANK AND FILE
+    </h3>
+    <h3>
+      OF THE GRANDEST ARMY EVER MUSTERED FOR WAR.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      SI KLEGG
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. GOING TO WAR&mdash;SI KLEGG'S COMPLETE EQUIPMENT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND WHAT BECAME OF IT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      AFTER Si Klegg had finally yielded to his cumulative patriotic impulses
+      and enlisted in the 200th Ind. for three years or until the rebellion was
+      put down, with greater earnestness and solemnity to equip himself for his
+      new career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was thrifty and provident, and believed in being ready for any
+      emergency. His friends and family coincided with him. The Quartermaster
+      provided him with a wardrobe that was serviceable, if not stylish, but
+      there were many things that he felt he would need in addition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You must certainly have a few pairs of homeknit socks and some changes of
+      underclothes," said his tearfully-solicitous mother. "They won't weigh
+      much, and they'll in all likelihood save you a spell of sickness."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," responded Josiah, "I wouldn't think of going away without
+      'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Into the capacious knapsack went several pounds of substantial knit woolen
+      goods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You can't get along without a couple of towels and a piece of soap," said
+      his oldest sister, Maria, as she stowed those things alongside the socks
+      and underclothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Si," said Ellen, his second sister, "I got this pocket album for my gift
+      to you. It contains all our pictures, and there is a place for another's
+      picture, whose name I suppose I needn't mention," she added archly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got a little red in the face, but said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nothing could be nicer, Nell. It'll be the greatest comfort in the world
+      to have all your pictures to look at when I'm down in Dixie."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here's a 'housewife' I've made for you with my own hands," added Annabel,
+      who was some other fellow's sister. She handed him a neatly-stitched
+      little cloth affair. "You see, it has needles, thread, buttons, scissors,
+      a fine-tooth comb, and several other things that you'll need very badly
+      after you've been in camp awhile. And" (she got so near Si that she could
+      whisper the rest) "you'll find in a little secret pocket a lock of my
+      hair, which I cut off this morning."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose I'll have a good deal of leisure time while we're in camp,"
+      said Si to himself and the others; "I believe I'll just put this Ray's
+      Arithmetic and Greene's Grammar in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, my young friend," added the Rev. Boanarg, who had just entered the
+      house, "and as you will be exposed to new and unusual temptations, I
+      thought it would be judicious to put this volume of 'Baxter's Call to the
+      Unconverted' in your knapsack, for it may give you good counsel when you
+      need it sorely."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thankee," said Si, stowing away the book. Of course, Si had to have a
+      hair-brush, blackingbrush, a shaving kit, and some other toilet
+      appliances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/017.jpg" alt="Si Decides to Enlist 017 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Then it occurred to his thoughtful sister Maria that he ought to have a
+      good supply of stationery, including pens, a bottle of ink, and a
+      portfolio on which to write when he was far away from tables and desks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These went in, accompanied by a half-pint bottle of "No. 6," which was
+      Si's mother's specific for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Then, the
+      blanket which the Quartermaster had issued seemed very light and
+      insufficient to be all the bed-clothes a man would have when sleeping on
+      the bare ground, and Si rolled up one of the warm counterpanes that had
+      helped make the Indiana Winter nights so comfortable for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems rather heavy," said Si as he put his knapsack on; "but I guess I'll
+      get used to it in a little while. They say that soldiers learn to carry
+      surprising loads on their backs. It'll help cure me of being
+      round-shouldered; it'll be better 'n shoulder-braces for holding me up
+      straight."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, his father couldn't let him go away without giving him
+      something that would contribute to his health and comfort, and at last the
+      old gentleman had a happy thought&mdash;he would get the village shoemaker
+      to make Si a pair of his best stout boots. They would be ever so much
+      better than the shoes the Quartermaster furnished for tramping over the
+      muddy roads and swamps of the South. Si fastened these on top of his
+      knapsack until he should need them worse than at present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His old uncle contributed an immense bowie knife, which he thought would
+      be of great use in the sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts Si would have to
+      wage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the way to the depot Si found some of his comrades gathered around an
+      enterprising retail dealer in hardware, who was convincing them that they
+      could serve their country much better, besides adding to their comfort, by
+      buying from him a light hatchet and a small frying-pan, which he offered,
+      in consideration of their being soldiers, to sell them at remarkable low
+      rates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/019.jpg" alt="Off to the War 019 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si saw at once the great convenience a hatchet and a frying-pan would be,
+      and added them to his kit. An energetic dealer in tinware succeeded in
+      selling him, before he reached the depot, a cunning little coffee-pot and
+      an ingenious combination of knife, fork and spoon which did not weigh more
+      than a pound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he got in the cars he was chagrined to find that several of his
+      comrades had provided themselves with convenient articles that he had not
+      thought of. He consoled himself that the regiment would stop some time in
+      Louisville, when he would have an opportunity of making up his
+      deficiencies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when the 200th reached Louisville there was no leisure for anything.
+      Bragg was then running his celebrated foot-race with Buell for the
+      Kentucky metropolis, and the 200th Ind. was trotted as rapidly as unused
+      legs could carry it to the works several miles from the center of the
+      city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everybody who was in that campaign remembers how terribly hot and dry
+      everything was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si Klegg managed to keep up tolerably near the head of the column until
+      camp was reached, but his shoulders were strained and blisters began to
+      appear on his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That was a mighty tough pull, wasn't it?" he said to his chum as they
+      spread their blankets on the dog-kennel and made some sort of a bed; "but
+      I guess after a day or two we'll get so used to it that we won't mind it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a few days the 200th Ind. lay in camp, but one day there came an order
+      for the regiment to march to Bardstown as rapidly as possible. A battle
+      was imminent. The roads were dusty as ash-heaps, and though the pace was
+      not three miles an hour, the boys' tongues were hanging out before they
+      were out of sight of camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, Captain, don't they never have resting spells in the army?" said
+      Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not on a forced march," answered the Captain, who, having been in the
+      first three months' service, was regarded as a veteran. "Push on, boys;
+      they say that they'll want us before night." Another hour passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/021.jpg"
+      alt="As si Looked when he Landed at Louisville 021 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Captain, I don't believe you can put a pin-point anywhere on my feet that
+      ain't covered with a blister as big as a hen's egg," groaned Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's too bad, I know," answered the officer; "but you must go on. They
+      say Morgan's cavalry are in our rear shooting down every straggler they
+      can find."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si saw the boys around him lightening their knapsacks. He abominated waste
+      above all things, but there seemed no help for it, and, reaching into that
+      receptacle that bore, down upon his aching shoulders like a glacier on a
+      groundhog, he pulled out and tossed into the fence corner the educational
+      works he had anticipated so much benefit from. The bottle of "No. 6"
+      followed, and it seemed as if the knapsack was a ton lighter, but it yet
+      weighed more than any stack of hay on the home farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A cloud of dust whirled up, and out of it appeared a galloping Aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The General says that the 200th Ind. must push on much faster. The enemy
+      is trying to get to the bridge ahead of them," he shouted as he dashed off
+      in another cloud of dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few shots were heard in the rear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Morgan's cavalry are shooting some more stragglers," shouted some one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was getting desperate. He unrolled the counterpane and slashed it into
+      strips with his bowie. "My mother made that with her own hands," he
+      explained to a comrade, "and if I can't have the good of it no infernal
+      rebel shall. He next slashed the boots up and threw them after the quilt,
+      and then hobbled on to overtake the rest of his company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's enough dry-goods and clothing lying along in the fence corners to
+      supply a good-sized town," the Lieutenant-Colonel reported as he rode over
+      the line of march in rear of the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day Si's feet felt as if there was a separate and individual
+      jumping toothache in every sinew, muscle, tendon and toe-nail; but that
+      didn't matter. With Bragg's infantry ahead and John Morgan's cavalry in
+      the rear, the 200th Ind. had to go forward so long as the boys could put
+      one foot before the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/023.jpg" alt="Si's Load Begins to Get Heavy 023 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The unloading went on even more rapidly than the day before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My knapsack looks like an elephant had stept on it," Si said, as he
+      ruefully regarded it in the evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Show me one in the regiment that don't," answered his comrade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thenceforward everything seemed to conspire to teach Si how vain and
+      superfluous were the things of this world. The first rain-storm soaked his
+      cherished album until it fell to pieces, and his sister's portfolio did
+      the same. He put the photographs in his blouse pocket and got along just
+      as well. When he wanted to write he got paper from the sutler. A mule
+      tramped on his fancy coffee-pot, and he found he could make quite as good
+      coffee in a quart-cup. A wagon-wheel lan over his cherished frying-pan,
+      and he melted an old canteen in two and made a lighter and handier pan out
+      of one-half of it. He broke his bowie-knife prying the lid off a
+      cracker-box. He piled his knapsack with the others one day when the
+      regiment was ordered to strip them off for a charge, and neither he nor
+      his comrades ever saw one of them again. He never attempted to replace it.
+      He learned to roll up an extra pair of socks and a change of underclothing
+      in his blanket, tie the ends of this together and throw it over his
+      shoulder sash fashion. Then, with his socks drawn up over the bottoms of
+      his pantaloons, three days' rations in his haversack and 40 rounds in his
+      cartridgebox, he was ready to make his 30 miles a day in any direction he
+      might be sent, and whip anything that he encountered on the road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE DEADLY BAYONET
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      IT IS USED FOR NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE THAN FOR PRODDING MEN.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IN COMMON with every other young man who enlisted to defend the glorious
+      Stars and Stripes, Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., had a profound
+      superstition concerning the bayonet. All the war literature he had ever
+      read abounded in bloodcurdling descriptions of bayonet charges and
+      hand-to-hand conflicts, in which bayonets were repeatedly thrust up to the
+      shanks in the combatants' bodies just as he had put a pitch-fork into a
+      bundle of hay. He had seen pictures of English regiments bristling with
+      bayonets like a porcupine with quills, rushing toward French regiments
+      which looked as prickly as a chestnut-bur, and in his ignorance he
+      supposed that was the way fighting was done. Occasionally he would have
+      qualms at the thought of how little his system was suited to have cold
+      steel thrust through it promiscuous-like, but he comforted himself with
+      the supposition that he would probably get used to it in time&mdash;"soldiers
+      get used to almost anything, you know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th Ind. drew its guns at Indianapolis he examined all the
+      strange accouterments with interest, but gave most to the triangular bit
+      of steel which writers who have never seen a battle make so important a
+      weapon in deciding contests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had milk, molasses, or even applejack, for Si then was not a member of
+      the Independent Order of Good Templars, of which society he is now an
+      honored officer. Nothing could be nicer, when he was on picket, to bring
+      buttermilk in from the neighboring farm-house to his chum Shorty, who
+      stood post while he was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/026.jpg" alt="Si's Chum, 'shorty' Elliott 026 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Later in the service Si learned the inestimable value of coffee to the
+      soldier on the march. Then he stript the cloth from his canteen, fastened
+      the strand with bits of wire and made a fine coffee-pot of it. In the
+      morning he would half fill it with the splendid coffee ihe Government
+      furnished, fill it up with water and hang it from a bush or a stake over
+      the fire, while he went ahead with his other culinary preparations. By the
+      time these were finished he would have at least a quart of magnificent
+      coffee that the cook of the Fifth Avenue could not surpass, and which
+      would last him until the regiment halted in the afternoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bully of the 200th took it into his thick head one day to try to "run
+      over" Si. The latter had just filled his canteen, and the bully found that
+      the momentum of three pints of water swung at arm's length by an angry boy
+      was about equal to a mule's kick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as he was beginning to properly appreciate his canteen, he learned a
+      sharp lesson, that comes to all of us, as to how much "cussedness" there
+      can be in the simplest things when they happen to go wrong. He went out
+      one day and got a canteen of nice sweet milk, which he and "Shorty"
+      Elliott heartily enjoyed. He hung the canteen upon the ridge-pole of the
+      tent, and thought no more about it until the next day, when he came in
+      from drill, and found the tent filled with an odor so vile that it made
+      him cough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why in thunder don't the Colonel send out a detail to find and bury that
+      dead mule? It'll pizen the hull camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been in service just long enough to believe that the Colonel ought
+      to look out for and attend to everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Taint no dead mule," said Shorty, whose nose had come close to the
+      source of the odor. "It's this blamed canteen. What on earth have you been
+      putting in it. Si?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ha'int had nothin' in but that sweet milk yesterday."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's just what's the matter," said the Orderly, who, having been in the
+      three-months' service, knew all about war. He had come in to detail Si and
+      Shorty to help unload Quartermaster's stores. "You must always scald 'out
+      your canteens when you've had milk in 'em. Don't you remember how careful
+      your mother is to scald her milk pans?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the company wagon had run over and hopelessly ruined the neat little
+      frying-pan which Si had brought from Posey County, he was in despair as to
+      how he should fry his meat and cook his "lobscouse." Necessity is the
+      mother of invention. He melted in two a canteen he picked up, and found
+      its halves made two deep tin pans, very light and very handy. A split
+      stick made a handle, and he had as good a frying-pan as the one he had
+      lost, and much more convenient, for when done using the handle was thrown
+      away, and the pan slipt into the haversack, where it lay snug and close,
+      instead of clattering about as the frying-pan did when the regiment moved
+      at the double-quick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other half of the canteen was useful to brown coffee, bake hoe-cake,
+      and serve for toilet purposes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day on the Atlanta campaign the regiment moved up in line to the top
+      of a bald hill. As it rose above the crest it was saluted with a terrific
+      volley, and saw that another crest across the narrow valley was occupied
+      by at least a brigade of rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll stay right here, boys," said the plucky little Colonel, who had
+      only worn Sergeant's stripes when the regiment crossed the Ohio River.
+      "We've preempted this bit of real estate, and we'll hold it against the
+      whole Southern Confederacy. Break for that fence there, boys, and every
+      fellow come back with a couple of rails."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed as if he hardly ceased speaking when the boys came running back
+      with the rails which they laid down along the crest, and dropped flat
+      behind them, began throwing the gravelly soil over them with their useful
+      half-canteens. In vain the shower of rebel bullets struck and sang about
+      them. Not one could penetrate that little ridge of earth and rails, which
+      in an hour grew into a strong rifle-pit against which the whole rebel
+      brigade charged, only to sustain a bloody repulse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The war would have lasted a good deal longer had it not been for the daily
+      help of the ever-useful half-canteen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE OLD CANTEEN
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MANY AND QUEER USES TO WHICH IT WAS AT LAST PUT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/029.jpg"
+      alt="The Diverse Uses of the Good Old Canteen 029 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      WHEN Josiah (called "Si" for short) Klegg, of the 200th Ind., drew his
+      canteen from the Quartermaster at Louisville, he did not have a very high
+      idea of its present or prospective importance. In the 22 hot Summers that
+      he had lived through he had never found himself very far from a well or
+      spring when his thirst cried out to be slacked, and he did not suppose
+      that it was much farther between wells down South.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't see the use of carrying two or three pints o' water along all day
+      right past springs and over cricks," he remarked to his chum, as the two
+      were examining the queer, cloth-covered cans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We've got to take 'em, any way," answered his chum, resignedly, "It's
+      regulations."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his entry into service a boy accepted everything without question when
+      assured that it was "regulations." He would have charged bayonets on a
+      buzz-saw if authoritatively informed that it was required by the
+      mysterious "regulations."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The long march the 200th Ind. made after Bragg over the dusty turnpikes
+      the first week in October, 1862, taught Si the value of a canteen. After
+      that it was rarely allowed to get empty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What are these grooves along each side for?" he asked, pointing out the
+      little hollows which give the "prod" lightness and strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why," answered the Orderly, who, having been in the three-months'
+      service, assumed to know more about war than the Duke of Wellington, "the
+      intention of those is to make a wound the lips of which will close up when
+      the bayonet is pulled out, so that the man'll be certain to die."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Naturally so diabolical an intention sent cold shivers down Si's back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night before Si left for "the front" he had taken his musket and
+      couterments home to show them to his mother and sisters&mdash;and the
+      other fellow's sister, whose picture and lock of hair he had safely stowed
+      away. They looked upon the bayonet with a dreadful awe. Tears came into
+      Maria's eyes as she thought of Si roaming about through the South like a
+      bandit plunging that cruel steel into people's bowels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is the way it's done," said Si, as he charged about the room in an
+      imaginary duel with a rebel, winding up with a terrifying lunge. "Die,
+      Tur-r-rraitor, gaul durn ye," he exclaimed, for he was really getting
+      excited over the matter, while the girls screamed and jumped upon the
+      chairs, and his good mother almost fainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attention that the 200th Ind. had to give to the bayonet drill
+      confirmed Si's deep respect for the weapon, and he practiced assiduously
+      all the "lunges," "parries," and "guards" in the Manual, in the hope that
+      proficiency so gained would save his own dearly-beloved hide from
+      puncture, and enable him to punch any luckless rebel that he might
+      encounter as full of holes as a fishing net.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/033.jpg" alt="What the Bayonet Was Good for 033 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind.'s first fight was at Perryville, but though it routed the
+      rebel force in front of it, it would have taken a bayonet half-a-mile long
+      to touch the nearest "Johnny." Si thought it odd that the rebels didn't
+      let him get close enough to them to try his new bayonet, and pitch a dozen
+      or two of them over into the next field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the truth must be told, the first blood that stained Si's bayonet was
+      not that of a fellow-man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si Klegg's company was on picket one day, while Gen. Buell was trying to
+      make up his mind what to do with Bragg. Rations had been a little short
+      for a week or so. In fact, they had been scarcely sufficient to meet the
+      demands of Si's appetite, and his haversack had nothing in it to speak of.
+      Strict orders against foraging had been, issued. It was the day of
+      "guarding rebel onion patches." Si couldn't quite get it straight in his
+      head why the General should be so mighty particular about a few pigs and
+      chickens and sweet potatoes, for he was really getting hungry, and when a
+      man is in this condition he is not in a fit mood to grapple with fine-spun
+      theories of governmental policy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So when a fat pig came wabbling and grunting toward his post, it was to Si
+      like a vision of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness. A
+      wild, uncontrollable desire to taste a fresh spare-rib took possession of
+      him. Naturally, his first idea was to send a bullet through the animal,
+      but on second thought he saw that wouldn't do at all. It would "give him
+      away" at once, and, besides, he had found that a single shot on the
+      picket-line would keep Buell's entire army in line-of-battle for a whole
+      day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si wrote to his mother that his bright new bayonet was stained with
+      Southern blood, and the old lady shuddered at the awful thought. "But,"
+      added Si, "it was only a pig, and not a man, that I killed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm so glad!" she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/035.jpg" alt="As Maria Pictured si Using his Bayonet 035 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      By the time Si had been in the service a year there was less zeal in the
+      enforcement of orders of this kind, and Si had become a very skillful and
+      successful forager. He had still been unable to reach with his bayonet the
+      body of a single one of his misguided fellow citizens, but he had stabbed
+      a great many pigs and sheep. In fact, Si found his bayonet a most useful
+      auxiliary in his predatory operations. He could not well have gotten along
+      without it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Uncle Sam generally furnished Si with plenty of coffee&mdash;roasted and
+      unground&mdash;but did not supply him with a coffee mill. Si thought at
+      first that the Government had forgotten something. He saw that several of
+      the old veterans of '61 had coffee mills, but he found on inquiry that
+      they had been obtained by confiscation only. He determined to supply
+      himself at the first opportunity, but in the meantime he was obliged to
+      'use his bayonet as a substitute, just as all the rest of the soldiers
+      did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We regret to say that Si, having thrown away his "Baxter's Call to the
+      Unconverted" in his first march, and having allowed himself to forget the
+      lessons he had learned but a few years before in Sunday-school, soon
+      learned to play poker and other sinful games. These, at night, developed
+      another use for the bayonet. In its capacity as a "handy" candlestick it
+      was "equaled by few and excelled by none." The "shank" was always ready to
+      receive the candle, while the point could be thrust into the ground in an
+      instant, and nothing more was necessary. This was perhaps the most general
+      sphere of usefulness found by the bayonet during the war. Barrels of
+      candle-grease flowed down the furrowed sides of this weapon for every drop
+      of human blood that dimmed its luster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THE AWFUL HARDTACK
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE HARD AND SOLID STAFF OF MILITARY LIFE.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "APPETITE'S a queer thing," said Si to Shorty one day, when both were in a
+      philosophical mood. "It's an awful bother when you haven't it, and it's a
+      great deal worse when you have it, and can't get anything for it." "Same
+      as money," returned sage Shorty. During the first few months of Si Klegg's
+      service in the army the one thing that bothered him more than anything
+      else was his appetite. It was a very robust, healthy one that Si had, for
+      he had grown up on his father's farm in Indiana, and had never known what
+      it was to be hungry without abundant means at hand for appeasing his
+      desires in that direction. His mother's cupboard was never known to be in
+      the condition of Old Mother Hubbard's, described in the nursery rhyme. The
+      Kleggs might not have much tapestry and bric-a-brac in their home, but
+      their smoke-house was always full, and Mrs. Klegg's kitchen could have fed
+      a camp-meeting any time without warning. So it was that when Si enlisted
+      his full, rosy face and his roundness of limb showed that he had been well
+      fed, and that nature had made good use of the ample daily supplies that
+      were provided. His digestive organs were kept in perfect condition by
+      constant exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After Si had put down his name on the roll of Co. Q of the 200th Ind. he
+      had but a few days to remain at home before his regiment was to start for
+      Louisville. During this time his mother and sisters kept him filled up
+      with "goodies" of every sort. In fact, it was the biggest thing in the way
+      of a protracted picnic that Si had ever struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You must enjoy these things while you can, Si," said his mother, "for
+      goodness knows what you'll do when you really git into the army. I've
+      heerd 'em tell awful things about how the poor sogers don't have half
+      enough to eat, and what they do git goes agin' any Christian stomach.
+      Here, take another piece of this pie. A little while, and it'll be a long
+      time, I reckon, till ye git any more."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't keer if I do!" said Si, for there was scarcely any limit to his
+      capacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so during those days and nights the old lady and the girls cooked and
+      cooked, and Si ate and ate, until it seemed as if he wouldn't want any
+      more till the war was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was full, and as soon as Co. Q was, it was ordered to camp, and Si had
+      to go. They loaded him down with good things enough to last him a week.
+      The pretty Annabel&mdash;the neighbor's daughter who had solemnly promised
+      Si that she wouldn't go with any other fellow while he was away&mdash;came
+      around to see Si off and brought him a rich fruit cake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I made that for you," she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bully for you!" said Si, for he felt that he must begin to talk like a
+      soldier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first day or two after reaching Louisville the 200th received rations
+      of "soft bread." But that didn't last long. It was only a way they had of
+      letting the fresh soldier down easy. Orders came to get ready to pull out
+      after Bragg, and then Si'a regiment had its first issue of army rations.
+      As the Orderly pried open a box of hardtack and began to distribute them
+      to the boys, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them's nice-looking soda crackers. I don't believe the grub is going to
+      be so bad, after all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never seen a hardtack before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Better taste one and see how you like it!" said one of Buell's ragged
+      Indiana veterans, who had come over to see the boys of the 200th and hear
+      the latest news from "God's country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It happened that this lot was one of extra quality as to hardness. The
+      baker's watch had stopped, or he had gone to sleep, and they had been left
+      in the oven or dry-kiln too long. Si took one of them and carried it to
+      his mouth. He first tried on it the bite which made such havoc with a
+      quarter section of custard pie, but his incisors made no more impression
+      upon it than if it had been a shingle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You have to bear on hard," said the veteran, with a grim smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Je-ru-sa-lem!" exclaimed Si after he had made two or three attempts
+      equally barren of results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he tried his "back teeth." His molars were in prime order, and his
+      jaw power was sufficient to crack a hickory nut every time. Si crowded one
+      corner of the hardtack as far as he could between his "grinders," where he
+      could get a good "purchase" on it, shut his eyes and turned on a full head
+      of steam. His teeth and jaws fairly cracked under the strain, but he
+      couldn't even "phase" it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If that ain't old pizen!" said Si. "It beats anything I ever seen up in
+      the Wabash country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But his blood was up, and laying the cracker upon a log, he brought the
+      butt of his gun down upon it like a pile-driver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/041.jpg" alt="He Tries the Butt of his Gun on It 041 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I'd fix ye," he said, as he picked up the fragments, and tried
+      his teeth upon the smaller ones. "Have I got to eat such stuff as that?"
+      with a despairing look at his veteran friend. "I'd just as soon be a
+      billy-goat and live on circus-posters, fruit-cans and old hoop-skirts."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'll get used to it after a while, same's we did. You'll see the time
+      when you'll be mighty glad to get even as hard a tack as that!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's heart sank almost into his shoes at the prospect, for the taste of
+      his mother's pie and Annabel's fruit cake were yet fresh in his mouth. But
+      Si was fully bent on being a loyal, obedient soldier, determined to make
+      the best of everything without any more "kicking" than was the inalienable
+      right of every man who wore a uniform.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the first time in his life Si went to bed hungry that night. Impelled
+      by the gnawings of his appetite he made repeated assaults upon the
+      hardtack, but the result was wholly insufficient to satisfy the longings
+      of his stomach. His supper wasn't anything to speak of. Before going to
+      bed he began to exercise his ingenuity on various schemes to reduce the
+      hardtack to a condition in which it would be more gratifying to his taste
+      and better suited to the means with which nature had provided him for
+      disposing of his rations. Naturally Si thought that soaking in water would
+      have a beneficial effect. So he laid five or six of them in the bottom of
+      a camp-kettle, anchored them down with a stone, and covered them with
+      water. He thought that with the aid of a frying-pan he would get up a
+      breakfast that he could eat, anyway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt a little blue as he lay curled up under his blanket with his head
+      pillowed on his knapsack. He thought some about his mother, and sister
+      Maria, and pretty Annabel, but he thought a good deal more about the beef
+      and potatoes, the pies and the puddings, that were so plentifully spread
+      upon the table at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a long time before he got to sleep. As he lay there, thinking and
+      thinking, there came to his mind some ether uses to which it seemed to him
+      the hardtack might be put, which would be much more consistent with its
+      nature than to palm it off on the soldiers as alleged food. He thought he
+      could now understand why, when he enlisted, they examined his teeth so
+      carefully, as if they were going to buy him for a mule. They said it was
+      necessary to have good teeth in order to bite "cartridges" successfully,
+      but now he knew it was with reference to his ability to eat hardtack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't want to be killed if he could help it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While he was lying there he determined to line one of his shirts with
+      hardtacks, and he would put that on whenever there was going to be a
+      fight. He didn't believe the bullets would go through them. He wanted to
+      do all he could toward paralyzing the rebels, and with such a protection
+      he could be very brave, while his comrades were being mowed down around
+      him. The idea of having such' a shirt struck Si as being a brilliant one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, he thought hardtack would be excellent for half-soling his shoes. He
+      didn't think they would ever wear out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If he ran short of ammunition he could ram pieces of hardtack into his gun
+      and he had no doubt they would do terrible execution in the ranks of the
+      enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these things and many more Si thought of until finally he was lost in
+      sleep. Then he dreamed that somebody was trying to cram stones down his
+      throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The company was called out at daylight, and immediately after roll-call Si
+      went to look after the hardtacks he had put to soak the night before. He
+      thought he had never felt so hungry in his life. He fished out the
+      hardtack and carefully inspected them, to note the result of the
+      submerging and to figure out the chances on his much-needed breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To any old soldier it would be unnecessary to describe the condition in
+      which Si found those hardtacks, and the effect of the soaking. For the
+      information of any who never soaked a hardtack it may be said that Si
+      found them transformed, to all appearances, into sole-leather. They were
+      flexible, but as tough as the hide that was "found in the vat when the
+      tanner died."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si tried to bite a piece off one of them to see what it was like, but he
+      couldn't get his teeth through it. In sheer desperation he laid it on a
+      log, seized a hatchet, and chopped off a corner. He put it in his mouth
+      and chewed on it a while, but found it as tasteless as cold codfish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought he would try the frying-pan. He chopped the hardtacks into
+      bits, put in equal parts of water and grease, sifted over the mixture a
+      little salt and pepper, and then gave it a thorough frying. Si's spirits
+      rose during the gradual development of this scheme, as it seemed to offer
+      a good prospect for his morning meal. And when it came to the eating. Si
+      found it really good, comparatively speaking, even though it was very much
+      like a dish compounded of the sweepings from around a shoemaker's bench. A
+      good appetite was indispensable to a real enjoyment of this&mdash;which
+      the soldiers called by a name that cannot be given here&mdash;but Si had
+      the appetite, and he ate and was thankful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I'd get the bulge on them things some way or other," said Si,
+      as he drank the last of his coffee and arose from his meal, feeling like a
+      giant refreshed with new wine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the next two or three months Si largely devoted his surplus energies
+      to further experimenting with the hardtack. He applied every conceivable
+      process of cookery he could think of that was possible with the meager
+      outfit at his command in the way of utensils and materials. Nearly all of
+      his patient and persevering efforts resulted only in vexation of spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to eat hardtack from day to day, in these various forms, but
+      it was only because he had to do it. He didn't hanker after it, but it was
+      a military necessity&mdash;hardtack or starvation. It was a hard choice,
+      but Si's love of life&mdash;and Annabel&mdash;induced him to choose the
+      hardtack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/045.jpg" alt="The Best Way After All 045 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      But for a long-time Si's stomach was in a state of chronic rebellion, and
+      on the whole he had a hard time of it getting used to this staple article
+      of army diet. He did not become reconciled to it until after his regiment
+      had rations of flour for a week, when the "cracker-line" had been cut by
+      the guerillas and the supply of that substantial edible was exhausted.
+      Si's experience with the flour swept away all his objections to the
+      hardtack. Those slapjacks, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and those
+      lumps of dough, mixed with cold water and dried on flat stones before the
+      fire, as hard as cannon balls, played sad havoc with his internal
+      arrangements. For the first time he was obliged to fall into the
+      cadaverous squad at sick-call and wabble up to the doctor's shop, where he
+      was dosed with castor-oil and blue-mass. Si was glad enough to see
+      hardtack again. Most of the grumbling he did thereafter concerning the
+      hardtack was because he often couldn't get enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About six months taught Si what all the soldiers learned by experience,
+      that the best way to eat the average hardtack was to take it "straight"&mdash;just
+      as it came out of the box, without any soaking or frying or stewing. At
+      meal-time he would make a quart or so of coffee, stab the end of a ramrod
+      through three or four slices of sowbelly, and cook them over the coals,
+      allowing some of the drippings to fall upon the hardtack for lubricating
+      purposes, and these constituted his frugal repast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. FAT PORK&mdash;INDISPENSABLE BODY TIMBER FOR PATRIOTISM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT WAS told in the last chapter how the patriotic impulses of Si Klegg, of
+      the 200th Ind., reached his stomach and digestive apparatus, and brought
+      them under obedient subjection to hardtack. He didn't have quite so rough
+      an experience with that other staple of army diet, which was in fact the
+      very counterpart of the hardtack, and which took its most popular name
+      from that part of the body of the female swine which is usually nearest
+      the ground. Much of Si's muscle and brawn was due to the fact that meat
+      was always plenty on his father's farm. When Si enlisted he was not
+      entirely free from anxiety on the question of meat, for to his appetite it
+      was not even second in importance to bread. If bread was the "staff of
+      life" meat was life itself to Si. It didn't make much difference to him
+      what kind it was, only so it was meat. He didn't suppose Uncle Sam would
+      keep him supplied with quail on toast and porterhouse steaks all the time,
+      but he did hope he would give him as much as he wanted of something in
+      that line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You won't get much pork, unless you're a good forager," said one of Si's
+      friends he met at Louisville, and who had been a year in the service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought he might, with practice and a little encouragement, be fairly
+      successful in foraging on his' own hook, but at the same time he said he
+      wouldn't grumble if he could only get plenty of pork. Fortunately for him
+      he had not been imbued with the teachings of the Hebraic dispensation
+      which declared "unclean" the beast that furnished the great bulk of the
+      animal food for the American defenders of the Union.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Co. Q of the 200th Ind. received with the first issue of army rations at
+      Louisville a bountiful supply of bacon of prime quality, and Si was happy
+      at the prospect. He thought it would always be that way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't see anything the matter with such grub as that!" said Si. "Looks
+      to me as though we were goin' to live like fighting-cocks."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You're just a little bit brash," said his veteran friend, who had just
+      been through the long, hungry march from Huntsville, Ala., to Louisville.
+      "Better eat all you can lay yer hands on now, while ye've got a chance.
+      One o' these days ye'll git into a tight place and ye won't see enough
+      hog's meat in a week to grease a griddle. I've bin there, myself! Jest
+      look at me and see what short rations 'll bring you to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si thought he wouldn't try to cross a bridge till he got to it, nor
+      lie awake nights worrying over troubles that were yet in the future. Si
+      had a philosophical streak in his mental make-up and this, by the way, was
+      a good thing for a soldier to have. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
+      thereof," was an excellent rule for him to go by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Si assimilated all the pork that fell to his share, with an extra bit
+      now and then from a comrade whose appetite was less vigorous. He thrived
+      under its fructifying influence, and gave good promise of military
+      activity and usefulness. No scientific processes of cookery were necessary
+      to prepare it for immediate use. A simple boiling or frying or toasting
+      was all that was required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/049.jpg" alt="The Veteran Talks to si 049 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      During the few days at Louisville fresh beef was issued occasionally. It
+      is true that the animals slain for the soldiers were not always fat and
+      tender, nor did each of them have four hind-quarters. This last fact was
+      the direct cause of a good deal of inflammation in the 200th Ind., as in
+      every other regiment. The boys who got sections of the forward part of the
+      "critter," usually about three-quarters bone, invariably kicked, and fired
+      peppery remarks at those who got the juicy steaks from the rear portion of
+      the animal. Then when their turn came for a piece of hind-quarter the
+      other fellows would growl. Four-fifths of the boys generally had to
+      content themselves with a skinny rib or a soupshank. Si shared the common
+      lot, and did his full quota of grumbling because his "turn" for a slice of
+      steak didn't come every time beef was issued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pickled pork was comparatively free from this cause of irritation. It
+      was all alike, and was simply "Hobson's choice." Si remembered the
+      fragrant and delicious fried ham that so often garnished his mother's
+      breakfast table and wondered why there was not the same proportion of hams
+      and sides in the Commissary that he remembered in the meathouse on the
+      Wabash. He remarked to Shorty one day:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I wonder where all this pork comes from?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It comes from Illinoy, I suppose," said Shorty. "I notice the barrels are
+      all marked 'Chicago'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Must grow funny kind o' hogs out there&mdash;a mile long each, I should
+      say. What do you mean?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, we've drawn a full mile o' sides from the Commissary, and haint
+      struck a ham yit. I'm wonderin' jest how long that hog is!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, you are green. You oughter know by this time that there are only
+      enough hams for the officers."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now and then a few pigs' shoulders were handed round among the boys, but
+      the large proportion of bone they contained was exasperating, and was the
+      cause of much profanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes bacon was issued that had really outlived its usefulness,
+      except, perhaps, for the manufacture of soap. Improperly "cured," it was
+      strong and rancid, or, occasionally, so near a condition of putrefaction
+      that the stench from it offended the nostrils of the whole camp. Some
+      times it was full of "skippers," that tunneled their way through and
+      through it, and grew fat with riotous living.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/051.jpg" alt="Drawing Rations 051 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si drew the line at this point. He had an ironplated stomach, but putrid
+      and maggoty meat was too much for it. Whenever he got any of this he would
+      trade it off to the darkies for chickens. There is nothing like pork for a
+      Southern negro. He wants something that will "stick to his ribs."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By a gradual process of development his appetite reached the point when he
+      could eat his fat pork perfectly raw. During a brief halt when on the
+      march he would squat in a fence corner, go down into his haversack for
+      supplies, cut a slice of bacon, lay it on a hardtack, and munch them with
+      a keen relish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/052.jpg" alt="'all Right, Boss; Dats a Go' 052 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      At one of the meetings of the Army of the Cumberland Gen. Garfield told a
+      story which may appropriately close this chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day, while the Army of the Cumberland was beleaguered in Chattanooga
+      and the men were almost starving on quarter rations, Gen. Rosecrans and
+      his staff rode out to inspect the lines. As the brilliant cavalcade dashed
+      by a lank, grizzled soldier growled to a comrade:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It'd be a darned sight better for this army if we had a little more
+      sowbelly and not quite so many brass buttons!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. DETAILED AS COOK&mdash;SI FINDS RICE ANOTHER INNOCENT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CUSSEDNESS IN IT.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IT WOULD have been very strange, indeed, if Si Klegg had not grumbled
+      loudly and frequently about the food that was dished up to him by the
+      company cooks. In the first place, it was as natural for a boy to grumble
+      at the "grub" as it was for him to try to shirk battalion drill or "run
+      the guard." In the next place, the cooking done by the company bean-boiler
+      deserved all the abuse it received, for as a rule the boys who sought
+      places in the hash foundry did so because they were too lazy to drill or
+      do guard duty, and their knowledge of cooking was about like that of the
+      Irishman's of music:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can you play the fiddle, Pat?" he was asked. "Oi don't know, sor-r-r&mdash;Oi
+      niver tried."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's mother, like most of the well-to-do farmers' wives in Indiana, was
+      undoubtedly a good cook, and she trained up her daughters to do honor to
+      her teachings, so that Si undoubtedly knew what properly-prepared food
+      was. From the time he was big enough to spank he had fared sumptuously
+      every day. In the gush of patriotic emotions that prompted him to enlist
+      he scarcely thought of this feature of the case. If it entered his mind at
+      all, he felt that he could safely trust all to the goodness of so
+      beneficent a Government as that for the preservation of which he had
+      offered himself as a target for the rebels to shoot at. He thought it no
+      more than fair to the brave soldiers that Uncle Sam should furnish
+      professional cooks for each company, who would serve everything up in the
+      style of a first-class city restaurant. So, after Si got down among the
+      boys and found how it really was, it was not long till his inside was a
+      volcano of rebellion that threatened serious results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/055.jpg" alt="Si Falls out With his Food 055 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      When, therefore, Si lifted up his voice and cried aloud, and spared not&mdash;when
+      he said that he could get as good coffee as that furnished him by dipping
+      his cup into a tan-vat; when he said that the meat was not good
+      soap-grease, and that the potatoes and beans had not so much taste and
+      nutrition in them as so much pine-shavings, he was probably nearer right
+      than grumblers usually are.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Give it to 'em, Si," his comrades would Say, when he turned up his loud
+      bazoo on the rations question. "They ought to get it ten times worse. When
+      we come out we expected that some of us would get shot by the rebels, but
+      we didn't calculate that we were going to be poisoned in camp by a lot of
+      dirty, lazy potwrastlers."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning after roll-call the Orderly-Sergeant came up to Si and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's been so much chin-music about this cooking-business that the
+      Captain's ordered the cooks to go back to duty, and after this
+      everybody'll have to take his regular turn at cooking. It'll be your turn
+      to-day, and you'll stay in camp and get dinner."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Co. Q marched out for the forenoon drill. Si pulled off his blouse
+      and set down on a convenient log to think out how he should go to work. Up
+      to this time he had been quite certain that he knew all about cooking that
+      it was worth while to know. Just now none of his knowledge seemed to be in
+      usable shape, and the more he thought about it the less able he seemed to
+      be to decide upon any way of beginning. It had always appeared very easy
+      for his mother and sisters to get dinner, and on more than one occasion he
+      had reminded them how much better times they had staying in the house
+      cooking dinner than he had out in the harvest field keeping up with the
+      reaper. At this moment he would rather have kept up with the fastest
+      reaper in Posey County, on the hottest of July days, than to have cooked
+      the coarse dinner which his 75 comrades expected to be ready for them when
+      they returned, tired, hot and hungry, from the morning drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/057.jpg" alt="Si Thinks It over 057 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      He went back to the barracks and inspected the company larder. He found
+      there the same old, coarse, greasy, strong, fat pork, a bushel or so of
+      beans, a few withered potatoes, sugar, coffee, bread, and a box of rice
+      which had been collected from the daily rations because none of the cooks
+      knew how to manage it. The sight of the South Carolina staple recalled the
+      delightful rice puddings his mother used to make. His heart grew buoyant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here's just the thing," he said. "I always was fond of rice, and I know
+      the boys will be delighted with it for a change. I know I can cook it; for
+      all that you've got to do is to put it in a pot with water and boil it
+      till it is done. I've seen mother do that lots o' times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's see," he said, pursuing his ruminations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think each boy can eat about a cupful, so I'll put one for each of 'em
+      in the kettle."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's one for Abner," he continued, pouring a cupful in for the first
+      name on the company-roll; "one for Acklin, one for Adams, one for Barber,
+      one for Brooks," and so on down through the whole well-known list.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It fills the old kettle tol'bly full," he remarked, as he scanned the
+      utensil after depositing the contribution for Williams, the last name on
+      the roll; "but I guess she'll stand it. I've heard mother tell the girls
+      that they must always keep the rice covered with water, and stir it well,
+      so that it wouldn't burn; so here goes. Won't the boys be astonished when
+      they have a nice mess of rice, as a change from that rusty old side-meat!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He hung the kettle on the fire and stepped out to the edge of the
+      parade-ground to watch the boys drilling. It was the first time he had had
+      the sensation of pleasure of seeing them at this without taking part in it
+      himself, and he began to think that he would not mind if he had to cook
+      most of the time. He suddenly remembered about his rice and hurried back
+      to find it boiling, bulging over the top like a small snowdrift.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/059.jpg" alt="The Trouble Begins 059 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I was afraid that kettle was a little too full," he said to himself,
+      hurrying off for another campkettle, in which he put about a third of the
+      contents of the first. "Now they're all right. And it'll cook better and
+      quicker in two than one. Great Scott! what's the matter? They're both
+      boiling over. There must be something wrong with that rice."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pretty soon he had all the company kettles employed, and then all that he
+      could borrow from the other companies. But dip out as much as he would
+      there seemed no abatement in the upheaving of the snowy cereal, and the
+      kettles continued to foam over like so many huge glasses of soda water. He
+      rushed to his bunk and got his gum blanket and heaped upon it a pile as
+      big as a small haycock, but the mass in the kettle seemed larger than it
+      was before this was subtracted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sweat and dipped, and dipped and sweat; burned his hands into blisters
+      with the hot rice and hotter kettles, kicked over one of the largest
+      kettles in one of his spasmodic rushes to save a portion of the food that
+      was boiling over, and sent its white contents streaming over the ground.
+      His misery came to a climax as he heard the quick step of his hungry
+      comrades returning from drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right face; Arms a-port; Break ranks&mdash;March!" commanded the
+      Orderly-Sergeant, and there was a clatter of tin cups and plates as they
+      came rushing toward him to get their dinner&mdash;something to stay their
+      ravenous stomachs. There was a clamor of rage, ridicule, wrath and
+      disappointment as they took in the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/061.jpg" alt="The Rice Gets the Bulge 061 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "What's the matter here?" demanded the Captain, striding back to the
+      company fire. "You young rascal, is this the way you get dinner for your
+      comrades? Is this the way you attend to the duty for which you're
+      detailed? Waste rations in some fool experiment and scatter good food all
+      over the ground? Biler, put on your arms and take Klegg to the
+      guard-houae. I'll make you pay for this nonsense, sir, in a way that you
+      won't forget in a hurry, I'll be bound."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So poor Si marched to the guard-house, where he had to stay for 24 hours,
+      as a punishment for not knowing, until he found out by this experience,
+      that rice would "s-well." The Captain wouldn't let him have anything to
+      eat except that scorched and half-cooked stuff cut of the kettles, and Si
+      thought he never wanted to see any more rice as long as he lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/062.jpg"
+      alt="Si Makes the Acquaintance of The Guard House 062 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In the evening one of the boys took Si's blanket to him, thinking he would
+      want it to sleep in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell ye, pard, this is purty derned tough!" said Si as he wiped a tear
+      out of the southwest corner of his left eye with the sleeve of his blouse.
+      "I think the Cap'n's hard on a feller who didn't mean to do nothin'
+      wrong!" And Si looked as if he had lost all his interest in the old flag,
+      and didn't care a pinch of his burnt rice what became of the Union.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His comrade "allowed" that it was hard, but supposed they, had got to get
+      used to such things. He said he heard the Captain say he would let Si out
+      the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. IN THE AWKWARD SQUAD
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI HAS MANY TRIBULATIONS LEARNING THE MANUAL OP ARMS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      WHEN Si Klegg went into active service with Co. Q of the 200th Ind. his
+      ideas of drill and tactics were exceedingly vague. He knew that a "drill"
+      was something to make holes with, and as he understood that he had been
+      sent down South to make holes through people, he supposed drilling had
+      something to do with it. He handled his musket very much as he would a
+      hoe. A "platoon" might be something to eat, for all he knew. He had a
+      notion that a "wheel" was something that went around, and he thought a
+      "file" was a screeching thing that his father used once a year to sharpen
+      up the old buck saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact was that Si and his companions hardly had a fair shake in this
+      respect, and entered the field at a decided disadvantage. It had been
+      customary for a regiment to be constantly drilled for a month or two in
+      camp in its own State before being sent to the front; but the 200th was
+      rushed off to Kentucky the very day it was mustered in. This was while the
+      cold chills were running up and down the backs of the people in the North
+      on account of the threatened invasion by Bragg's army. The regiment pushed
+      after the fleeing rebels, but whenever Suell's army halted to take breath,
+      "Fall in for drill!" was shouted through its camp three or four times a
+      day. It was liable to be called into action at any moment, and it was
+      deemed indispensable to begin at once the process of making soldiers out
+      of those tender-footed Hoosiers, whose zeal and patriotism as yet far
+      exceeded their knowledge of military things. Most of the officers of the
+      200th were as green as the men, though some of them had seen service in
+      other regiments; so, at first, officers and non-commissioned officers who
+      had been in the field a few months and were considered veterans, and who
+      knew, or thought they knew, all about tactics that was worth knowing, were
+      detailed from the old regiments to put the boys through a course of
+      sprouts in company and squad drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning three or four days after leaving Louisville, word was passed
+      around that the regiment would not move that day, and the boys were so
+      glad at the prospect of a day of rest that they wanted to get right up and
+      yell. Si was sitting on a log, with his shoes off, rubbing his aching
+      limbs and nursing his blisters, when the Orderly came along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Co. Q, be ready in 10 minutes to fall in for drill. Stir around, you men,
+      and get your traps on. Klegg, put on them gunboats, and be lively about
+      it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Orderly," said Si, looking as if he hadn't a friend on earth, "just look
+      at them blisters; I can't drill to-day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'll have to or go to the guard-house," was the reply. "You'd better
+      hustle yourself, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't think of anything to say that would do justice to his
+      feelings; and so, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a few muttered
+      words that he didn't learn in Sunday school, he got ready to take his
+      place in the company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a general combustion of powder by the armies of Buell and Bragg was
+      hourly expected, it was thought best for the 200th to learn first
+      something about shooting. If called suddenly into action it was believed
+      the boys could "git thar," though they had not yet mastered the science of
+      company and battalion evolutions. Co. Q was divided into squads of eight
+      for exercise in the manual of arms. The man who took Si's squad was a
+      grizzled Sergeant, who had been "lugging knapsack, box and gun" for a
+      year. He fully realized his important and responsible functions as
+      instructor of these innocent youths, having at the same time a supreme
+      contempt for their ignorance. "Attention, Squad!" and they all looked at
+      him in a way that meant business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/067.jpg" alt="'right Shoulder Shift--arms!' 067 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Load in nine times&mdash;Load!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't quite understand what the "in" meant, but he had always been
+      handy with a shotgun, to the terror of the squirrels and coons up in Posey
+      County, and he thought he would show the Sergeant how spry he was. So he
+      rammed in a cartridge, put on a cap, held up his musket, and blazed away,
+      and then went to loading again as if his life depended upon his activity.
+      For an instant the Sergeant was speechless with amazement. At length his
+      tongue was loosened, and he roared out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the name of General Jackson are you doing, you measly idiot! Who
+      ordered you to load and fire your piece?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I&mdash;I th&mdash;thought you did!" said Si, trembling as if he had the
+      Wabash ague. "You said for us to load nine times. I thought nine loads
+      would fill 'er chuck full and bust 'er and I didn't see any way but to
+      shute 'em oft as fast as I got 'em in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, sir! I gave the command according to Hardee, 'Load&mdash;in&mdash;nine&mdash;times!'
+      and ef yer hadn't bin in such a hurry you'd 'a' found out what that means.
+      Yer'll git along a good deal faster ef you'll go slower. Yer ought ter be
+      made ter carry a rail, and a big one, for two hours."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si protested that he was sorry, and didn't mean to, and wouldn't do so
+      again, and the drill went on. The master went through all the nine "times"
+      of "Handle&mdash;Cartridge!" "Draw&mdash;Rammer!" etc., each with its two
+      or three "motions." It seemed like nonsense to Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Boss," said he, "I kin get 'er loaded in just half the time ef yer'll let
+      me do it my own way!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Silence!"' thundered the Sergeant. "If you speak another word I'll have
+      ye gagged 'n' tied up by the thumbs!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had always been used to speaking right out when he had anything to say,
+      and had not yet got his "unruly member" under thorough subjection. He saw
+      that it wouldn't do to fool with the Drill Sergeant, however, and he held
+      his peace. But Si kept thinking that if he got into a fight he would ram
+      in the cartridge and fire them out as fast as he could, without bothering
+      his head about the "one time and three motions."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/069.jpg" alt="'fix--bayonets!' 069 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Order&mdash;Arms!" commanded the Sergeant, after he had explained how it
+      was to be done. Si brought his gun down along with the rest like a
+      pile-driver, and it landed squarely on the foot of the man next to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/065.jpg" alt="Brought his Gun Down on the Man's Foot 065 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Ou-ou-ouch!" remarked the victim of Si's inexperience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Didn't do it a'purpose, pard," said Si compassionately; "'pon my word I
+      didn't. I'll be more keerful after this."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His suffering comrade, in very pointed language, urged upon Si the
+      propriety of exercising a little more care. He determined that he would
+      manage to get some other fellow to stand next to Si after that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" ordered the Sergeant, and the guns came straggling
+      up into position. Then, after a few words of instruction, "Right shoulder
+      shift&mdash;Arms!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't you know your right shoulder?" said the Sergeant, with a good deal
+      of vinegar in his tone, to Si, who had his gun on the "larboard" side, as
+      a sailor would say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Beg yer pardon," said Si; "I always was lefthanded. I'll learn if yer
+      only gimme a show!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Silence!" again roared the Sergeant. "One more word, sir, and I will tie
+      ye up, fer a fact!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sergeant got his squad down to an "order arms" again, and then, after
+      showing them how, he gave the order, "Fix&mdash;Bayonets!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was the usual clicking and clattering, during which Si dexterously
+      managed to stick his bayonet into the eye of his comrade, whose toes were
+      still aching from the blow of the butt of Si's musket. Si assured him he
+      was sorry, and that it was all a mistake, but his comrade thought the
+      limit of patience had been passed. So he confidently informed Si that as
+      soon as drill was over he was going to "pound the stuffin'" out of him,
+      and there wouldn't be any mistake about it, either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the hour was up the Captain of the company came around to see how the
+      boys were getting along. The upshot of it was that poor Si was immediately
+      organized into an "awkward squad" all by himself, and drilled an extra
+      hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll see, Mr. Klegg," said the Captain, "if you can't learn to handle
+      your arms without mashing the toes and stabbing the eyes out of the rest
+      of the company."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. ON COMPANY DRILL
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI GETS TANGLED IN THE MAZES OF THE EVOLUTIONS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "ALL in for company drill!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These words struck the unwilling ears of Co. Q, 200th Ind., the next time
+      Buell halted his army to draw a long breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wish somebody would shoot that durned Orderly," muttered Si Klegg. "For
+      two cents I'd do it myself."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't do it, Si," admonished Shorty, "They'd git another one that'd be
+      just as bad. All orderlies are cusses."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si believed it would be a case of justifiable homicide, and, if the truth
+      must be told, this feeling was largely shared by the other members of the
+      company. For more than a week the boys had been tramping over a
+      "macadamized" Kentucky pike. Feet were plentifully decorated with
+      blisters, legs were stiff and sore, and joints almost refused to perform
+      their functions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had rained nearly all the previous day, and the disgusted Hoosiers of
+      the 200th went sloshing along, wet to the skin, for 20 dreary miles. With
+      that diabolical care and method that were generally practiced at such
+      times, the Generals selected the worst possible locations for the camps.
+      The 200th was turned into a cornfield, where the men sank over their
+      shoetops in mud, and were ordered to bivouac for the night. The wagons
+      didn't get up at all. How they passed the slowly-dragging hours of that
+      dismal night will not be told at this time. Indeed, bare mention is enough
+      to recall the scene to those who have "been there."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/073.jpg" alt="Don't Care a Continental 073 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In the morning, when the company was ordered out for drill, Si Klegg was
+      standing before the sputtering fire trying to dry his steaming clothes,
+      every now and then turning around to give the other side a chance. The
+      mercury in his individual thermometer had fallen to a very low point&mdash;in
+      fact, it was a cold day for Si's patriotism. He had reached that stage,
+      not by any means infrequent among the soldiers, when he "didn't care
+      whether school kept or not."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Si, I s'pose you love your country this mornin'!" said Shorty. He
+      was endeavoring to be cheerful under adverse circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I ain't quite as certain about it," said Si, reflectively, "as I was when
+      I left home, up in Posey County. I'm afeared I haven't got enough of it to
+      last me through three years of this sort of thing!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt at that moment as though he was of no account for anything, unless
+      it was to be decked with paint and feathers and stood for a sign in front
+      of a cigar store.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain had ceased, and the Colonel of the 200th felt that he must, like
+      the busy bee, "improve each shining hour" in putting his command into
+      condition for effective service. So he told the Adjutant to have the
+      companies marched over to an adjacent pasture for drill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Attention, Co. Q!" shouted the Captain, after the Orderly had got the
+      boys limbered up enough to get into ranks. The Captain didn't know very
+      much about drilling himself, but he had been reading up "Hardee," and
+      thought he could handle the company; but it was a good deal like the blind
+      trying to lead the blind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right&mdash;Face!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not quite half the men faced the wrong way, turning to the left instead of
+      the right, which was doing pretty well for a starter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Get around there, Klegg, and the rest of you fellows! Can't ye ever learn
+      anything."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/075.jpg" alt="'right--face!' 075 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si was so particularly awkward that the Captain put him at the tail-end of
+      the company. Then he tried the right face again, and as the boys seemed to
+      get around in fair shape he commanded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Right shoulder shift arms! Forward&mdash;March!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The company started off; but the Captain was not a little surprised, on
+      looking back, to see Si marching: off in the opposite direction. He had
+      faced the wrong way again, and, as he didn't see the others, he thought he
+      was all right, and away he went on his own hook, till a shout from the
+      Captain told him of his mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/076.jpg" alt="'forward--march!' 076 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      When the Captain reached the field which was the drill-ground for the day,
+      he thought he would try a wheel. After a brief lecture to the company on
+      the subject he gave the command for the movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/077.jpg" alt="'company--right Wheel!' 077 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      It is scarcely necessary to say that the first trial was a sad failure.
+      The line bulged out in the center, and the outer flank, unable to keep up,
+      fell behind, the company assuming nearly the shape of a big letter C. Then
+      the boys on the outer end took the double-quick, cutting across the arc of
+      the proper circle, which soon resulted in a hopeless wreck of the whole
+      company. The Captain halted the chaotic mass of struggling men, and with
+      the help of the Orderly finally succeeded in getting them straightened out
+      and into line again. The men had often seen practiced soldiers going
+      through this most difficult of all tactical movements, and it seemed easy
+      enough; they didn't see why they couldn't do it just as well as the other
+      fellows. They kept at it, and in the course of half an hour had improved
+      so much that they could swing around in some kind of shape without the
+      line breaking to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. SI GETS A LETTER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND WRITES ONE TO PRETTY ANNABEL, UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "COMPANY Q, tumble up here and git yer mail!" shouted the Orderly one
+      afternoon, soon after the 200th Ind. turned into a tobacco patch to
+      bivouac for the night. It had been two weeks since the regiment left
+      Louisville, and this was the first mail that had caught up with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to the boys as if they had been away from home a year. For a
+      whole fortnight they hadn't heard a word from their mothers, or sisters,
+      or their "girls." Si Klegg couldn't have felt more lonesome and forsaken
+      if he had been Robinson Crusoe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the excitement of distributing the mail everything else was forgotten..
+      The boys were all getting their suppers, but at the thought of letters
+      from home even hunger had to take a back seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si left his coffee-pot to tip over into the fire, and his bacon sizzling
+      in the frying-pan, as he elbowed his way into the crowd that huddled
+      around the Orderly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If there ain't more'n one letter for me," said Si softly to himself, "I
+      hope it'll be from Annabel; but, of course, I'd like to hear from Ma and
+      sister Marier, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly, with a big package of letters in his hand, was calling out
+      the names, and as the boys received their letters they distributed
+      themselves through the camp, squatting about on rails or on the ground,
+      devouring with the greatest avidity the welcome messages from home. The
+      camp looked as if there had been a snowstorm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si waited anxiously to hear his name called as the pile letters rapidly
+      grew smaller, and he began to think he was going to get left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Josiah Klegg!" at length shouted the Orderly, as he held out two letters.
+      Si snatched them from his hand, went off by himself, and sat down on a
+      log.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked at his letters and saw that one of them was addressed in a
+      pretty hand. He had never received a letter from Annabel before, but he
+      "felt it in his bones" that this one was from her. He glanced around to be
+      certain nobody was looking at him, and gently broke the seal, while a
+      ruddy glow overspread his beardless cheeks. But he was secure from
+      observation, as everybody else was similarly intent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear Si," the letter began. He didn't have to turn over to the bottom of
+      the last page to know what name he would find there. He read those words
+      over and over a dozen times, and they set his nerves tingling clear down
+      to his toe-nails. Si forgot his aches and blisters as he read on through
+      those delicious lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/081.jpg" alt="It's from Annabel 081 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      She wrote how anxious she was to hear from him and how cruel it was of him
+      not to write to her real often; how she lay awake nights thinking about
+      him down among those awful rebels; how she supposed that by this time he
+      must be full of bullet-holes; and didn't he ge' hungry sometimes, and
+      wasn't it about time for him to get a furlough? how it was just too mean
+      for anything that those men down South had to get up a war; how proud she
+      was of Si because he had 'listed, and how she watched the newspapers every
+      day to find some thing about him; how she wondered how many rebels he had
+      killed, and if he had captured any batteries yet&mdash;she said she didn't
+      quite know what batteries were, but she read a good deal about capturing
+      'em, and she supposed it was something all the soldiers did; how she hoped
+      he wouldn't forget her, and she'd like to see how he looked, now that he
+      was a real soldier, and her father had sold the old "mooley" cow, and
+      Sally Perkins was engage to Jim Johnson, who had stayed at home, and as
+      for herself she wouldn't have anybody but a soldier about the size of Si,
+      and 'Squire Jones's son had been trying to shine up to her and cut Si out,
+      but she sent him off with a flea in his ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yours till deth, Annabel."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fact that there was a word misspelt now and then did not detract in
+      the least from the letter, so pleasing to Si. In fact, he was a little
+      lame in orthography himself, so that he had neither the ability nor the
+      disposition to scan Annabel's pages with a critic's eye. Si was happy, and
+      as he began to cast about for his supper he even viewed with complacence
+      his bacon burned to a crisp and his capsized coffee-pot helplessly melting
+      away in the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Si, what does she say?" said his friend Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What does who say?" replied Si, getting red in the face, and bristling up
+      and trying to assume an air of indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Just look here now. Si," said Shorty, "you can't play that on me. How
+      about that rosy-cheeked girl up in Posey County?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Si's tender spot. He hadn't got used to that sort of thing yet, and
+      he felt that the emotions that made his heart throb like a sawmill were
+      too sacred to be fooled with. Impelled by a sudden impulse he smote Shorty
+      fairly between the eyes, felling him to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly, who happened to be near, took Si by the ear and marched him
+      up to the Captain's quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have him carry a rail in front of my tent for an hour!" thundered the
+      Captain. "Don't let it be a splinter, either; pick out a good, heavy one.
+      And, Orderly, detail a guard to keep Mr. Klegg moving."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/083.jpg" alt="Si Carries a Rail 083 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Of course, it was very mortifying to Si, and he would have been almost
+      heartbroken had he not been comforted by the thought that it was all for
+      her! At first he felt as if he would like to take that rail and charge
+      around and destroy the whole regiment; but, on thinking it over, he made
+      up his mind that discretion was the better part of valor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Si's hour was up, and he had eaten supper and "made up" with
+      Shorty, he set about answering his letter. When, on his first march, Si
+      cleaned out all the surplusage from his knapsack, he had hung on to a
+      pretty portfolio that his sister gave him. This was stocked with postage
+      stamps and writing materials, including an assortment of the envelopes of
+      the period, bearing in gaudy colors National emblems, stirring legends,
+      and harrowing scenes of slaughter, all intended to stimulate the patriotic
+      impulses and make the breast of the soldier a very volcano of martial
+      ardor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Si got out his nice portfolio he found it to be an utter wreck. It
+      had been jammed into a shapeless mass, and, besides this, it had been
+      soaked with rain; paper and envelopes were a pulpy ruin, and the postage
+      stamps were stuck around here and there in the chaos. It was plain that
+      this memento of home had fallen an early victim to the hardships of
+      campaign life, and that its days of usefulness were over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's no use; 'tain't any good," said Si sorrowfully, as he tossed the
+      debris into the fire, after vainly endeavoring to save from the wreck
+      enough to carry, out his epistolary scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he went to the sutler&mdash;or "skinner," as he was better known&mdash;and
+      paid 10 cents for a sheet of paper and an envelope, on which were the
+      cheerful words, "It is sweet to die for one's country!" and 10 cents more
+      for a 3-cent postage stamp. He borrowed a leadpencil, hunted up a piece of
+      crackerbox, and sat down to his work by the flickering light of the fire.
+      Si wrote:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Deer Annie."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There he stopped, and while he was scratching his head and thinking what
+      he would say next the Orderly came around detailing guards for the night,
+      and directed Klegg to get his traps and report at once for duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/085.jpg" alt="Si Writes to 'deer Annie.' 085 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "It hain't my turn," said Si. "There's Bill Brown, and Jake Schneider, and
+      Pat Dooley, and a dozen more&mdash;I've been since they have!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Orderly did not even deign to reply. Si remembered the
+      guard-house, and his shoulder still ached from the rail he had carried
+      that evening; so he quietly folded up his paper and took his place with
+      the detail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning the army moved early, and Si had no chance to resume his
+      letter. As soon as the regiment halted, after an 18-mile march, he tackled
+      it again. This time nothing better offered in the way of a writing-desk
+      than a tin plate, which he placed face downward upon his knee. Thus
+      provided, Si plunged briskly into the job before him, with the following
+      result:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I now take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well, except the
+      doggoned blisters on my feet, and I hope these few lines may find you
+      enjoying the same blessings."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought this was neat and a good start for his letter. Just as he had
+      caught an idea for the next sentence a few scattering shots were heard on
+      the picket-line, and in an instance the camp was in commotion. "Tall in!"
+      "Be lively, men!" were heard on every hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang as if he had received a galvanic shock, cramming the letter into
+      his pocket. Of course, there wasn't any fight. It was only one of the
+      scares that formed so large a part of that campaign. But it spoiled Si's
+      letter-writing for the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nearly a week before he got his letter done. He wrote part of it
+      using for a desk the back of a comrade who was sitting asleep by the fire.
+      He worked at it whenever he could catch a few minutes between the marches
+      and the numerous details for guard, picket, fatigue and other duty. He
+      said to Annie:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/087.jpg" alt="An Army Writing-desk 087 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Bein' a soljer aint quite what they crack it up to be when
+     they're gittin' a fellow to enlist. It's mity rough, and
+     you'd better believe it. You ought to be glad you're a gurl
+     and don't haf to go. I wish't I was a gurl sometimes. I
+     haven't kild enny rebbles yet. I hain't even seen one except
+     a fiew raskils that was tuk in by the critter soljers, they
+     calls em cavilry. Me and all the rest of the boys wants to
+     hav a fite, but it looks like Ginral Buil was afeared, and
+     we don't git no chance. I axed the Ordly couldn't he get me
+     a furlow. The Ordly jest laft and says to me, Si, says he,
+     yer don't know as much as a mule. The Capt'n made me walk up
+     and down for an hour with a big rail on my sholder.
+
+     "You tell Squire Joneses boy that he haint got sand enuff to
+     jine the army, and if he don't keep away from you I'll bust
+     his eer when I git home, if I ever do. Whattle you do if I
+     shouldn't ever see you agin? But you no this glorus Govyment
+     must be pertected, and the bully Stars and Strips must
+     flote, and your Si is goin to help do it.
+
+          "My pen is poor, my ink is pale,
+          My luv for you shall never fale.
+
+     "Yours, aflfeckshnitly, Si Klegg."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. SI AND THE DOCTORS
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HE JOINS THE PALE PROCESSION AT SICK-CALL.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      SI KLEGG was a good specimen of a healthy, robust Hoosier lad&mdash;for he
+      could scarcely be called' a man yet. Since he lay in his cradle and was
+      dosed with paregoric and catnip tea like other babies, he had never seen a
+      sick day, except when he had the mumps on "both sides" at once. He had
+      done all he could to starve the doctors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th Ind. took the field it had the usual outfit of men who
+      wrote their names sandwiched between a military title in front and "M. D."
+      behind, a big hospital tent, and an apothecary shop on wheels, loaded to
+      the guards with quinine, blue-mass, castor oil, epsom salts, and all other
+      devices to assuage the sufferings of humanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys all started out in good shape, and there had been hardly time for
+      them to get sick much yet. So up to this stage of the regiment's history
+      the doctors had found little to do but issue arnica and salve for lame
+      legs and blistered feet, and strut around in their shiny uniforms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there came a day when they had all they could attend to. On going into
+      camp one afternoon, the regiment, well in advance, struck a big field of
+      green corn and an orchard of half-ripe apples. Of course, the boys sailed
+      in, and natural consequences followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now this is something like!" said Si, as he squatted on the ground along
+      with Shorty and half a dozen messmates. They surrounded a camp-kettle full
+      of steaming ears and half a bushel or so of apples heaped on a poncho.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wish we had some o' mother's butter to grease this corn with," observed
+      Si, as he flung a cob into the fire and seized a fresh ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All agreed that Si's head was level on the butter question, but under all
+      the circumstances of the case they were glad enough to have the com
+      without butter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ears went off with amazing rapidity. Every man seemed to be afraid he
+      wouldn't get his share. When the kettle was empty the boys turned
+      themselves loose on the apples, utterly reckless of results. So, they were
+      filled full, and were thankful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Si got up he burst off half the buttons on his clothes. He looked as
+      if he was carrying a bass-drum in front of him. After he began to shrink
+      he had to tie up his clothes with a string until he had a chance to repair
+      damages. But during the next 24 hours he had something else to think of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, it wasn't long till Si began to wish he had eaten an ear of corn
+      and an apple or two less. He didn't feel very well. He turned in early,
+      thinking he would go to sleep and be all right in the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Along in the night he uttered a yell that came near stampeding the
+      company. An enormous colic was raging around in his interior, and Si
+      fairly howled with pain. He thought he was going: to die right away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/091.jpg" alt="Laying the Foundation 091 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said he, between the gripes, to his comrade, "I'm afeared I'm
+      goin' to peter out. After I'm gone you write to&mdash;to&mdash;Annie and
+      tell her I died for my country like a man. I'd ruther been shot than die
+      with the colic, but I 'spose 'twont make much difference after it's all
+      over!" 9 "I'll do it," replied Shorty. "We'll plant you in good shape; and
+      Si, we'll gather up the corn-cobs and build a monument over you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si wasn't cut off in the bloom of youth by that colic. His eruptive
+      condition frightened Shorty, however, and though he was in nearly as bad
+      shape himself, he went up and routed out one of the doctors, who growled a
+      good deal about being disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The debris of the supper scattered about the camp told him what was the
+      matter, and he had no need to make a critical diagnosis of Si's case. He
+      gave him a dose of something or other that made the pain let up a little,
+      and Si managed to rub along through the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately for Si, and for more than half the members of the regiment,
+      the army did not move next day, and the doctors had a good opportunity to
+      get in their work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the usual hour in the morning the bugle blew the "sick-call." A
+      regiment of tanned and grizzled veterans from Ohio lay next to the 200th
+      Ind., and as Si lay there he heard them take up the music:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Git yer qui-nine! Git yer qui-nine!
+     Tumble up you sick and lame and blind;
+     Git a-long right smart, you'll be left be-hind."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Fall in fer yer ipecac!" shouted the Orderly of Co. Q. Si joined the
+      procession and went wabbling up to the "doctor's" shop. He was better than
+      he had been during the night, but still looked a good deal discouraged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a regular matinee that day. The Surgeon and his assistants were all
+      on hand, as the various squads, colicky and cadaverous, came to a focus in
+      front of the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/093.jpg" alt="A Rude Awakening 093 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The doctors worked off the patients at a rapid rate, generally prescribing
+      the same medicine for all, no matter what ailed them. This was the way the
+      army doctors always did, but it happened in this case that they were not
+      far wrong, as the ailments, arising from a common cause, were much the
+      same.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si waited till his turn came, and received his rations from the Hospital
+      Steward. Of course, he was excused from duty for the day, and as he
+      speedily recovered his normal condition he really had a good time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/094.jpg" alt="Visits the Doctor 094 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A few days after this the whole regiment was ordered on fatigue duty to
+      repair an old corduroy road. Si didn't want to go, and "played off." He
+      told the Orderly he wasn't able to work, but the Orderly said he would
+      have to shoulder an ax or a shovel, unless he was excused by the doctor.
+      He went up at sick-call and made a wry face, with his hands clasped over
+      his body in the latitude of his waistband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor gave him a lot of blue-mass pills, which Si threw into the fire
+      as soon as he got back to his quarters. Then he played seven-up all day
+      with Shorty, who had learned before Si did how to get a day off when he
+      wanted it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thought it was a great scheme, but he tried it once too often. The
+      doctor "caught on," and said, the next time Si went up, that castor oil
+      was what he needed to fetch him around. So he poured out a large dose and
+      made Si take it right then and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next time fatigue duty was ordered Si thought he felt well enough to
+      go along with the boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INTRODUCTION TO "ONE WHO STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER."
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "HELLO Si; goin' for a soljer, ain't ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You bet!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, you'd better b'lieve its great fun; it's jest a picnic all the
+      time! But, say, Si, let's see yer finger-nails!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like ter know what finger-nails 's got to do with soljerin'!" said
+      Si. "The 'cruitin' ossifer 'n' the man 't keeps the doctor shop made me
+      shuck myself, 'n' then they 'xamined my teeth, 'n' thumped me in the ribs,
+      'n' rubbed down my legs, 'n' looked at my hoofs, same 's if 'I'd bin a
+      hoss they wuz buyin', but they didn't say nothin' 'bout my finger-nails."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest do 's I tell ye; let 'em grow, 'n' keep 'em right sharp. Ye'll
+      find plenty o' use fer 'em arter a while, 'n' 'twont be long, nuther. I
+      know what I'm talkin' 'bout; I've been thar!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation took place a day or two before Si bade farewell to his
+      mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel and left the peaceful
+      precincts of Posey County to march away with the 200th Ind. for that awful
+      place vaguely designated as "the front!" He had promptly responded to the
+      call, and his name was near the top of the list of Company Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/097.jpg" alt="'let Yer Nails Grow; Ye'll Need 'em' 097 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si already had his blue clothes on. By enlisting early he had a good pick
+      of the various garments, and so got a suit that fitted his form&mdash;which
+      was plump as an apple-dumpling tolerably well. It was left for the
+      tail-enders of the company to draw trousers that were six inches too long
+      or too short, and blouses that either wouldn't reach around, and left
+      yawning chasms in front, or were so large that they looked as if they were
+      hung on bean-poles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, Si couldn't be expected to do any more plodding farm work, now
+      that he had "jined" the army. While the company was filling up he spent
+      most of his time on dress parade in the village near by, eliciting
+      admiring smiles from all the girls, and an object of the profoundest awe
+      and wonder to tha small boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day Si was sitting on the sugar-barrel in the corner grocery, gnawing
+      a "blind robin," and telling how he thought the war wouldn't last long
+      after the 200th Ind. got down there and took a hand and got fairly
+      interested in the game; they would wind it up in short meter. Such ardent
+      emotions always seethed and bubbled in the swelling breasts of the new
+      troops when they came down to show the veterans just how to do it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the town boys who had been a year in the service, had got a bullet
+      through his arm in a skirmish, and was at home on furlough, came into the
+      store, and then took place the dialog between him and Si that opens this
+      chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si wondered a good deal what the veteran meant about the finger-nails. He
+      did not even know that there existed in any nature a certain active and
+      industrious insect which, before he had been in the army a great while,
+      would cause his heart to overflow with gratitude to a beneficent
+      Providence for providing him with nails on his fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the 200th left Indiana all the boys had, of course, brand-new outfits
+      right from Uncle Sam's great one-price clothing house. Their garments were
+      nice and clean, their faces well washed, and their hair yet showed marks
+      of the comb. At Louisville they stuck up their noses, with a lofty
+      consciousness of superiority, at the sight of Buell's tanned and ragged
+      tramps, who had just come up on the gallop from Tennessee and northern
+      Alabama.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/099.jpg" alt="'say, Cap, What Kind O' Bug is This?' 099 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      If the new Hoosier regiment had been quartered for a while in long-used
+      barracks, or had pitched its tents in an old camp, Si would very soon have
+      learned, in the school of experience, the delightful uses of finger-nails.
+      But the 200th stayed only a single night in Louisville and then joined the
+      procession that started on the chase after the rebel army. It generally
+      camped on new ground, and under these circumstances the insect to which
+      allusion has been made did not begin its work of devastation with that
+      suddenness that usually marked its attack upon soldiers entering the
+      field. But he never failed to "git there" sooner or later, and it was more
+      frequently sooner than later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One afternoon, when a few days out on this march, a regiment of Wisconsin
+      veterans bivouacked next to the 200th Ind. The strange antics as they
+      threw off their accouterments attracted Si's attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look a' thar," he said to Shorty. "What 'n name of all the prophets 's
+      them fellers up to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems like they was scratchin' theirselves!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I s'pose that's on account of the dust 'n' sweat," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's a mighty sight worse 'n that!" replied Shorty, who knew more about
+      these things than Si did. "I reckon we'll all be doin' like they are 'fore
+      long."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si whistled softly to himself as he watched the Wisconsin boys. They were
+      hitching and twisting their shoulders about, evidently enjoying the
+      friction of the clothing upon their skins. There was a general employment
+      of fingers, and often one would be seen getting come other fellow to
+      scratch his back around where he couldn't reach himself. If everybody was
+      too busy to do this for him he would back up to a tree and rub up and down
+      against the bark.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Life has few pleasures that can equal the sensations of delightful
+      enjoyment produced in those days, when graybacks were plenty, by rubbing
+      against a tree that nicely fitted the hollow of the back, after throwing
+      off one's "traps" at the end of a day's march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Directly the Wisconsin chaps began to scatter into the woods. Si watched
+      them as they got behind the trees and threw off their blouses and shirts.
+      He thought at first that perhaps they were going in swimming, but there
+      was no stream of water at hand large enough to justify this theory in
+      explanation of their nudity. As each man set down, spread his nether
+      garment over his knees and appeared to be intently engaged, with eyes and
+      fingers. Si's curiosity was very much excited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Looks 's if they wuz all mendin' up their shirts and sewin' on buttons,"
+      said Si, "Guess it's part o' their regular drill, ain't it, Shorty?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty laughed at Si's ignorant simplicity. He knew what those veterans
+      were doing, and he knew that Si would have to come to it, but he didn't
+      want to shock his tender sensibilities by telling him of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them fellers ain't sewin' on no buttons. Si," he replied; "they're
+      skirmishin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Skirmishin'!" exclaimed Si, opening his eyes very wide. "I haint seen any
+      signs o' rebs 'round here, 'n' there aint any shootin' goin' on, 'nless
+      I've lost my hearin'. Durned if 't aint the funniest skirmishin' I ever
+      hearn tell of!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, don't ax me nuthin' more 'bout it, Si," said Shorty. "All I'm goin'
+      to tell ye is that the longer ye live the more ye'll find things out.
+      Let's flax 'round 'n' git supper!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little while after, as Si was squatting on the ground holding the
+      frying-pan over the fire, he saw a strange insect vaguely wandering about
+      on the sleeve of his blouse. It seemed to be looking for something, and Si
+      became interested as he watched it traveling up and down his arm. He had
+      never seen one like it before, and he thought he would like to know what
+      it was. He would have asked Shorty, but his comrade had gone to the spring
+      for water. Casting his eye around he saw the Captain, who chanced to be
+      sauntering through the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Captain of Co. Q had been the Principal of a seminary in Posey County,
+      and was looked upon with awe by the simple folk as a man who knew about
+      all that was worth knowing. Si thought he might be able to tell him all
+      about the harmless's-looking little stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he put down his frying-pan and stepped up to the Captain, holding out
+      his arm and keeping his eye on the insect so that he shouldn't get away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evenin', Cap.," said Si, touching his hat, and addressing him with
+      that familiar disregard of official dignity that characterised the average
+      volunteer, who generally felt that he was just as good as anybody who wore
+      shoulder straps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evening, Klegg," said the Captain, returning the salute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Cap, you've been ter collidge 'n' got filled up with book-larnin';
+      p'raps ye kin tell me what kind o' bug this is. I'm jest a little bit
+      curious to know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Si pointed to the object of his inquiry that was leisurely creeping
+      toward a hole in the elbow of his outer garment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Josiah," said the Captain, after a brief inspection, "I presume I
+      don't know quite as much as some people think I do; but I guess I can tell
+      you something about that insect. I never had any of them myself, but I've
+      read of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never had 'em himself," thought Si. "What 'n the world does ha mean?" And
+      Si's big eyes opened with wonder and fear at the thought that whatever it
+      was he had "got 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose," continued the Captain, "you would like to know the scientific
+      name?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n that'll do 's well 's any."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, sir, that is a Pediculus. That's a Latin word, but it's his name."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Purty big name fer such a leetle bug, ain't it, Perfessor?" observed Si.
+      "Name's big enough for an el'fant er a 'potamus."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/103.jpg" alt="'skirmishing' 103 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "It may seem so, Klegg; but when you get intimately acquainted with him I
+      think you will find that his name isn't any too large for him. There is a
+      good deal more of him than you think."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young soldier's eyes opened still wider.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was going on to tell you," continued the Captain, "that there are
+      several kinds of Pediculi&mdash;we don't say Pediculuses. There is the
+      Pediculus Capitis&mdash;Latin again&mdash;but it means the kind that lives
+      on the head. I presume when you were a little shaver your mother now and
+      then harrowed your head with a fine-tooth comb?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ya-as" said Si; "she almost took the hide off sometimes, an' made me yell
+      like an Injun."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Klegg, I don't wish to cause you unnecessary alarm, but I will say
+      that the head insect isn't a circumstance to this one on your arm. As you
+      would express it, perhaps, he can't hold a candle to him. This fellow is
+      the Pediculus Corporis!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I s'pose that means they eats up Corporals!" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I do not think the Pediculus Corporis confines himself exclusively to
+      Corporals, as his name might indicate," said the Captain, laughing at Si's
+      literal translation and his personal application of the word. "He no doubt
+      likes a juicy and succulent Corporal, but I don't believe he is any
+      respecter of persons. That's my opinion, from what I've heard about him.
+      It is likely that I 'will be able to speak more definitely, from
+      experience, after a while. Corporis means that he is the kind that
+      pastures on the human body. But there's one thing more about this fellow,
+      some call him Pediculus Vestimenti; that is because he lives around in the
+      clothing."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But we don't wear no vests," said Si, taking a practical view of this new
+      word; "nothin' but blouses, 'n' pants, 'n' shirts."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are too literal, Klegg. That word means any kind of clothes. But I
+      guess I've told you as much about him as you care to know at present. If
+      you want any more information, after two or three weeks, come and see me
+      again. I think by that time you will not find it necessary to ask any more
+      questions."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si went back to his cooking, with the Pediculus still on his arm. He
+      wanted to show it to Shorty. The Captain's profound explanation, with its
+      large words, was a little too much for Si. He did not yet clearly
+      comprehend the matter, and as he walked thoughtfully to where Shorty was
+      "bilin'" the coffee he was trying to get through his head what it all
+      meant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, Si," said Shorty; "whar ye bin? What d'ye mean, goin' off 'n'
+      leavin' yer sowbelly half done?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh-h!" replied Si. "Ye needn't git yer back up about it. Bin talkin' to
+      the Cap'n. Shorty, look at that 'ere bug!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Si pointed to the object of the Captain's lecture on natural history
+      that was still creeping on his arm. Shorty slapped his thigh and burst
+      into a loud laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Was that what ye went to see the Cap'n 'bout?" he asked as soon as he
+      could speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why&mdash;ya-as," replied Si, somewhat surprised at Shorty's unseemly
+      levity. "I saw that thing crawlin' round, 'n' I was a-wonderin' what it
+      was, fer I never seen one afore. I knowed Cap was a scolard, 'n' a
+      perfesser, 'n' all that 'n' I 'lowed he c'd tell me all about it. So I
+      went 'n' axed him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What'd he tell ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He told me lots o' big, heathenish words, 'n' said this bug was a
+      ridiculous, or suthin' like that."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Diculus be blowed!" said Shorty, "The ole man was a'stuffin' ye. I'll
+      tell ye what that is, Si," he added solemnly, "that's a grayback!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A grayback!" said Si. "I've hearn 'em call the Johnnies graybacks, but I
+      didn't know 's there was any other kind."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n 'twont be long, now, till yer catches on ter the meanin' ol what
+      a grayback is. Ye'll know all 'bout it purty sudden. This ain't the first
+      one I ever seen."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was impressed, as he had often been before, by Shorty's superior wisdom
+      and experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "See here. Si," Shorty continued, as his eye suddenly lighted up with a
+      brilliant thought, "I guess I kin make ye understand what a grayback is.
+      What d'ye call that coat ye've got on?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, that's a fool question; it's a blouse, of course!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jesso!" said Shorty. "Now, knock off the fust letter o' that word, 'n'
+      see what ye got left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked at Shorty as if he thought his conundrums were an indication of
+      approaching idiocy. Then he said, half to himself:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's see! Blouse&mdash;blouse&mdash;take off the 'b' 'n' she spells
+      l-o-u-s-e, louse! Great Scott, Shorty, is that a louse?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's jest the size of it. Si. Ye'll have millions of 'em 'fore the
+      war's over 'f they don't hurry up the cakes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked as if he would like to dig a hole in the ground, get into it,
+      and have Shorty cover him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why didn't the Cap'n tell me it was that? He said suthin' about ridiculus
+      corporalis, and I thought he was makin' fun o' me. He said these bugs
+      liked to eat fat Corporals.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reck'n that's so," replied Shorty; "but they likes other people jest as
+      well&mdash;even a skinny feller like me. They lunches off'n privits, 'n'
+      Corp'rils, 'n' Kurnals, 'n' Gin'rals, all the same. They ain't satisfied
+      with three square meals a day, nuther; they jest eats right along all the
+      time 'tween regular meals. They allus gits hungry in the night, too, and
+      chaws a feller up while he sleeps. They don't give ye no show at all. I
+      rayther think the graybacks likes the ossifers best if they could have
+      their ch'ice, 'cause they's fatter 'n the privits; they gits better grub."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si fairly turned pale as he contemplated the picture so graphically
+      portrayed by Shorty. The latter's explanation was far more effectual in
+      letting the light in upon Si's mind than the scientific disquisition of
+      the "Perfesser." He had now a pretty clear idea of what a "grayback" was.
+      Whatever he lacked to make his knowledge complete was soon supplied in the
+      regular way. But Si was deeply grieved and shocked at what Shorty had told
+      him. It was some minutes before he said anything more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he said, with a sadness in his tone that would almost have moved
+      a mule to tears, "who'd a-thought rd ever git as low down 's this, to have
+      them all-fired graybacks, 's ye call 'em, crawlin' over me. How'd mother
+      feel if she knew about 'em. She wouldn't sleep a wink fer a month!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ye'll have to come to it. Si. All the soljers does, from the
+      Major-Gin'rals down to the tail-end of the mule-whackers. Ye mind them
+      'Sconsin chaps we was lookin' at a little bit ago?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, graybacks was what ailed 'em. The fellers with their shirts on
+      their knees was killin' 'em off. That's what they calls 'skirmishin'.
+      There's other kinds o' skirmishing besides fitin' rebels! Ye'd better git
+      rid of that one on yer arm, if he hasn't got inside already; then there'll
+      be one less of 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si found him after a short search, and proposed to get a chip, carry him
+      to the fire and throw him in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Naw!" said Shorty in disgust, "that's no way. Lemme show yer how!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/107.jpg" alt="'naw! Lemme Show Ye How!' 107 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Shorty placed one thumb-nail on each side of the insect. There was a quick
+      pressure, a snap like the crack of a percussion cap, and all was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si shuddered, and wondered if he could ever engage in such a work of
+      slaughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D'ye s'pose," he said to Shorty, "that there's any more of 'em on me?"
+      And he began to hitch his shoulders about, and to feel a desire to put his
+      fingers to active use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shouldn't wonder," replied Shorty. "Mebbe I've got 'em, to. Let's go
+      out'n do a little skirmishin' ourselves."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'd better go off a good ways," said Si, "so's the boys won't see us."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You're too nice and pertickler for a soljer. Si. They'll all be doin' it,
+      even the Cap'n himself, by termorrer or nex' day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went out back of the camp, where Si insisted on getting behind the
+      largest tree he could find. Then they sat down and engaged in that
+      exciting chase of the Pediculus up and down the seams of their garments,
+      so familiar to all who wore either the blue or the gray. Thousands of nice
+      young men who are now preachers and doctors and lawyers and statesmen,
+      felt just as bad about it at first as Si did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, as they slowly walked back to eat their supper, which
+      had been neglected in the excitement of the hour, "before Co. Q left Posey
+      County to jine the rigiment a feller 't was home on furlow told me ter let
+      my finger-nails grow long 'n' sharp. He said I'd need 'em. I didn't know
+      what he meant then, but I b'lieve I do now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. A WET NIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE DEPRAVITY OF AN ARMY TENT REVEALS ITSELF.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      NIGHT threw her dark mantle over the camp of the 200th Ind. The details of
+      guard and picket had been made. Videts, with sleepless eye and listening
+      ear, kept watch and ward on the outposts, while faithful sentries trod
+      their beats around the great bivouac. All day the army had marched, and
+      was to take the road again at an early hour in the morning. Supper had
+      been eaten, and the tired soldiers were gathered around the campfires that
+      gleamed far and near through the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Si," said Shorty to his chum as they sat on a log beside the dying
+      embers, "how d'ye like soldierin', as fur as ye've got?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's purty hard business," said Si, reflectively, "an' I s'pose we haint
+      seen the worst on it yet, either, from what I've hearn tell. Pity the men
+      that got up this war can't be made to do all the trampin' 'n' fitin'. An'
+      them fellers up in old Injjeanny that come 'round makin' such red-hot
+      speeches to git us boys to 'list, wouldn't it be fun to see 'em humpin'
+      'long with gun 'n' knapsack, 'n' chawin' hardtack, 'n' stan'in' guard
+      nights, 'n' pourin' water on their blisters, 'n' pickin' graybacks off
+      their shirts, 'n' p'leecin' camp, 'n' washin' their own clothes?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think we'd enj'y seein' 'em do all that," said Shorty, laughing at the
+      picture Si had drawn. "I reckon most of 'em 'd peter out purty quick, and
+      I'd like to hear what sort o' speeches they'd, make then. I tell ye, Si,
+      there's a big diff'rence 'tween goin' yerself an' tellin' some other
+      feller to go."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Mebbe they'll git to draftin' after a while," observed Si, "'n' if they
+      do I hope that'll ketch em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, we're in fur it, anyway," said Shorty. "Let's take down the bed 'n'
+      turn in!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It didn't take long to complete the arrangements for the night. They
+      spread their "gum" blankets, or ponchos, on the ground, within the tent,
+      and on these their wool blankets, placed their knapsacks at the head for
+      pillows, and that was all. It was warmer than usual that evening, and they
+      stripped down to their nether garments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Feels good once in a while," said Si, "to peel a feller's clothes oft,
+      'n' sleep in a Christian-like way. But, Great Scott! Shorty, ain't this
+      ground lumpy? It's like lying on a big washboard. I scooted all over the
+      country huntin' fer straw to-night. There wasn't but one little stack
+      within a mile of camp. Them derned Ohio chaps gobbled every smidgin of it.
+      They didn't leave enuff to make a hummin'-bird's nest. The 200th Ind. 'll
+      git even with 'em some day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Si and Shorty crept in between the blankets, drew the top one up to
+      their chins, and adjusted their bodily protuberances as best they could to
+      fit the ridges and hollows beneath them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Si," said Shorty, "don't ye git to fitin' rebels in yer sleep and
+      kick the kiver off, as ye did last night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they lay there their ears caught the music of the bugles sounding the
+      "tattoo." Far and near floated through the clear night air the familiar
+      melody that warned every soldier not on duty to go to bed. Next to the
+      200th Ind. lay a regiment of wild Michigan veterans, who struck up,
+      following the strains of the bugles:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Say, oh Dutch'y, will ye fight mit Si-gel?
+     Zwei glass o' la-ger, Yaw! Yaw! Yaw!!!
+     Will yet fight to help de bul-ly ea-gle?
+
+     Schweitzer-ksse und pret-zels,
+     Hur-raw! raw! raw!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      During the night there came one of those sudden storms that seemed to be
+      sent by an inscrutable Providence especially to give variety to the
+      soldier's life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/111.jpg" alt="Struck by a Cyclone 111 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A well-developed cyclone struck the camp, and Si and Shorty were soon
+      awakened by the racket. The wind was blowing and whirling in fierce gusts,
+      wrenching out the tent-pins or snapping the ropes as if they were threads.
+      Everywhere was heard the flapping of canvas, and the yells and shouts of
+      the men as they dashed about in the darkness and wild confusion. Many of
+      the tents were already prostrate, and their demoralized inmates were
+      crawling out from under the ruin. To crown all the rain began to fall in
+      torrents. The camp was a vast pandemonium. The blackest darkness
+      prevailed, save when the scene was illuminated by flashes of lightning.
+      These were followed by peals of thunder that made the stoutest quake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang up at the first alarm. "Git up, here, you fellers!" he shouted.
+      "We'd better go outside and grab the ropes, or the hull shebang 'll go
+      over."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was not a moment to spare. Si dashed out into the storm and
+      darkness, followed by his comrades. Seizing the ropes, some of which were
+      already loosened, they braced themselves and hung on for dear life, in the
+      drenching rain, their hair and garments streaming in the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's prompt action saved the tent from the general wreck. The fury of the
+      storm was soon past. Si and his comrades, after driving the pins and
+      securing the ropes, re-entered the tent, wet and shivering for the mercury
+      had gone down with a tumble, or rather it would have done so had they been
+      supplied with thermometers. But the scanty costume in which Si found
+      himself afforded a weather indicator sufficiently accurate for all
+      practical purposes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0040" id="linkimage-0040">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/115.jpg" alt="Supper Under Difficulties 115 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The ground was flooded, and their blankets and garments were fast
+      absorbing the water that flowed around in such an exasperating way. Sleep
+      under such conditions was out of the question. Si and Shorty put on their
+      clothes and tried to make the best of their sorry plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time the rain had nearly ceased. Fortunately they had laid in a
+      good stock of fuel the night before, and after a little patient effort
+      they succeeded in getting a fire started. Around this the boys hovered,
+      alternately warming their calves and shins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is a leetle more'n I bargained fer," said Si. Then, taking a
+      philosophical view of the case, he added, "but there's one good thing
+      about it, Shorty, we'll be all fixed for mornin', an' we won't have to get
+      up when they sound the revel-lee. The buglers kin jest bust theirselves
+      a-blowin' fer all I keer!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this way the soldiers spent the remainder of the night. Before daybreak
+      the blast of a hundred bugles rang out, but there was little need for the
+      reveille.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Breakfast was soon over, and in the gray dawn of that murky morning the
+      long column went trailing on its way. The weather gave promise of a sloppy
+      day, and the indications were fully verified. A drizzling rain set in, and
+      continued without cessation. The boys put their heads through the holes in
+      their ponchos, from the corners of which the water streamed. With their
+      muskets at a "secure" they sloshed along through the mud, hour after hour.
+      In spite of their "gums" the water found its way in at the back of the
+      neck and trickled down their bodies. Their clothes became saturated, and
+      they were altogether about as miserable as it is possible for mortals to
+      be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0041" id="linkimage-0041">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/117.jpg" alt="A Field Shanty 117 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to Si that the maximum of discomfort had been reached. He had
+      experienced one thing after another during the few weeks since he left
+      home, and he thought each in turn was worse than the last, and about as
+      bad as it could be. But Si learned a good deal more before he graduated.
+      All through the long, dreary day the soldiers plodded on. There was little
+      comfort to be derived from the "rest," for the ground was soaked with
+      water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why didn't we think of it, Shorty," said Si, "'n' make it part o' the
+      bargain' when we 'listed that we were to have umbrellers. These gum things
+      don't amount to shucks, nohow, to keep the rain off. I sh'd think Uncle
+      Sam might do that much for us!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I reckon our clothes 'll be purty well washed by the time we git out o'
+      this mess," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Feels that way," said Si; "but how about the bilin'? A cold bath jest
+      refreshes them pesky little varmints, 'n' makes 'em livelier 'n ever. Say,
+      Shorty, ye didn't write home anything 'bout our havin' graybacks, did ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, not yet; but I was thinkin' I'd tell 'em 'bout it one o' these days."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Shorty, I ain't going to tell my folks; it 'd jest make my mother
+      feel awful to know I was that way. And sister Maria, and&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was thinking aloud, and was going to say "Annabel," but he checked
+      himself. That name was not to be mentioned in other ears. But he was
+      afraid she would go back on him if she knew, all about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was nearly night when the 200th Ind., dripping and discouraged, filed
+      off into a field of standing corn to pass the night. The men sank to their
+      shoetops in the soft earth. Si remarked to Shorty that he didn't see why
+      the officers should turn 'em loose in such a place as that. But the longer
+      he lived the more he found out about those things. That was the way they
+      always did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0042" id="linkimage-0042">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/119.jpg" alt="It's the Morning 119 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      In five minutes after arms were stacked not a cornstalk remained standing
+      in the field. During the afterfnoon the troops had gone over a long
+      stretch of swamp road that was almost impassable for teams. Fears were
+      entertained that the wagons of the regiment would not be up that night,
+      and they would not have their tents to shelter them from the storm. In
+      anticipation of such a calamity the boys, gathered in the cornstalks,
+      having a vague idea that they would help out in case of emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0043" id="linkimage-0043">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/113.jpg" alt="Taking the Top Rail 113 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Then there was a scramble for the fences. Recognizing the need of good
+      fuel, an order from the General was filtered through the various
+      headquarters that the men might take the top rails, only, from the fence
+      inclosing tha field. This order was literally interpreted and carried out,
+      each man, successively, taking the "top rail" as he found it. The very
+      speedy result was that the bottom rails became the "top," and then there
+      weren't any. Almost in the twinkling of an eye the entire fence
+      disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The drizzle continued through the evening, and by the sputtering fires the
+      soldiers prepared and ate their frugal suppers. Word came that, as was
+      feared, the wagons were hopelessly bemired three or four miles back, and
+      the men would have to make such shift as they could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prospect was dreary and cheerless enough. It was little wonder that
+      many of the young Hoosiers felt as if they wanted to quit and go home. But
+      with that wonderful facility for adapting themselves to circumstances that
+      marked the volunteer soldiers, they set about the work of preparing for
+      the night. No one who has not "been there" can imagine how good a degree
+      of comfort&mdash;comparatively speaking, of course&mdash;it was possible
+      to reach, with such surroundings, by the exercise of a little patience,
+      ingenuity and industry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty and the others of the "mess" bestirred themselves, and it
+      did not take them more than 20 minutes to build, out of rails and
+      cornstalks, a shelter that was really inviting. They kindled a big fire in
+      front of it, laid some rails within, covered with stalks, and on these
+      spread their blankets. Si, who had "bossed" the job, viewed the work with
+      great satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell ye, that's no slouch of a shanty!" said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. SI "STRAGGLED"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND THE OTHER BOYS MADE IT MIGHTY LOVELY FOR HIM.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      ONE day while Buell was chasing Bragg, two or three weeks after leaving
+      Louisville, the army was pushing forward at a gait that made the cavalry
+      ahead trot half the time to keep out of the way of the infantry. The
+      extraordinary speed that day was due to the fact that there were no rebels
+      in sight. Half a dozen ragged troopers with shotguns, a mile away, would
+      have caused the whole army to halt, form line-of-battle, and stay thera
+      the rest of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tanned veterans didn't mind the marching. They stretched their legs
+      and went swinging along with a happy-go-lucky air, always ready for
+      anything that might turn up. But it was rough on the new troops, just from
+      home. It taxed their locomotive powers to the utmost limit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys of the 200th Ind. started out bravely. Their fresh, clean faces,
+      new uniforms, and shiny accouterments contrasted strongly with those of
+      the weather-beaten soldiers of '61. You could tell a "tenderfoot" as far
+      as you could see him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They trudged along in fair shape for an hour or two. Before starting in
+      the morning strict orders had been read to the regiment forbidding
+      straggling, for any reason, under the most terrifying pains and penalties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them fellers that's been in the service longer 'n we have think they're
+      smart," said Si Klegg, as he and Shorty plodded on, both already a little
+      blown. "Well show 'em that we can hoof it jest as fast as they can, and
+      jest as fur in a day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems to me we're git'n over the ground party lively to-day," replied
+      Shorty, who was in a grumbling mood. "Wonder if the Gin'ral thinks we're
+      bosses! I'm a little short o' wind, and these pesky gunboats are scrapin'
+      the bark off'n my feet; but I'll keep up or bust."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though e spirit of these young patriots was willing, the flesh was weak.
+      It wasn't long till Si began to limp. Now and then a groan escaped his
+      lips as a fresh blister "broke." But Si clinched his teeth, humped his
+      back to ease his shoulders from the weight of his knapsack, screwed up his
+      courage, and tramped on over the stony pike. He thought the breathing
+      spells were very short and a long way apart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's knapsack had experienced the universal shrinkage, as told in a
+      previous chapter of our hero's martial career. He still had, however, a
+      good many things that he thought he couldn't spare, but which he found
+      later he could very well get along without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By noon the 200th began to show signs of going to pieces. The column
+      stretched out longer and longer, like a piece of India-rubber. The ranks
+      looked thin and ragged. Lame and foot-sore, with wo-begone faces, their
+      bodies aching in every bone and tendon, and overcome with a weariness that
+      no one can realize unless he has "been there," the men dropped out one by
+      one and threw themselves into the fence-corners to rest. The officers
+      stormed and drew their swords in vain. Nature&mdash;that is, the nature of
+      a new soldier&mdash;could endure no more. The ambulances were filled to
+      their utmost, but these would not hold a twentieth part of the crippled
+      and suffering men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How're ye gittin' on, Shorty?" said Si, as he and his comrade still
+      struggled along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fair to middlin'," replied Shorty. "I'm goin' to try and pull through!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought I could," said Si, "but I'm 'bout played out! I am, fer a fact!
+      I guess ef I rest a bit I'll be able to ketch up after a while."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't know till he found out by experience how hard it was to "ketch
+      up" when a soldier once got behind on the march. Si was too fat for a good
+      roadster, but it didn't take a great while to work off his surplus flesh.
+      Shorty was tall and slim, mostly bone&mdash;one of the sort that always
+      stood the marching best, crept up to the Orderly and told him that he
+      would have to stop and puff a while and give his blisters a rest. He'd
+      pull up with Co. Q in an hour or so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Better not, Si" said the Orderly; "ye know it's agin orders, and the
+      rear-guard 'll punch ye with their bay'net's if they catch ye stragglin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Si concluded that if he must die for his country it would be sweeter
+      to do so by having a bayonet inserted in his vitals, and then it would be
+      all over with at once, than to walk himself to death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he gradually fell back till he reached the tail of the company.
+      Watching his opportunity, he left the ranks, crept into a clump of bushes,
+      and lay down, feeling as if he had been run through a grist-mill. Soon the
+      rear-guard of the 200th came along, with fixed bayonets, driving before
+      them like a flock of frightened sheep a motley crowd of limping, groaning
+      men, gathered up by the roadside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si lay very still, hoping to escaoe discovery; but the keen eye of the
+      officer detected the blue heap among the bushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bring that man out!" said he sternly to one of the guards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Poor Si scarcely dare to breathe. He hoped the man would think he was
+      dead, and therefore no longer of any account. But the soldier began to
+      prod him with his bayonet, ordering him to get up and move on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0044" id="linkimage-0044">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/123.jpg" alt="'don't Stab Me.' 123 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Look-a-here, pard," said Si, "don't stab me with that thing! I jest can't
+      git along any furder till I blow a little. You please lemme be, an' I'll
+      do as much for you. P'rhaps some time you'll get played out and I'll be on
+      the rear-guard. The Cap'n 'll tell me ter fotch ye 'long, an' I'll jest
+      let ye rest, so I will!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This view of the case struck the guard with some force. Moved with
+      compassion, he turned away, leaving Si to enjoy his rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0045" id="linkimage-0045">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/125.jpg" alt="Hydropathic Treatment 125 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si threw aside his traps, took off his shoes and stockings, and bathed his
+      feet with water from his canteen. He ate a couple of hardtack, and in the
+      course of half an hour began to feel more like Si Klegg. He geared himself
+      up, shouldered his gun, and started to "ketch up."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this time the stream of troops&mdash;regiments, brigades and divisions&mdash;had
+      flowed on. Of course, soldiers who were with their colors had the right of
+      way, and the stragglers were obliged to stumble along as best they could,
+      over the logs and through the bushes at the sides of the roads or skirt
+      along the edges of the fields and woods adjoining. It was this fact added
+      to their exhausted and crippled condition, that made it almost impossible
+      for stragglers to overtake their regiments until they halted for the
+      night. Even then it was often midnight before the last of the wayfarers,
+      weary and worn, dragged their aching limbs into camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si started forward briskly, but soon found it was no easy matter to gain
+      the mile or so that the 200th Ind. was now ahead of him. It was about all
+      he could do to keep up with the fast-moving column and avoid failing still
+      further to the rear. Presently the bugles sounded a halt for one of the
+      hourly rests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now," said Si to himself, "I'll have a good chance to git along tor'd the
+      front. The soljers 'll all lie down in the fence corners an' leave the
+      road clear. I'll jest git up an' dust!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of the bugles had scarcely died away when the pike was deserted,
+      and on either side, as far as the eye could reach, the prostrate men that
+      covered the ground mingled in a long fringe of blue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got up into the road and started along the lane between these lines of
+      recumbent soldiers. His gait was a little shaky, for the blisters on his
+      feet began to give evidence of renewed activity. He trudged pluckily
+      along, limping some in spite of himself, but on the whole making very good
+      headway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pretty soon he struck a veteran regiment from Illinois, the members of
+      which were sitting and lying around in all the picturesque and
+      indescribable postures which the old soldiers found gave them the greatest
+      comfort during a "rest." Then they commenced&mdash;that is, it was great
+      sport for the Sucker boys, though Si did not readily appreciate the
+      humorous features of the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What rigiment is this?" asked Si, timidly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Same old rijiment!" was the answer from half a dozen at once. A single
+      glance told the swarthy veterans that the fresh-looking youth who asked
+      this conundrum belonged to one of the new regiments, and they immediately
+      opened their batteries upon him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Left&mdash;left-=left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot! Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot!" keeping time with Si's
+      somewhat irregular steps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, there, you! Change step and you'll march easier!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look at that 'ere poor feller; the only man left alive of his regiment!
+      Great Cesar, how they must have suffered! Say, what rijiment did you
+      b'long to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Paymaster's comin', boys, here's a chap with a pay-roll round his neck!"
+      Si had put on that morning the last of the paper collars he had brought
+      from home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'd better shed that knapsack, or it'll be the death of ye!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, there, how's all the folks to home?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How d'ye like it as far as you've got, any way?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Git some commissary and pour into them gunboats!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Second relief's come, boys; we can all go home now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grab a root!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hep&mdash;hep&mdash;hep!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How'd ye leave Mary Ann?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never been under such a fire before. He stood it as long as he
+      could, and 'then he stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt!" shouted a chorus of voices. "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" "Order&mdash;Arms!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time Si's wrath was at the boiling point. Casting around him a
+      look of defiance, he exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You cowardly blaggards; I can jest lick any two of ye, an' I'll dare ye
+      to come on. If the 200th Ind. was here we'd clean out the hull pack of ye
+      quicker'n ye can say scat!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is where Si made a mistake. He ought to have kept right on and said
+      nothing. But Si had to find out all these things by experience, as the
+      rest of the boys did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0046" id="linkimage-0046">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/129.jpg" alt="Si Defies a Regiment 129 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      All the members took a hand in the game. They just got right up and
+      yelled, discharging at Si a volley of expletives and pointed remarks that
+      drove him to desperation. Instinctively he brought up his gun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Load in nine times&mdash;Load!" shouted a dozen of the Illinois tramps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If Si's gun had been loaded he would have shot somebody, regardless of
+      consequences. Thinking of his bayonet, he jerked it quickly from its
+      scabbard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fix&mdash;Bay'net!" yelled the ragged veterans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he did, though it was more from the promptings of his own hostile
+      feelings than in obedience to the orders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Charge&mdash;Bay'net!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had completely lost control of himself in his overpowering rage. With
+      blood in his eye, he came to, a charge, glancing fiercely from one side of
+      the road to the other, uncertain where to begin the assault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly there was a loud clicking all along the line. The Illinois
+      soldiers, almost to a man, fixed their bayonets. Half of them sprang to
+      their feet, and all aimed their shining points at the poor young Hoosier
+      patriot, filling the air with shouts of derision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was plain, even to Si in his inflamed state of mind, that the odds
+      against him were too heavy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Unfix&mdash;Bay'net!" came from half the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si concluded he had better get out of a bad scrape the best way he could.
+      So he took off his bayonet and put it back in its place. He shouted words
+      of defiance to his tormentors, but they could not be heard in the din.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shoulder&mdash;Arms!" "Right&mdash;Face!" "Right shoulder shift&mdash;Arms!"
+      "Forward&mdash;March!" These commands came in quick succession from the
+      ranks amidst roars of laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si obeyed the orders and started off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Left&mdash;left&mdash;left!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hayfoot&mdash;strawfoot!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Forgetting his blisters. Si took the double-quick while the mob swung
+      their caps and howled with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't "ketch up" with the 200 Ind. until after it had gone into camp.
+      Shorty had a quart of hot coffee waiting for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si as they sat by the fire,&mdash;"I'm goin' to drop dead
+      in my tracks before I'll fall out again."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, what's the matter?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, nothin'; only you jest try it," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had it not been for the "fun" the soldiers had in the army to brighten
+      their otherwise dark and cheerless lives, they would all have died. Si was
+      a true type of those who had to suffer for the good of others until they
+      learned wisdom in the school of experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. SI AND THE MULES
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ONE DAY'S RICH EXPERIENCE AS COMPANY TEAMSTER.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "I'VE GOT to have a man to drive team for a few days," said the Orderly of
+      Co. Q of the 200th Ind. one morning at roll-call. "The teamster's sick and
+      I'm goin' to send him to the hospital to-day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Orderly-Sergeant of Co. Q was a wily fellow. All Orderly-Sergeants
+      have to be. If they are not naturally, they learn it very quickly, or lose
+      the little diamond on their sleeves, if not all their stripes. The man who
+      undertakes to manage 60 or 75 stalwart, high-spirited young Americans
+      through all their moods and tenses, and every kind of weather, has to be
+      as wise as a serpent, though not necessarily as harmless as a dove.
+      Therefore, the Orderly-Sergeant didn't tell the boys what ailed the
+      teamster. The fact was that the heels of the "off=wheeler" caught the
+      teamster in the pit of the stomach and doubled him up so badly that he
+      wouldn't be fit for duty for a week. It was worse than the green-corn
+      colic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tisn't every man," continued the Orderly, "that's gifted with fust-class
+      talent fur drivin' team. I'd like to find the best man to steer them
+      animals, an' if there's a real sientifick mule-whacker in this comp'ny let
+      him speak up an' I'll detail him right off. It'll be a soft thing fur
+      somebody; them mules are daises."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somehow they didn't all speak at once. The company had only had the team
+      two or three weeks, but the boys were not dull of hearing, and ominous
+      sounds had come to them from the rear of the camp at all hours of the
+      night&mdash;the maddening "Yeehaw-w-w!" of the long-eared brutes, and the
+      frantic ejaculations of the teamster, spiced with oaths that would have
+      sent a shudder through "our army in Flanders."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0047" id="linkimage-0047">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/133.jpg" alt="He Let Both Heels Fly 133 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      So they did not apply for the vacant saddle with that alacrity which might
+      have been expected, when so good a chance was offered for a soldier to
+      ride and get his traps carried on a wagon. Whenever an infantryman threw
+      away such an opportunity it is safe to assume that there was some good
+      reason for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the idea of riding for a few days and letting his blisters get well
+      was too much for Si Klegg. Besides, he thought if there was any one thing
+      he could do better than another it was driving a team. He had been doing
+      it on his father's farm all his life. It is true, he didn't know much
+      about mules, but he imagined they were a good deal like horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm your man!" spoke up Si cheerfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said the Orderly. "Company, Right&mdash;Face! Break ranks&mdash;March!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There ain't any trouble about it!" Si said to Shorty as they walked back
+      to the tent. "I reckon it's easy enough to manage mules if you go at 'em
+      right. It'll be just fun for me to drive team. And say. Shorty, I'll carry
+      all your traps on my wagon. That'll be a heap better'n totin' 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si gathered up his outfit and started to enter upon his new sphere of
+      usefulness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shall I take my gun and bay'net along?" he asked the Orderly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess you'd better; they might come handy!" replied the Orderly, as he
+      thought of the teamster's disastrous encounter with the "off-wheeler."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After Shorty had eaten his breakfast he thought he would go back to the
+      tent and see how Si was getting on. With thoughtful care Si had fed his
+      mules before appeasing his own appetite, and Shorty found him just waiting
+      for his coffee to cool a bit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, them 'ere mules is jist as gentle'n' peaceful-like ez so many
+      kittens. Look at 'em, Shorty!" and Si pointed with a proud and gratified
+      air to where the six "daisies" were standing, three on each side of the
+      wagon-pole, with their noses in the feed-box, quietly munching their
+      matutinal rations, and whisking their paint-brush tails about in evident
+      enjoyment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, to look at those mules one who was ignorant of the peculiar
+      characteristics of the species would not have thought that beneath those
+      meek exteriors there were hearts filled with the raging fires of total
+      depravity. Shorty thought how it would be, but he didn't say anything. He
+      was sure that Si would find out about it soon enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brigade to which the 200th Ind. belonged was to march in the rear of
+      the long procession that day. This was lucky for Si, as it gave him an
+      hour or two more than he would otherwise have had to get hitched up. But
+      all the same he thought he would begin early, so as to be on hand with his
+      team in good time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Want any help?" asked Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said Si; "I can hitch 'em up slick's a whistle. I can't see why so
+      many makes sich a fuss 'bout handlin' mules."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty lighted his cob pipe and sat down on a stump to watch Si. "Kinder
+      think there'll be a circus!" he said to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si got up from his coffee and hardtack, and addressed himself to the
+      business of the hour. It proved to be just as much as he could attend to.
+      When Si poured half a bushel of corn into the feed box it was all very
+      nice, and the animals rubbed their heads against him to give expression to
+      their grateful emotions. But when it came to putting on the harness, that
+      was quite a different thing. The mere touch of a strap was enough to
+      stimulate into baleful activity all the evil passions of mule-nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Pete and Jim and Susan, we must git ready to pull out!" said Si to
+      his charge, in a familiar, soothing tone, preliminary to getting down to
+      business. It was his evident desire to maintain the friendly relations
+      that he thought he had already established. At the first rattle of the
+      harness Pete and Susan and the rest, moved by a common impulse, laid back
+      their ears and began to bray, their heels at the same time showing
+      symptoms of impatience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whoa, there&mdash;whoa!" exclaimed Si, in a conciliatory way, as he
+      advanced with a bridle in his hand toward one of the big wheelers, whose
+      ears were flapping about like the fans of a windmill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si imprudently crept up from the rear. A flank movement would have been
+      better. As soon as he had got fairly within range the mule winked
+      viciously, lowered his head, and let fly both heels. Si was a spry boy,
+      and a quick dodge saved him from the fate of his predecessor. One of the
+      heels whizzed past his ear with the speed of a cannon ball, caught his
+      hat, and sent it spinning through the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty, who was whittling up a piece of Kentucky twist to recharge his
+      pipe, laughed till he rolled off the stump all in a heap. A few of the
+      other boys had stayed out to see the fun, and were lounging around the
+      outskirts of the corral. "Go for 'em, Si!" they shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was plucky, and again advanced with more caution. This time he was
+      successful, after a spirited engagement, in getting the bridle on. He
+      thought he would ride him down to the creek for water, and this would give
+      him a chance to get acquainted with him, as it were. He patted the
+      animal's neck, called him pet names, and gently stroked his stubby mane.
+      Alas, Si didn't know then what an utter waste of material it was to give
+      taffy to an army mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a quick spring Si vaulted upon the back of the mule. He started off
+      in good shape, waving his hand exultingly to the boys with the air of a
+      General who has just won a great battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All at once the animal stopped as suddenly as if he had run against a
+      stone wall. He planted his fore feet, throwing his ears back and his head
+      down. There was a simultaneous rear elevation, with the heels at an upward
+      angle of about 45 degrees. Si went sprawling among the bushes. This
+      performance was greeted with great enthusiasm by the fast increasing crowd
+      of spectators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0048" id="linkimage-0048">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/137.jpg" alt="Si Went Sprawling 137 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "I oughter have told you that saddle-mule's the worst bucker in the Army
+      o' the Ohio," said the Quartermaster-Sergeant, who was among the
+      onlookers. "Why, he'd buck off the stripe that runs down his back, if he
+      took it into his measly head. He bucked off a chattel mortgage, and that's
+      the way he come into the army. You can't ride him without using one of
+      Aunt Jemima's sticking plasters."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Much obliged for your information. But I will ride him all the same,"
+      said Si, whose temper had risen to the exploding point. "I kin ride him if
+      he ties himself in a double bow-knot."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was too much of a farmer boy to give in to anything that walked on four
+      legs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had hung on to the bridle rein, and after addressing a few impressive
+      words to the obstreperous mule he again leaped upon his back. The mule
+      took a docile turn, his motive having apparently been merely to show Si
+      what he could do when he took a notion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The space at command will not permit us to follow Si through all the
+      details of "hitching up" that team. He did finally "git thar, Eli," after
+      much strategic effort. The mules brayed and kicked a good deal, and Si's
+      wrath was fully aroused before he got through. He became convinced that
+      soft words were of no account in such a contest, and he enforced
+      discipline by the judicious use of a big club, together with such
+      appropriate language as he could think of. Si hadn't yet learned to swear
+      with that wonderful and appalling proficiency that was so soon acquired by
+      the army teamsters. In the management of mules profanity was considered an
+      invaluable accessory in times of great emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last Si climbed into the saddle, as proud as a King. Seizing the long,
+      single line running to the "leaders"&mdash;by which contrivance the army
+      team was always guided&mdash;he shouted "Git up, thar, Pete! G'lang
+      Susan!" and the caravan started. But the unregenerated brutes didn't go
+      far. Si was gaily cracking his whip, trying to hit a big blue-bottle fly
+      that was perched on the ear of one of the "swing" mules.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As if by a preconcerted plan, the establishment came to a sudden halt and
+      the mules began to rear and kick and plunge around in utter disregard of
+      consequences. It didn't take more than a minute for them to get into a
+      hopeless tangle. They were in all conceivable shapes&mdash;heads and tails
+      together, crosswise and "every which way," tied up with the straps of the
+      harness. The air in all directions was full of heels. There was a
+      maddening chorus of discordant braying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of the scrimmage Si found himself on the ground. Gathering
+      himself up, he gazed in utter amazement at the twisted, writhing mass. At
+      this moment a messenger came from the Captain to "hurry up that team," and
+      poor Si didn't know what to do. He wished he could only swear like the old
+      mule drivers. He thought it would make him feel better. There was no one
+      to help him out of his dilemma, as the members of the company were all
+      getting ready for the march.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A veteran teamster happened along that way, and took in the situation at a
+      glance. He saw that Si had bit off more than he could chew, and
+      volunteered his assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, young feller," said he, "lemme show ye how to take the stiffenin'
+      out o' them ere dod-gasted mules!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seizing the whip at the small end of the stock he began laying on right
+      and left with the butt, taking care to keep out of range of the heels.
+      During these persuasive efforts he was shouting at the top of his voice
+      words that fairly hissed through the air. Si thought he could smell the
+      brimstone and see the smoke issuing from the old teamster's mouth and
+      nostrils. This is a section of what that experienced mule driver said, as
+      nearly as we can express it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "_________;;_____________!!!***???!!!! ____???________???!!!!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si thanked the veteran for these timely suggestions in the way of
+      language, and said he would remember them. He had no doubt they would help
+      him out the next time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They finally got the team untied, and Si drove over to the company ground.
+      The regiment had been gone some time, a detail having been left to load
+      the wagon. After getting out upon the road the mules plodded along without
+      objection, and Si got on famously. But having lost his place in the column
+      in consequence of the delay, he was obliged to fall in rear of the
+      division train, and it was noon before he got well started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Along towards evening Si struck a section of old corduroy road through a
+      piece of swamp. The passage of the artillery and wagons had left the road
+      in a wretched condition. The logs were lying at all points of the compass,
+      or drifting vaguely about in the mire, while here and there were seas of
+      water and pits of abysmal depth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0049" id="linkimage-0049">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/141.jpg" alt="Stuck in the Mud 141 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      To make the story short, Si's mules stumbled and floundered and kicked,&mdash;while
+      Si laid on with the whip and used some of the words he had learned from
+      the old teamster before starting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the wagon became hopelessly stalled. The wheels sank to the
+      hubs, and Si yelled and cracked his whip in vain. Perhaps if he had had
+      the old teamster there to swear for him he could have pulled through, but
+      as it was he gave it up, dismounted, hunted a dry spot, and sat down to
+      think and wait for something to turn up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just before dark a large detail from Co. Q, which had been sent back on an
+      exploring expedition for Si and his team, reached the spot. After hours of
+      prying and pushing and tugging and yelling they at length got the wagon
+      over the slough, reaching camp about midnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Orderly," said Si, "I believe I'd like to resign my place as mule-driver.
+      It's a nice, soft thing, but I'd jest as lief let s'mother feller have it,
+      so I'll take my gun an' go to hoofin' it agin!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. UNDER FIRE&mdash;SI HAS A FIGHT, CAPTURES A PRISONER
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      AND GETS PROMOTED.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "SEEMS to me it's 'bout time ter be gitt' into a fite!" said Si Klegg to
+      Shorty one night as they sat around the fire after supper, with their
+      shoes and stockings off, comparing the size and number of their respective
+      blisters. Neither of them had much of the skin they started out with left
+      on their feet. "I always s'posed," he continued, "that bein' a sojer meant
+      fitin' somebody; and here we are roaming over the country like a lot of
+      tramps. I can't see no good in it, nohow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't be in a hurry. Si," replied Shorty; "I reckon we'll ketch it soon
+      'nuff. From what I've hearn the old soldiers tell a battle ain't such a
+      funny thing as a feller thinks who don't know anything about it, like
+      you'n me. The boys is always hungry at first for shootin' and bein' shot
+      at, but I've an idee that it sorter takes away their appetite when they
+      gits one square meal of it. They don't hanker after it no more. It's
+      likely we'll git filled full one o' these days. I'm willin' to wait!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall," said Si, "I sh'd think we might have a little skirmish, anyway.
+      I'd like to have a chance to try my gun and to hear what kind of a noise
+      bullets make. Of course, I'd ruther they'd hit some other feller besides
+      me, but I'm ready to take the chances on that. I don't b'lieve I'd be
+      afeard."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was ambitious, and full of the martial ardor that blazed in the breast
+      of every young volunteer. He was really glad when the Orderly came around
+      presently and told them that the 200th Ind. would have the advance next
+      day, and Co. Q would be on the skirmish-line. He told the boys to see that
+      their cartridge-boxes were all full and their guns in good order, as they
+      would be very like to run foul of the rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was just before the battle of Perryville. The rebels were very saucy,
+      and there seemed to be a fair prospect that the curiosity of the members
+      of the 200th Ind. to "see the elephant" would be at least measurably
+      gratified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Si went to bed he cleaned up his gun and made sure that it would
+      "go off" whenever he wanted it to. Then he and Shorty crawled under the
+      blankets, and as they lay "spoon fashion," thinking about what might
+      happen the next day. Si said he hoped they would both have "lots of sand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All night Si dreamed about awful scenes of slaughter. Before morning he
+      had destroyed a large part of the Confederate army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was yet dark when the reveille sounded through the camp. Si and Shorty
+      kicked off the blankets at first blast of bugle, and were promptly in
+      their places for roll-call. Then, almost in a moment, a hundred fires were
+      gleaming, and the soldiers gathered around them to prepare their hasty
+      breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the sun was up the bugles rang out again upon the morning air. In
+      quick succession came the "general," the "assembly," and "to the colors."
+      The 200th marched out upon the pike, but soon filed off into a cornfield
+      to take its assigned place in the line, for the advance division was to
+      move in order of battle, brigade front, that day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In obedience to orders, Co. Q moved briskly out and deployed as
+      skirmishers, covering the regimental front. As the line advanced through
+      field and thicket Si Klegg's heart was not the only one that thumped
+      against the blouse that covered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not long till a squad of cavalrymen came galloping back, yelling
+      that the rebels were just ahead. The line was halted for a few minutes;
+      while the Generals swept the surrounding country with their field glasses
+      and took in the situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The skirmishers, for fear of accidents, took advantage of such cover as
+      they could find. Si and Shorty found themselves to leeward of a large
+      stump.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D'ye reckon a bullet 'd go through this 'ere stump?" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Shorty could answer something else happened that absorbed their
+      entire attention. For the time they didn't think of anything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      'Boom-m-m-m!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Great Scott! d'ye hear that?" said Si through his chattering teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, and there's somethin' comin' over this way," replied Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A shell came screaming and swishing through the air. The young Hoosiers
+      curled around the roots of that stump and flattened themselves out like a
+      pair of griddle-cakes. If it was Si that the rebel gunners were after,
+      they timed the shell to a second, for it burst with a loud bang just over
+      them. The fragments flew all around, one striking the stump and others
+      tearing up the dirt on every side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0050" id="linkimage-0050">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/145.jpg" alt="It Burst With a Loud 'bang.' 145 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      To say that for the moment those two soldiers were demoralized would be
+      drawing it very mildly. They showed symptoms of a panic. It seemed as
+      though they would be hopelessly stampeded. Their tongues were paralyzed,
+      and they could only look silently into each other's white faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was the first to recover himself, although it could hardly be expected
+      that he could get over his scare all at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "D-d-did it hit ye, Sh-Shorty?" he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "N-no, I guess not; b-b-but ain't it aw-awful. Si? You look so bad I
+      th-thought you was k-k-killed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who's afeard?" said Si. "I was only skeered of you. Shorty. Brace up, now
+      same's I do!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Skirmishers&mdash;Forward!" was heard along the line. "Come on, Shorty!"
+      said Si, and they plunged bravely ahead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emerging suddenly from a thick wood, they came upon the rebel skirmishers
+      in full view, posted on the opposite side of the field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crack! Crack!&mdash;Zip! Zip!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess there's a bee-tree somewhere around here, from the way the bees are
+      buzzin'," said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Taint no bees," replied Shorty; "it's a mighty sight worse'n that.
+      Them's bullets, Si Don't ye see the dumed galoots over yonder a-shootin'
+      at us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was no coward, and he was determined to show that he wasn't. The shell
+      a little while before had taken the starch out of him for a few minutes,
+      but that was nothing to his discredit. Many a seasoned veteran found
+      himself exceedingly limber under such circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's give the rascals a dose," said he; "the best we've got in stock!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suiting the action to the word, Si crept up to a fence, thrust his gun
+      between the rails, took good aim and fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0051" id="linkimage-0051">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/147.jpg" alt="Si Takes a Crack at A Reb 147 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A bullet from one of the other fellows made the splinters fly from a rail
+      a foot or two from Si's head; but he was getting excited now, and he
+      didn't mind it any more than if it had been a paper wad from a
+      pea-shooter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It makes a great difference with a soldier under fire whether he can take
+      a hand in the game himself, or whether he must lie idle and let the enemy
+      "play it alone."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Did ye hear him squeal?" said Si, as he dropped upon the ground and began
+      to reload with all his might. "I hit that son-of-a-gun, sure. Give 'em H&mdash;Hail
+      Columbia, Shorty. We'll show 'em that the 200th Ind. is in front to-day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Forward, men!" shouted the officers. "Go right for 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The skirmishers sprang over the fence and swept across the field at a
+      "double-quick" in the face of a sputtering fire that did little damage.
+      None of them reached the other side any sooner than Si did. The rebels
+      seemed to have found out that the 200th boys were coming, for they were
+      already on the run, and some of them had started early. Pell-mell through
+      the brush they went, and the blue-blouses after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt, there, or I'll blow ye into the middle o' next week!" yelled Si, as
+      he closed up on a ragged specimen of the Southern Confederacy whose wind
+      had given out. Si thought it would be a tall feather in his hat if he
+      could take a prisoner and march him back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0052" id="linkimage-0052">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/149.jpg" alt="Si Captures a Johnny 149 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The "Johnny" gave one glance at his pursuer, hesitated, and was lost. He
+      saw that Si meant business, and surrendered at discretion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come 'long with me!" said Si, his eyes glistening with pleasure and
+      pride. Si marched him back and delivered him to the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well done, my brave fellow!" said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is a glorious day for the 200th Ind., and you've taken its first
+      prisoner. What's your name my boy?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Josiah Klegg, sir!" said Si, blushing to the very roots of his hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What company do you belong to?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Company Q, sir!" and Si saluted the officer as nicely as he knew how.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll see your Captain to-night, Mr. Klegg, and you shall be rewarded for
+      your good conduct. You may now return to your company."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the proudest moment of Si's life up to date. He stammered out his
+      thanks to the Colonel, and then, throwing his gun up to a right
+      shoulder-shift, he started off on a canter to rejoin the skirmishers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Si Klegg was the subject of a short conversation between his
+      Captain and the Colonel. They agreed that Si had behaved very handsomely,
+      and deserved to be promoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are there any vacancies in your non-commissioned officers?" asked the
+      Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," was the reply, "but there ought to be. One of my Corporals skulked
+      back to the rear this morning and crawled into a wagon. I think we had
+      better reduce him to the ranks and appoint Mr. Klegg."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do so at once," said the Colonel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning when the 200th was drawn up in line an order was read by the
+      Adjutant reducing the skulker and promoting Si to the full rank of
+      Corporal, with a few words commending the gallantry of the latter. These
+      orders announcing rewards and punishments were supposed to have a salutary
+      effect in stimulating the men to deeds of glory, and as a warning to those
+      who were a little short of "sand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0053" id="linkimage-0053">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/151.jpg" alt="Corporal si Klegg 151 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The boys of Co. Q showered their congratulations upon Si in the usual way.
+      They made it very lively for him that day. In the evening: Si hunted up
+      some white cloth, borrowed a needle and thread, went off back of the tent,
+      rammed his bayonet into the ground, stuck a candle in the socket, and
+      sewed chevrons on the sleeves of his blouse. Then he wrote a short letter:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Deer Annie: I once more take my pen in hand to tell you
+     there's grate news. I'm an ossifer. We had an awful fite
+     yisterdy. I don't know how menny rebbles I kild, but I guess
+     thare was enuff to start a good sized graveyard. I tuk a
+     prizner, too, and the Kurnal says to me bully fer you,
+     Mister Klegg, or sumthin to that effeck. This mornin they
+     made me a Corporil, and red it out before the hull rijiment
+     I guess youd been prowd if you could have seen me. To-night
+     the boys is hollerin hurraw fer Corporal Klegg all over
+     camp. I ain't as big is the Ginrals and gum of the other
+     ossifers, but thars no tellin how hi I'll get in three
+     years.
+
+          "Rownd is the ring that haint no end,
+          So is my luv to you my friend.
+
+     "Yours, same as before,
+
+     "Corporal Si Klegg."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      A NIGHT'S ADVENTURES AS "CORPORAL OF THE GUARD."
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "CORPORAL Klegg, you will go on duty to-night with the camp guard!" said
+      the Orderly of Co. Q one evening, as the 200th Ind. filed off into a piece
+      of woods to bivouac for the night, two or three days after Si had been
+      promoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chevrons on his arms had raised Si several degrees in the estimation
+      not only of himself, but of the other members of the company. His conduct
+      in the skirmish had shown that he had in him the material for a good
+      soldier, and even the Orderly began to treat him with that respect due to
+      his new rank as one of the "non-commish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like every other man who put on the army blue and marched away so bold,
+      "With gay and gallant tread," Si could not tell whether he was going to
+      amount to anything as a soldier until he had gone through the test of
+      being under fire. There were many men who walked very erect, talked
+      bravely, drilled well, and made a fine appearance on dress parade, before
+      they reached "the front," but who wilted at the "zip" of bullets like
+      tender corn blades nipped by untimely frost. And a good many of them
+      continued in that wilted condition. Perhaps they really couldn't help it.
+      An inscrutable Providence had seen fit to omit putting any "sand in their
+      gizzards," as the boys expressed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It must be confessed that Si was somewhat unduly elated and puffed up
+      over, his own achievements as a skirmisher and his success in climbing the
+      ladder of military rank and fame. It is true, it wasn't much of a fight
+      they had that day, but Si thought it was pretty fair for a starter, and
+      enough to prove to both himself and his comrades that he wouldn't be one
+      of the "coffee coolers" when there was business on hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was sorry that his regiment did not get into the fight at Perryville.
+      The 200th Ind. belonged to one of the two corps of Buell's army that lay
+      under the trees two or three miles away all through that October
+      afternoon, while McCook's gallant men were in a life-and-death struggle
+      against overwhelming odds. It bothered Si as much to understand it all as
+      it did 30,000 other soldiers that day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si responded with alacrity when he was detailed for guard duty. He had
+      walked a beat once or twice as a common tramp, and had not found it
+      particularly pleasant, especially in stormy weather; but now he was a peg
+      higher, and he thought as Corporal he would have a better time. He had
+      already observed that the rude winds of army life were tempered, if not to
+      the shorn lambs, at least to the officers, in a degree proportionate to
+      their rank. The latter had the first pick of everything, and the men took
+      what was left. The officers always got the softest rails to sleep on, the
+      hardtack that was least tunneled through by the worms, the bacon that had
+      the fewest maggots, and the biggest trees in a fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Forward&mdash;March!" shouted the officer in command, when the detachment
+      was ready. Si stepped off very proudly, thinking how glad his good old
+      mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel would be if they could see him
+      at that moment. He was determined to discharge his official duties "right
+      up to the handle," and make the boys stand around in lively style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the guard reached the place selected for headquarters the officer
+      drily lectured them in regard to their duties, impressing upon them the
+      necessity of being alert and vigilant. There was only a thin picket-line
+      between them and the enemy. The safety of the army depended upon the
+      faithfulness of those appointed to watch while others slept. He gave them
+      the countersign, "Bunker Hill," and ordered them under no circumstances to
+      allow any person to pass without giving it, not even the Commanding
+      General himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the guards were posted, the "beats" laid off and numbered, and as the
+      fast-gathering shadows deepened among the trees the sentinels paced to and
+      fro around the tired army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For an hour or two after the guards were stationed all was quiet along the
+      line. The noise of the great camp was hushed for the night, and no sound
+      broke the stillness of the gloomy forest. The moon rose and peeped timidly
+      through the branches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal of the Guard; Post No. 6."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's quick ear, as he lay curled up at the foot of a tree, caught these
+      words, rapidly repeated by one sentinel after another. It was his first
+      summons. He sprang to his feet, gun in hand, his heart beating at the
+      thought of adventure, and started on the run for "Post No. 6."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's up?" he said to the guard, with a perceptible tremor in his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's one o' the boys tryin' to run the guards!" was the answer. "He's
+      been out foragin', I reckon. He's got a lot o' plunder he wants to git
+      into camp with. See him, out there in the bush?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The forager, for such he proved to be, was nimbly dodging from tree to
+      tree, watching for a chance to cross the line, but the alertness of the'
+      guards had thus far kept him outside. He had tried to bribe one or two of
+      the boys by offering to "whack up" if they would let him pass or give him
+      the countersign, so that he could get in at some other point in the
+      cordon. But the guards were incorruptible. They were "fresh" yet, and had
+      not caught on to the plan of accepting an offered chicken, a section of
+      succulent pig, or a few sweet potatoes, and then walking off to the remote
+      limit of the beat, with eyes to the front, while the forager shot across
+      the line in safety. They learned all about this after a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The raider tried to parley with Si, but Si wouldn't have it. Raising his
+      gun to a "ready" he ordered the man to come in or he would put a hole
+      through him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The best thing to do under the circumstances was to obey. The forager, who
+      belonged to Si's company, crept up to Corporal Klegg and in a conciliatory
+      tone opened negotiations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest let me pass, and you may have your pick of this stuff," said he,
+      holding up a fowl in one hand and a ham in the other. "It'll be all right,
+      and nobody 'll ever know nothin' 'bout it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si hesitated; it was human nature. The offer was a tempting one, but he
+      remembered his responsibility to his country, and his stomach appealed in
+      vain. Duty came before stewed chicken or roasted sparerib.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can't do it!" said Si. "You've got hold of the wrong man this time. I
+      ain't goin' to have nobody monkeyin' 'round while I'm Corporal of this
+      'ere guard. Come along with me, and step out lively, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si marched the culprit back to headquarters and delivered him up to the
+      officer, who commended Si for his fidelity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next day the ground back of the Colonel's tent was strewn with feathers,
+      chicken bones, ham rinds, and potato skins, while the unlucky forager who
+      had provided the field officers' mess with such a royal meal was humped
+      around for two hours on "knapsack drill," and condemned to spend 24 hours
+      in the guard-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour later Si had another experience. The Captain of Co. Q felt a
+      kindly interest, and not a little pride in him, since the skirmish, and he
+      thought he would take a turn that night and see whether his newly-made
+      Corporal was "up to snuff."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Post No. 3," was Si's second call. He responded promptly, and as he
+      approached the guard the latter said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal, here's the Cap'n, and he wants to get in! He hain't got the
+      countersign; shall I pass him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evening. Corporal!" said the Captain, as Si came up, at the same
+      time extending his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was thrown completely off his guard. Dropping the butt of his gun
+      carelessly to the ground he replied cheerily, "Good evening, Cap'n,"
+      touching his hat by way of salute. Then he took the proffered hand,
+      pleased at the Captain's mark of kindly recognition. He didn't understand
+      the scheme then. "How are you getting on, Mr. Klegg?" "First rate!" said
+      Si, with the air of one conscious that he had done his duty well. "I
+      capchered a forager a little bit ago and took him to headquarters!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0054" id="linkimage-0054">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/159.jpg" alt="One of the 'non-com Mish.' 159 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Well done, Corporal I have no doubt you will honor the good name of the
+      200th Ind. in general and Company Q in particular, I got caught outside to
+      night, and I want to get back into camp. Of course, you know me and it's
+      all right!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly, sir!" said Si, as he stood leaning on his gun and allowed the
+      officer to pass the magic line. "Good night, Cap'n!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good night, Corporal! By the way," said the Captain, retracing his steps,
+      "I notice that you do not carry your gun just right. Let me show you how
+      to handle it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't know what a flagrant offense it was for a soldier on guard to
+      let his gun go out of his hands; nor had he the faintest suspicion that
+      the Captain was playing it on him. So he promptly handed his picee to the
+      Captain, who immediately brought it down to a "charge," with the bayonet
+      at Si's breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Suppose, now, I was a rebel in disguise," said the Captain, "what kind of
+      a fix would you be in?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Light began to dawn upon Si, and he started back in terror at the thought
+      of the mistake he had made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course, I wouldn't let anybody else have it," he stammered; "but I
+      knew you, Cap'n!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That makes no difference to a man on duty. Corporal. You hang on to your
+      gun the rest of the night, and if anybody&mdash;I don't care if it's Gen.
+      Buell himself&mdash;insists on your giving it to him, let him have two or
+      three inches of the point of your bayonet. Don't let anybody pass without
+      the countersign, either! Come to my quarters when you are relieved
+      tomorrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this illustrates the way the officers had of testing new soldiers and
+      teaching them a thing or two, when, as was frequently the case, they were
+      not yet up to the mark. A trick of extra duty for the hapless novitiate
+      was generally the penance for his simplicity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cold chills ran up and down Si's back as he took his gun and slowly
+      returned to the guard fire. He felt that he had utterly spoiled his good
+      record.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Lieutenant," he said to the officer, "I wish you'd please detail a man to
+      kick me for about an hour."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Lieutenant wanted to know what the matter was, and Si told him all
+      about it, ending with:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "So now I s'pose the Cap'n 'll yank the stripes off'n my blouse!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer quieted his fears by assuring him that there was no cause for
+      alarm. The Captain knew that he was trying to do his duty, and what he had
+      done was for Si's own good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si sat down by the fire and was thinking it over when there was another
+      call, "Corporal of the guard!" He was soon at the point indicated and
+      found two officers on horseback, whom he recognized as the Colonel and
+      Adjutant of the 200th Ind. Si's friend Shorty was the guard who had halted
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Corporal Klegg," said Si to himself, laying his finger alongside his
+      nose, "you jist watch out this time. Here's big game! Shouldn't wonder if
+      them ossifers had bin out skylarkin', and they're tryin' to git in. Don't
+      ye let 'em fool ye as the Cap'n did!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was right in his surmise. The Colonel and Adjutant had been enjoying a
+      good supper at a house half a mile away, and had not the slightest idea
+      what the countersign was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was determined not to "get left" this time. As he approached, the
+      Colonel saw that it was soldier he had commended for his gallantry at the
+      time of the skirmish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah, Corporal Klegg, I'm glad to see you so prompt in your duty. I was
+      sure we had made no mistake when we promoted you. Of course, you can see
+      who I am. I'm your Colonel, and this is the Adjutant. We are,
+      unfortunately, outside without the countersign; but you can just let us
+      through."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel's taffy had no effect on Si. He just brought himself into a
+      hostile attitude, with his bayonet in fair range of the Colonel, as he
+      replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Colonel, my orders is to pass no livin' man unless he says 'Bunker Hill.'
+      I'd be glad to do ye a good turn, but there's no use talkin'. I'm goin' to
+      obey orders, and ye can't pass here."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0055" id="linkimage-0055">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/155.jpg" alt="'not 'less Ye Say 'bunker Hill.'' 155 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel chuckled softly as he dismounted and came up to Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's all right," he said, "of course I know what the countersign is. I
+      was only trying you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hold on there," said Si, "don't come too close. If you've got the
+      countersign, advance and give it. If ye ain't got it, I'll jest call the
+      Officer of the Guard!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaning over the point of Si's bayonet the Colonel gently whispered
+      "Bunker Hill".
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Correct!" said Si, and bringing his gun to a shoulder, he respectfully
+      saluted the Colonel. The latter started to remount, but turned back as he
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Just let me show you how to hold your gun. You don't&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not if the court knows herself," said Si, again menacing the Colonel with
+      his bayonet. "That's bin played on me once to-night, and if anybody does
+      it again my name ain't Si Klegg!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's right, Corporal," said the Colonel as he sprang into the saddle;
+      "but don't tell anybody what the countersign is again! Good night!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good night. Colonel," said Si, touching his hat. As the officers rode
+      away Si began to think he had put his foot in it again. He was confirmed
+      in this opinion by seeing Shorty sit down on a log in a paroxysm of
+      laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You give yerself away bad this time!" said Shorty, as soon as he could
+      speak. "What did ye tell him the countersign for?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whew-w-w-w!" observed Si, with a prolonged whistle. "Shorty," said he, "I
+      wish you'd take a club and see if you can't pound a little sense into me;
+      I don't believe I've got any!" Without another word he shouldered his gun
+      and returned to the guard headquarters. "Now I'm a goner, sure!" he said
+      to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his way he found a guard sitting by a tree, sound asleep. Carefully
+      taking away his gun Si awoke him, and frightened him half to death by
+      telling him that he would report him and he would be shot for sleeping on
+      post. Si finally said he wouldn't tell on him this time, but he must never
+      do so again, or he would be a dead man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal of the guard!" was heard again, sometime after midnight. "If
+      they try any more measly tricks on me to-night somebody 'll git hurt!"
+      thought Si as he walked briskly along the line in response to the call.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This time it was a "contraband"&mdash;an old negro, who stood shivering
+      with terror as the guard held him at the point of the bayonet. Recalling
+      the unlucky adventures of the night. Si imagined that it was one of the
+      officers, who had blackened himself like a minstrel, and had come there
+      purposely to "catch him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ye can't get through unless ye've got the counter sign," said he,
+      decisively; "and I shan't give it to ye, nuther! And ye needn't try to
+      show me how to hold my gun! I can handle it well enough to shoot and punch
+      the Bayonet!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't know what dat all means, boss," said the frightened negro; "but fer
+      de good Lawd's sake don't shove dat t'ing frew me. I've only bin ober to
+      de nex' place to a 'possum roast and I'se jist gwine home. I didn't know
+      dese yer ge-yards was heah!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si didn't propose to take any chances, and so he marched the old
+      contraband back and delivered him to the officer, who kept him till
+      morning and then suffered him to go on his way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more that night Si was called, in addition to his tramps with the
+      "reliefs" and the "grand rounds." It was, perhaps, an hour before
+      daylight, and Shorty was the guard who called him. He told Si there was
+      something walking around in the woods, and he believed it was a rebel
+      trying to creep up on them. He had challenged two or three times, but got
+      no answer. The moon had gone down, and in the dark woods objects at any
+      distance could not be distinguished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There, d'ye hear that?" said Shorty, as there came a sound of crackling
+      sticks and rustling leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt!" exclaimed Si. "Who comes there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no response, and Si challenged again with like result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "let's fire both together," and crack went their
+      muskets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment there was a great floundering, and then all was still. As
+      soon as it was light, and Shorty was relieved, he and Si went out to see
+      the result of their fire. To their astonishment they found the prowler
+      cold and stiff in death&mdash;they had shot a big gray mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0056" id="linkimage-0056">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/163.jpg" alt="They Had Shot a Mule 163 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, it was a busy and interesting night for Si. He did not lose
+      his chevrons on account of his mistakes. But he learned something, and the
+      lesson was impressed upon his mind by a few kindly words of caution and
+      advice from the Captain of Co. Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. FORAGING ON THE WAY
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI HAS SOME VARIED EXPERIENCES WITH SOUTHERN PRODUCTS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      THE long chase after Bragg from Louisville to the mountains of
+      southeastern Kentucky was rough on the new troops. It weeded them out very
+      fast, and in every town through which Buell's army passed the buildings
+      were turned into hospitals and filled with sick and crippled soldiers, who
+      had found out early that they were not physically able to endure the
+      hardships of an active campaign. At the end of two or three weeks some of
+      the new regiments were as much reduced in numbers as most of those that
+      went out in '61 were during their first six months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. jogged along bravely, but its ranks had suffered the common
+      skage. Not less than 400 of its men had fallen by the wayside, and were
+      taking quinine and blue-mass and rubbing arnica on their legs all along
+      the tortuous route.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Si Klegg and his friend Shorty proved to be "stayers." Full of
+      life and ambition, they were always prompt for duty and ready for a fight
+      or a frolic. No one was more quick than Si to offer a suffering comrade
+      the last drop of fresh water in his canteen or give him a lift by carrying
+      his gun a piece.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day the regiment started out for an easy, comfortable day's march. The
+      coast was clear of rebels, and there being no excuse for crowding on the
+      steam, the boys were allowed to take their own gait, while the horses of
+      the officers and cavalry had a chance to recover their wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a warm day late in October. The nights at this time were keen and
+      frosty, but the sun at mid-day still showed much of his Summer vigor.
+      Perspiration flowed freely down the faces of those wandering Hoosiers&mdash;faces
+      that were fast assuming the color of half-tanned leather under the
+      influence of sunshine and storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once an hour there was the customary halt, when the boys would stretch
+      their legs by the roadside, hitching their knapsacks up under their heads.
+      When the allotted time had expired the bugler blew "Fall in," the notes of
+      which during the next two years became so familiar to the ears of the
+      200th. Later in '64, the Indiana boys mingled their voices with the rest
+      of Sherman's hundred thousand veterans as they sang:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "I know you are tired, but still you must go
+     Down to Atlanta to see the big show."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers were in good spirits. As they marched they fired jests at one
+      another, and laughter rippled along the line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only thing that troubled them was the emaciated condition of their
+      haversacks, with a corresponding state of affairs in their several
+      stomachs. The Commissary Department was thoroughly demoralized. The supply
+      train had failed to connect, and rations were almost exhausted. There was
+      no prospect that the aching void would be filled, at least, in the regular
+      way, until they reached a certain place, which would not be until the
+      following day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strict orders against foraging were issued almost daily under the Buell
+      dispensation. These were often read impressively to the new troops, who,
+      in their simplicity, "took it all in" as military gospel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0057" id="linkimage-0057">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/169.jpg"
+      alt="The 200th Ind. Was Not Without Talent in Foraging 169 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The effect was somewhat depressing upon the ardor with which otherwise
+      they would have pursued the panting pig and the fluttering fowl, and
+      reveled in the orchards and potato-fields. A few irrepressible fellows
+      managed to get a choice meal now and then&mdash;just enough to show that
+      the 200th Ind. was not without latent talent in this direction, which only
+      needed a little encouragement to become fruitful of results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But these orders against foraging didn't hold the soldiers of the crop of
+      1861. It was like trying to carry water in a sieve. When rations were
+      short, or if they wanted to vary the rather monotonous bill of fare, they
+      always found a way to make up any existing deficiency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day in question a few hints were thrown out which resulted in a
+      tacit understanding that, in view of the actual need of the soldiers, if
+      they got a good chance to pick up something the eyes of the officers would
+      be closed. In fact, the officers were as hungry as the men, and hoped to
+      come in for a "divide."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after starting in the morning a persimmon tree, well laden with
+      fruit, was seen in a field not far from the road. About fifty men started
+      for it on a run, and in five minutes it was as bare as the barren fig
+      tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The persimmon has some very marked peculiarities. It is a toothsome fruit
+      when well ripened by frost, but if eaten before it has reached the point
+      of full maturity, the effect upon one's interior is unique and startling.
+      The pungent juices take hold of the mouth and pucker it up in such manner
+      as to make even speech for a time impossible. The tongue seems as if it
+      were tied in a knot. If the juice be swallowed, similar results follow all
+      along its course. But the novice does not often get far enough for that.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys soon found that the 'simmons, although they looked very tempting,
+      were too green to be eaten with any degree of enjoyment. So they filled
+      their pockets with them to pucker up the regiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty had joined in the scramble, telling Si he would bring him a good
+      supply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ain't them nice?" he said to Si, holding out three or four of the
+      greenest ones he could find. "Eat 'em; they're jest gorjus! You can't help
+      likin' 'em."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had never seen any persimmons before. They were certainly tempting to
+      the eye, and he thought they were sent as manna was supplied to the
+      children of Israel in the wilderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eagerly seizing them, Si tossed one into his mouth and began to chew it
+      with great vigor. The persimmon got in its work at once. It took hold with
+      a mighty grip, wrinkling him up like the skins on scalded milk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After sputtering vigorously a few minutes, while Shorty laughed at him. Si
+      managed to get his tongue untwisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said he, "them things is nice&mdash;in a horn! 'Twouldn't take many
+      of 'em to make a meal!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little farther on Si's quick eye noticed a row of beehives standing on a
+      bench in the yard of one of the natives. Si had a weakness for honey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said he, "see them hives over there? How'd ye like to have some
+      honey for supper?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty "allowed" that it would be a good thing. Si stopped and waited a
+      few minutes until his own regiment got past, thinking his plan would be
+      less liable to interruption. Then he leaped over the fence, went up to the
+      hives, and boldly tipped one of them over, hoping he could get out a comb
+      or two, fill up his coffee-kettle, and effect his retreat before the bees
+      really found out what he was up to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the bees instantly rallied their forces and made a vigorous assault
+      upon the invader. Si saw that it would be too hot for him, and without
+      standing upon the order of his going he went at once, in a decidedly
+      panicky state of mind. The bees made the most of their opportunity, using
+      their "business ends" on him with great activity and zeal. They seemed to
+      fully' share the common feeling in the South toward the "Yanks."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0058" id="linkimage-0058">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/171.jpg" alt="Si Beat a Retreat 171 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      A pretty woman, standing on the porch, had watched Si's raid from the
+      doorway. As he fell back in utter rout she screamed "Sarves ye right!" and
+      then sat down on the doorstep and laughed till she cried. She enjoyed it
+      as much as the bees did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter took hold of Si in various places, and by the time he had
+      caught up with the regiment one eye was closed, and there was a big lump
+      on his nose, besides several more stings which the bees had judiciously
+      distributed about his person. It was very evident that he had been
+      overmatched and had come out second best in the encounter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg presented a picturesque appearance as he reached Co. Q. The
+      boys fairly yelled with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whar's yer honey?" said Shorty. "Pears like ye waked up the wrong
+      passenger that time!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si laughed with the rest, rubbed salt on his stings, and plodded on,
+      consoling himself with the thought that his was not the only case in which
+      the merit of earnest effort had gone unrewarded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after noon the 200th came to a large patch of sweet potatoes. Si and
+      Shorty, as well as a good many of the rest, thought it would be a good
+      place to lay in a supply for supper, as they might not have another So
+      good a chance. From all parts of the column the men, by dozens dashed into
+      the field. In a moment there was a man at every hill, digging away with
+      his bayonet, and chucking the tempting tubers into his haversack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <img alt="173 (74K)" src="images/173.jpg" /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THERE WAS A MAN AT EVERY HILL
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two hours before going into camp the regiment passed a small spring,
+      around which a crowd of soldiers were struggling to fill their canteens.
+      There had been a long stretch without fresh water, and Si thought he would
+      supply himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Gimme your canteen, too, Shorty, and I'll fill it!" he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, Si, you're a bully boy, take mine!" "Mine, too!" "And mine!" said
+      one after another of his comrades. Si good naturedly complied and they
+      loaded him down with about 20 canteens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0059" id="linkimage-0059">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/175.jpg" alt="Si Being Worked for a 'good Thing.' 175 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said Si, "I'll be along with 'em full d'reckly!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had to wait for his turn at the spring, and by the time he had filled
+      all the canteens he was half an hour behind. Slinging them around his neck
+      he started on, with just about as big a load as he could carry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si forged ahead, gradually gaining a little, through the tardy movement of
+      the column that generally preceded going into camp. The canteen straps
+      chafed his shoulders, his back ached, and perspiration streamed from every
+      pore. The smoke of the campfires ahead told that the end of the day's
+      march was near. He kept on and finally came up with Co. Q just as the
+      200th was stacking arms on the bank of a clear stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si threw down his burdens of canteens, himself thoroughly blown and
+      well-nigh exhausted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Purty good load, wasn't it, Si?" said Shorty. "But what made ye lug all
+      that water in here? When ye saw they was goin' into camp ahead ye might
+      ha' knowed there was plenty o' water. Why in blazes didn't ye turn the
+      water out o' them 'ere canteens?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll be hanged if I thought o' that!" said Si, while the boys joined in a
+      hearty laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the command "Break ranks" there was a general scamper to engage in the
+      work of getting supper and preparing to spend the night with as much
+      comfort as possible. The members of each mess scattered in all directions
+      for water, rails, straw, etc., while some went out to scour the adjacent
+      region for edibles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These exercises the soldiers always entered into with the heartiest gusto,
+      and the scene will be well remembered by all those who marched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si threw off his traps and dropped on the ground to rest a few minutes. He
+      got up presently to scratch around with the rest. As he took hold of his
+      haversack he was surprised at its lightness. When he laid it down it was
+      bulging out with sweet potatoes, and a glance showed him that these were
+      all gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dern my buttons!" exclaimed Si, as he forgot his weariness, and his eyes
+      flashed fire. "If I am a Corporal, I kin jest mash the feller that stole
+      my 'taters, I don't keer if he's ten foot high. Won't somebody show 'im to
+      me? There won't be 'nuff of 'im left to hold a fun'ral over?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si pranced around in a high state of inflammation, and it is probable that
+      if he had found the purloiner of his provender there would have been a
+      harder fight than any that occurred between Buell and Bragg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys winked slyly at one another, and all said it was too bad. It was
+      a startling case of turpitude, and Si determined to have revenge by
+      getting even with some other fellow, without pausing to consider the
+      questions of moral philosophy involved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come 'long with me. Shorty!" he said to his friend, and they strode away.
+      Just outside the camp they came upon two members of some other new
+      regiment coming into camp with a fine pig slung over a pole and two or
+      three chickens in their hands. Shorty suggested to Si that this was a good
+      chance for him to even up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Halt, there!" shouted Si to the foragers. "We're sent out to pick up such
+      fellows as you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The effect was like a discharge from a masked battery. The men dropped
+      their plunder and fled in wild confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Take hold 'o that pole, Shorty!" said Si, and laying it upon their
+      shoulders they made a triumphant entry into camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There seemed to be no danger of immediate starvation in the ranks of the
+      200th. Each man appeared to have supplied himself during the day. On every
+      hand fires gleamed brightly in the gathering twilight, and around them
+      crowded the hungry soldiers, intent upon the simple culinary processes
+      incident to the evening meal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. A SUNDAY OFF
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SI AND SHORTY GET A MUCH-NEEDED WASH-UP.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "YOU can take it easy to-day, boys, for we ain't goin' to move!" said the
+      Orderly of Co. Q one morning at roll-call. "The orders is for to put the
+      camp in nice shape, and for the men to wash up. We're goin' to have an
+      extra ration of soap this mornin', and you fellows want to stir around
+      lively and fix yerselves as if it was Sunday and ye was goin' to meetin'.
+      The fust thing after breakfast all hands 'll turn out and p'leece ther
+      camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the world does he mean by p'leecin' the camp?" Corporal Klegg
+      asked Shorty, as they stood by the fire making coffee and warming up the
+      fragments of chicken that had been left over from supper the night before.
+      "I didn't c'pose," said Si, "that we 'listed to be p'leecemen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty replied that he didn't know, but he reckoned they'd find out soon
+      enough. The 200th Ind. had been on the jump every day since leaving
+      Louisville, and this was the first time it had been called on to "police"
+      a camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as breakfast was over the Orderly directed each man to provide
+      himself with a small bundle of sticks, made by putting together a dozen
+      bits of brush or "switches" three or four feet long, such as are used to
+      rural pedagogs to enforce discipline. These, he said, were the implements
+      used in policing camp, which meant brushing the leaves and loose debris
+      outside the grounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Does Corprils have to do that sort o' thing?" asked Si. He thought army
+      regulations and camp usage ought to show some consideration for his rank.
+      "What's the use of bein' a Corporil," he said to himself, "if it don't
+      give a feller a chance to play off once in a while?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporals ain't no better'n anybody else," replied the Orderly, "'n' you
+      can jist git some brush and go to work, 'long with the rest!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was disposed to grumble a little, but he obeyed orders and was soon
+      scratching up the leaves and dust with great zeal. He did not find it a
+      particularly pleasant occupation, but the camp looked so much better when
+      the job was done, that he thought it was not a bad thing, after all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Shorty," said Si, "let's go down to the creek and do our washin'. My
+      clothes has got to be biled, and I shouldn't wonder if yourn had, too."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, that's a fact!" said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They got a big camp-kettle that had been used, and would be again, for
+      making bean-soup, and started for the stream back of the camp. They had no
+      change of clothing with them. Some days before, in order to lighten their
+      knapsacks, they had taken out their extra shirts and drawers, tied them in
+      a bundle, and put them on the company wagon, and this was somewhere back
+      in the rear, owing to the confusion of the campaign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Seems to me," observed Si, "it ain't hardly a fair shake for Uncle Sam to
+      make us do our washin'. They ought to confiscate the niggers 'n' set them
+      at it; or I don't see why the Guvyment can't furnish a washin' masheen for
+      each comp'ny! 'Twouldn't be no more'n the square thing!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0060" id="linkimage-0060">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/181.jpg" alt="Si Was Disposed to Grumble 181 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "The wimmen does the washin', ye know, Si, up where we live," said Shorty,
+      "'n' I don't quite like the notion o' doin' that kind o' workt, but I
+      can't jest see how we're goin' to git out of it. It's got to be done,
+      that's sure!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the bank of the stream they quickly threw off their clothes for a bath.
+      Si cast rueful glances at his nether garments as he laid them on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hadn't we better pile some rocks on 'em, Shorty?" said he. I'm affeared
+      if we don't they'll crawl off into the bush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess we had," replied Shorty. "I b'lieve mine's started already!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having made sure of them, they plunged into the water. Far up and down the
+      stream were hundreds of men, swimming and splashing about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers availed themselves of every opportunity to enjoy this luxury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having thoroughly performed their ablutions. Si and Shorty turned their
+      energies toward the clothes, which were in such sore need of soap and hot
+      water. Putting their garments into the kettle and filling it with water,
+      they built a fire under it. After half an hour of vigorous boiling they
+      concluded they were "done." Plenty of soap, rubbing and rinsing finished
+      the work, and the clothes sure presented a remarkable appearance,
+      particularly the blue trousers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How're we going to git 'em dry?" asked Si, as he wrung out the last of
+      his "wash."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hang 'em on the fence in the sun!" replied Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what'll we wear while they're dryin'?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nothin', I reckon!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they spread out their garments, and then dashed again into the water.
+      After splashing awhile they came out and drew on their half-dried
+      trousers. Shorty lighted his pipe as they sat down to wait for the
+      sunshine to do its perfect work. All along the stream were soldiers in
+      similar stages of dishabille. It seemed like the Garden of Eden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0061" id="linkimage-0061">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/183.jpg" alt="Showing the Old Man a Trick 183 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Shorty," said Si, "'taint very wicked to smoke, is it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Guess not!" was the reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's the way it 'pears to me, 'n' I've been kinder thinkin' lately that
+      I'd learn how. The soljers all seem to enjoy their smokin' so much. You
+      know. Shorty, that I was always a reel good boy&mdash;never smoked, nor
+      chawed terbacker, nor cussed, nor done nothin' that was out o' the
+      straight an' narrer way. When I jined the regiment my good old mother says
+      to me: 'Now, Si,' says she, 'I do hope ye'll 'member what I've always
+      taught ye. I've beam 'em tell that they does dretful things in the army,
+      and I want ye to see if ye can't be as good a boy as ye've been at home.'
+      Of course, I told her I would, 'n' I mean, ter stick to it; but I don't
+      b'lieve there's any harm in smokin'. Is it hard to learn?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I dunno; I reck'n ye can't most always tell till ye try. Take a
+      whiff, 'nd see how she goes!" And Shorty handed him his pipe, which he had
+      just refilled with whittlings of black "navy plug."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Derned if I don't try it!" said Si, as he took the pipe and began to puff
+      with great energy. He made a few wry faces at first, but Shorty told him
+      to stick to it, and he bravely pulled away while the clouds of smoke
+      curled above him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not long till the color left his face, his head was in a whirl, and
+      his stomach began to manifest eruptive symptoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he gasped, "I'm awful sick. If smokin' makes a feller feel like
+      this I don't want any more of it in mine."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Where's all yer sand ye brag so much about?" said Shorty, laughing.
+      "You're mighty poor timber for a soljer if ye can't stand a little pipe o'
+      terbacker like that. You'll get over it purty soon, and it won't bother ye
+      any next time ye try it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si found that he had on hand about as much as he could manage with his
+      dizzy head and the rebellion that was so actively going on at a point a
+      little lower in his physical system. The feeling wore gradually off,
+      however, and by the time he was able to walk their clothes were well
+      dried. They proceeded to "dress up," and then returned to camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the afternoon the camp was visited by natives, black and white,
+      from the region round about, with corn "pones," alleged pies, boiled eggs,
+      and truck of various kinds, which they sought to dispose of for a valuable
+      consideration. They struck a bad crowd, however, in a financial sense. The
+      members of the 200th Ind. were not at this time in a condition of
+      opulence. Most of them had spent what money they brought from home, and
+      they had not been out long enough yet to receive a visit from the
+      Paymaster. The lank men and scrawny women cried their wares vociferously,
+      but with indifferent results. The boys wanted the stuff, but they were
+      "busted," and trade was dull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si looked wistfully at the "pies," and suggested to Shorty a joint
+      investment. Their purses were nearly empty, but the temptation was too
+      strong to be resisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them looks nice," said Si. They were the first pies he had seen since
+      leaving home, and his judgment was a little "off." As a matter of fact, it
+      was only by the greatest stretch of courtesy that they could be called
+      pies at all. But the word touched Si in a tender spot, and he only thought
+      of such as his mother used to make.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty "pooled in" and bought a pie. Impatiently whipping out his
+      pocket knife Si tried to cut it in two. It was hard work, for the "crust"&mdash;so
+      called&mdash;was as tough as the hide of a mule. By their united efforts
+      they at length succeeded in sawing it asunder. It was a fearful and
+      wonderful specimen of culinary effort. It was made of two slabs of sodden,
+      leathery dough, with a very feeble layer of dried apples sandwiched
+      between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si tried his teeth on the pie, but it was like trying to chew an old
+      boot-leg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say, old lady," said he, turning to the female of whom he had bought
+      it, "is these pies pegged or sewed?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look a hyar, young feller," said the woman, with considerable vinegar in
+      her tone, "p'raps you-uns-all thinks it's right smart to insult we-uns; it
+      shows how yer wuz broughten up. I don't 'low yer ever seed any nicer
+      dog-g-goned pies 'n them is. Ye needn't try ter argify 'long 'th me, fur I
+      kin jest knock the spots off'n any woman there is 'round here in cookin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si saw that it would be profitless to discuss the matter, and concluded to
+      make the best of a bad bargain. But he wouldn't eat the pie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the whole, the hucksters fared rather badly. The boys confiscated most
+      of the stuff that was brought in, promising to pay next time they came
+      that way. There was a good deal of grumbling, but the trouble always ended
+      in the soldiers getting the plunder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The climax was reached when a putty-faced citizen drove into camp a bony
+      mule tied with straps and ropes and strings to a crazy cart, on which was
+      a barrel of cider, which he "allowed" to sell out to the boys at 10 cents
+      a drink, or a quarter a canteen full. He had a spigot rigged up in one end
+      and an old tin cup, with which he dealt out the seductive beverage to such
+      as would pay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A thirsty crowd gathered around him, but sales were slow, on account of
+      the scarcity of money. Si and Shorty mingled with the boys, and then drew
+      aside and engaged in a whispered consultation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That'll be jest bully!" said Shorty. "If you can raise an auger somewhere
+      we'll git the bulge on that old chap."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0062" id="linkimage-0062">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/187.jpg" alt="Waiting for Their Clothes to Dry 187 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si returned after a brief absence, with an auger which he had borrowed
+      from the driver of an ammunition wagon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Shorty," said Si, "you git the boys to stand around and keep up a
+      racket, and I'll crawl under the cart and bore a hole into that 'ere
+      barrel. Then pass in yer canteens and army kettles 'n' we'll show the old
+      man a trick!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty quietly broached the scheme to a few of his comrades, who fell in
+      with it at once. Gathering around the cart, they cheered and chattered so
+      as to drown any noise Si might make while carrying out his plan, and which
+      would "give it away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not more than a minute till a gurgling sound was heard, and Si
+      began to pass out to the boys the buckets and canteens which they so
+      freely furnished him, filled with the fast-flowing contents of the barrel.
+      It didn't take long to empty it entirely, nor did the citizen discover the
+      state of affairs until the cider no longer ran from the spigot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had not sold more than a gallon or two, and he was amazed when the
+      liquid ceased to respond. Then he resolved himself into an investigating
+      committee, and after a protracted search he discovered the trick that had
+      been played on him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I'll be gosh-durned!" he exclaimed. "I've hearn tell 'bout Yankee
+      tricks, but dog my cats if this 'ere don't beat 'em all! I'd like to cut
+      the gizzard outen the rascal that bored the hole in that bar'l!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I declare, old pard; that was mean!" said Si, who stood looking on, with
+      his hands in his trousers pockets, the very picture of innocence. "I'm
+      jist goin' to flax 'round 'n' help ye find that feller. If I was you I'd
+      pound the stuffin' out of him&mdash;when ye cotch him!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. A CLOSE CALL
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CORPORAL KLEGG HAS AN EXCITING ADVENTURE GUARDING A FORAGE TRAIN.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "COMPANY Q's bin detailed to go out 'n' help guard a forage train
+      to-morrow," said the Orderly one evening at roll-call. "You fellers wants
+      to all be up 'n' dressed bright 'n' early, with yer cartridge-boxes full
+      'n' a day's rations in yer haversacks. Be sure yer guns is in good order,
+      fer likely's not we'll have a squirmish afore we git back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. had been lying in camp for two or three days, and the
+      ambitious heroes who composed that regiment were getting tired of loafing
+      about. Nothing chafed the raging patriotism of the new troops like a
+      condition, however brief, of masterly inactivity. They refused to be
+      comforted unless they were on the warpath all the time. Their ideal of a
+      soldier's life was to take a rebel battery every morning before breakfast,
+      storm a line of works to give them an appetite for dinner, and spend the
+      afternoon charging with cold steel the serried columns of the foe and
+      wading around through seas of gore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Corporal Klegg and Shorty and the rest of the boys betook themselves
+      with alacrity to the work of preparation for the duties of the morrow.
+      Members of the other companies watched the proceedings with jealous eye.
+      They almost turned green with envy because they were not detailed for the
+      expedition instead of Co. Q.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Si," remarked Shorty, thoughtfully, "hadn't we better write a letter
+      home? Who knows but we'll be as dead as mackerels to-morrer night!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fiddlesticks!" said Si. "What's the use o' havin' a funeral afore there's
+      any corpse! We've bin through one fight 'n' didn't git hurt, 'n' I've made
+      up my mind there's no use gittin' into a stew over a thing that may hap'n
+      'n' may not. Time 'nuff to fret 'bout it when it comes. I recolleck one
+      thing I learned in Sunday-school&mdash;let's see, it was 'S'ficient unto
+      the day is the evil thereof,' or suthin' like that. Strikes me that's a
+      good passidge o' Scripter fer a soldier to keep pasted in his hat. I ain't
+      goin' ter hang back fer fear a billit 'll hit me, nuther. If we're going
+      to be killed we can't help it, so let's not fret our gizzards out!" And Si
+      crammed a handful of hardtack into his haversack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's cheery view of the case was not without its effect upon Shorty.
+      Indeed, it cannot be denied that there was a great deal of common sense in
+      his homely, good-natured philosophy. Sooner or later every soldier who did
+      not "peter out" came gradually to adopt Si's idea as the governing
+      principle of his military career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shouldn't wonder if you was 'bout right, after all," said Shorty, as he
+      sliced up some bacon to have it ready for an early breakfast. "You're
+      better'n medicine, Si, to a feller w'at gits the blues sometimes!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The preparations were soon made, and Co. Q went to bed early. In the
+      morning the Orderly came around and stirred the boys up an hour before
+      reveille, as they were ordered to be ready to start at daylight. The
+      primary object of the expedition was forage for the animals, the supply of
+      which had run short. Besides this, each man had a secondary purpose, and
+      that was to gather in something on his own hook that would satisfy his
+      longing for a change from the regulation diet. This was always the
+      unwritten part of the order to "go out foraging." Daylight was just
+      streaking over the camp when Co. Q, equipped in light marching order,
+      leaving knapsacks behind, moved out to where the half dozen wagons
+      detailed from the regimental transportation were ready for the start. Each
+      regiment in the brigade furnished a company and the same number of wagons.
+      The impatient mules were braying and flapping their ears, as if they
+      understood that they were to be the chief beneficiaries of the raid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Pile in, boys!" said the Orderly, and they clambered into the wagons. The
+      guards were permitted to ride until there were symptoms of danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the muleteers, bestriding the big "wheelers," cracked their long
+      whips like pistol-snots, addressed to the mules the usual words of
+      exhortation, and the long procession drew out upon the stony pike and took
+      a brisk trot. Considerable foraging had already been done in the vicinity,
+      and it was expected the train would have to go out several miles in order
+      to fully accomplish its object. The boys were in fine spirits and enjoyed
+      their morning ride, albeit the jolting of the wagons gave them a thorough
+      shaking up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I guess they forgot to put any springs in when they built these wagons!"
+      said Shorty, as he shifted his position so that he might catch the bumps
+      in a new place for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jest thinkin' that way myself," replied Si; "but all the same, it beats
+      travelin' on the hoof all holler!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three or four miles out from camp the train was halted while the officers
+      in command made inquiries of a cadaverous native who was sunning himself
+      on the fence and whose principal occupation seemed to be chewing tobacco
+      and distributing the resultant liquid around in a promiscuous way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning, stranger," said the officer, "have you any corn on your
+      place?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Haint got a dog-goned ear left!" was the surly answer. "Some o' you-unses
+      men wuz out here yisterdy 'n' tuk every bit I hed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This may or may not have been true. Inquiries of this nature always
+      developed the fact that it was a man's neighbors who had plenty of corn;
+      he never had any himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's ole man Scroggs," he continued; "he lives a matter of two miles
+      from hyar. I 'low ye'll git sum if ye go thar. He growed a power o' cawn
+      this yeah; he sold a heap, but I reckon he's got a right smart left."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this time a couple of men had been making a hasty examination of
+      the outbuildings on the place. They reported that they could find nothing
+      in the way of forage. If the man had any corn he had carefully concealed
+      it. The train started on to pay a visit to old man Scroggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, old pard," asked Si as his wagon drove past, "is there any rebs
+      'round here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There wuz a few Confedrit critter-men ridin' 'bout hyar this mawnin';&mdash;mebby
+      ye'll run agin 'em 'afore night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How many o' your boys is among em?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'uns is all Union."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jest as long as we're 'round, I s'pose!" said Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A mile further on those who were in the lead, rising to the crest of a
+      hill, saw&mdash;or thought they saw a few vagrant cavalrymen far ahead.
+      The train was halted and dispositions were made to meet any emergency
+      likely to arise. The men were ordered to "tumble out" of the wagons. The
+      main body was formed in advance. A line of skirmishers was deployed in
+      front and flankers were thrown out on either side. Thus protected, the
+      mule drivers again cracked their whips and the procession moved cautiously
+      forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now keep yer eyes skinned," said Si to Shorty as they trailed along
+      through the woods and fields and over fences, on one of the flanks. "If
+      any of them raskils comes dodgin' 'round here let's try 'n' have the first
+      crack at 'em 'n' git the bulge on the rest o' the boys!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keenly alert, with muskets loaded and capped, they crept carefully along,
+      poking their noses into every thicket and peering around every building.
+      It was clear that there would not be anything in the nature of a surprise
+      if the whole line was as well taken care of as the particular point
+      guarded by Corporal Klegg and his faithful friend Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's some like huntin' squirrels up in the woods of Posey County," said
+      Si, as they forced their way through a patch of brambles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Pears to be rayther more excitin' than huntin' squirrels," said Shorty.
+      "Ye know squirrels doesn't shute back at a feller as them pesky rebbles
+      does, an' the fun 's all on one side. I reckon ef squirrels c'd shute
+      there wouldn't be so much huntin' of 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was really a disappointment to Si that he found no opportunity to
+      squint along the barrel of his musket in range of a foe. If any of his
+      misguided fellow-citizens were in the neighborhood they considered
+      discretion the better part of valor and kept out of harm's way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In due time the Scroggs plantation was reached. A hasty examination showed
+      that there was an abundance of corn on the place to load the wagons, and
+      arrangements for a sudden transfer of the property were quickly made. A
+      third of the force established a cordon of picket-posts around the
+      marauding party, covering all the avenues of approach, with re serves at
+      convenient points. The remainder of the troops stacked arms and entered
+      briskly upon the work of confiscation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0063" id="linkimage-0063">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/191.jpg"
+      alt="An Assault on the Well-filled Corn Crib 191 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Part of the harvest had already been gathered, and the first assault
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      was made on a well-filled cornhouse&mdash;one of a group of dilapidated
+      out-buildings a little way from the dwelling. "Old man" Scroggs protested
+      with profane vehemence, reinforced by the "old woman" and the entire
+      family of children. We say "entire family," because there could not well
+      have been a more numerous progeny in one household anywhere outside of
+      Utah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The head of the family cursed and swore, and his wife and the big girls
+      looked as if they wanted to do the same thing, as they stood wringing
+      their hands, their eyes flashing fire while the small-fry stood around and
+      sobbed with a vague idea that some dire calamity had befallen them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old Kentuckian declared that he was a "Union man," and that he would
+      demand of the Government full revenge for this outrage. It was noticed
+      that there were no young men around as there should be according to the
+      economy of nature, to preserve the balance of sex in so large a family.
+      The officer in command asked him where all his sons were.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wall, I kaint tell yer 'zactly whar they is," was the reply. "They ain't
+      to hum jest now. I 'low they've got a right to g'way ef they want ter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer had been informed that there were several representatives of
+      the Scroggs family in the rebel army. The old man's avowal of loyalty was
+      taken for what it was worth. That it was not rated at a high figure was
+      well attested by the appearance of the plantation a few hours later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the soldiers kept right along in the duty assigned them. The
+      corn-house was surrounded by wagons, the roof was gently lifted off, and
+      in scarcely more time than it takes to tell the story six or eight of the
+      wagons were heaped with the contents. The mules wagged their tails and
+      brayed in anticipation of the picnic they would have when they got back to
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the force moved some distance and attacked a large field of standing
+      corn. The stalks had been "topped," but the ears were yet ungathered. The
+      men started in between the rows and swept through that field like a
+      cyclone, plucking the ears right and left. Bags, baskets and boxes were
+      pressed into the service, and as there were not enough of these to go'
+      round many bore the corn to the wagons by armfuls. It did not take more
+      than two or three hours to strip every ear from the field. A visitation of
+      overgrown Kansas grasshoppers could not have done a more thorough job.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fo' de Lawd, boss," said an old darky who had been roosting on the fence
+      watching the spoilers, "I nebber seed de crap gaddered so quick since I'se
+      bawn. You'uns all is powerful smart, da't shuah!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But where were Corporal Klegg and his comrade. Shorty, while all this was
+      going on?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had been stationed as sentinels near a house, half a mile beyond, on
+      the pike. They were cautioned to keep a sharp lookout, and for a time they
+      obeyed their instructions to the letter. Their vigilant eyes swept the
+      surrounding country, and no rebel could have crept up on them without
+      getting a pair of bullets from their ready muskets. They saw no signs of
+      an enemy, and after a while it began to grow monotonous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "I don't b'lieve there's any seceshers in these parts,
+      an' there ain't any use'n us both keepin' this thing up. You jest watch
+      out awhile 'n' I'll skin around 'n' see what I kin find."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty agreed to this, taking it as an order from his superior officer. Si
+      threw his gun up to a "right shoulder shift" and started off, after again
+      urging upon his companion the importance of attending strictly to
+      business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had not gone far till he saw, penned in a corner of the barnyard, a cow
+      with a full udder, from which a frisky young calf was busily engaged in
+      pumping nourishment. A violent feeling of envy toward that calf began
+      immediately to rage in the 'breast of Si. He had not had a draft of fresh
+      milk since he had left home, and he felt that a little refreshment of that
+      kind would be particularly gratifying to his interior organism. It would
+      strengthen him and give him new courage to stand up to the rack if they
+      should happen to get into a fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I say. Shorty," he called, "cum 'ere a minnit, quick!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si's conscience smote him for calling Shorty from his duty and leaving the
+      post unguarded, but the temptation was too strong for him to resist, and
+      he yielded to the impulse to take the chances. Shorty came on the run,
+      with eyes wide open, thinking his comrade had discovered some rebels
+      hanging around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look there!" said Si, pointing to the maternal scene that has been
+      alluded to. "Let's have some o' that. We'll git over the fence 'n' you
+      jest hold the calf while I milk our canteens full. 'Twont take more'n a
+      jiffy!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We ort n't to leave the post, ort we?" suggested Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, there ain't no danger," Si replied; "an' besides, you can keep
+      lookin' out while you're hangin' on to the calf. I was alters a good
+      milker 'n' I'll fill up these canteens in a couple o' minnits." So they
+      climbed over and leaned their muskets against the fence. Shorty seized the
+      calf and held it with a firm grip, in spite of its struggling and
+      bleating. The cow seemed disposed at first to resent the interference, but
+      Si's persuasive "So, bossy" proved effectual in calming her fears, and she
+      stood placidly chewing her cud while Si, spurred on by a guilty
+      conscience, milked with all his might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0064" id="linkimage-0064">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/195.jpg" alt="Shorty Held the Calf 195 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The canteens were soon filled, and, with out stopping to drink. Si and
+      Shorty hurried back to their post of duty. All was quiet, and no harm had
+      resulted from their brief absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I told ye 'twould be all right," said Si. "Now, we'll jest empty one o'
+      these canteens&mdash;here, take a swig&mdash;'n' we'll carry the other to
+      camp. It'll be jest bully to have milk in our coffee agin!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they betook themselves to duty with redoubled vigilance, to atone for
+      their derelictions. After watching for an hour without seeing anything, Si
+      said he would take another little turn around the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Boldly advancing to the house, which was some distance in front of their
+      post, he was met by a girl of about 18. She was rather pretty, but to Si's
+      ardent imagination she was like a vision of surpassing loveliness. She
+      greeted him pleasantly&mdash;for Si was a comely youth&mdash;and, if the
+      truth must be told, he actually forgot for the moment all about his duty.
+      When she said she would get him a good dinner, and invited him into the
+      house to sit while she prepared it, he just went right along.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But his conscience began to thump so loudly that after a few minutes he
+      told her he guessed he'd have to go, but would be delighted to return in
+      an hour and partake of her hospitality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "May I bring Shorty&mdash;he's my pard&mdash;'long with me?" he timidly
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly!" she replied, with a sweet smile; and Si went away, his nerves
+      tingling with pleasant emotions to the very tips of his fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," he said, as he came up to "I've struck it this time. Over to
+      that house there's the purtiest gal I ever see."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wha-a-a-a-t!" interjected Shorty, with a look of astonishment; for he
+      knew something about Si and Annabel&mdash;the girl he left behind him&mdash;and
+      he was both surprised and pained at Si's treasonable enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si easily divined his thoughts, for something of the same nature had
+      already caused his own heart to palpitate in a reproving way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of&mdash;c-c-course&mdash;I d-d-don't&mdash;mean th-th-that. Shorty," he
+      stammered "but she's a nice girl, anyhow, 'n' she's gittin' up a dinner
+      fer me 'n' you. Bet ye it'll be a nice lay-out, too!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty did not feel quite at ease in his mind about leaving the post
+      again, but Si assured him it would be all right. The peculiar
+      circumstances of the case had sadly warped Si's judgment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went to the house and were cordially greeted by their fair young
+      hostess, who was flying around, putting the finishing touches to the meal
+      she had prepared for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jiminy, don't that smell good?" said Si to Shorty in an undertone, as his
+      sensitive nostrils caught the savory odors that arose from the
+      nicely-spread board.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young soldiers stood their guns on the floor in a corner of the room,
+      preliminary to an assault on the edibles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ugh!" exclaimed the young woman, with a coquettish shiver, "be them awful
+      things loaded?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "N&mdash;no!" said Si; "they won't hurt ye if ye don't touch 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si was learning to fib a little, and he wanted to quiet the girl's fears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys were soon seated at the table, bountifully supplied with ham,
+      chicken, eggs, bread and butter, honey, and all the accessories of a
+      well-ordered repast. They fell to with an eagerness that was, perhaps,
+      justified by the long time that had elapsed since they had had a "square
+      meal." Si thought that never in his life had anything tasted so good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were thus engaged, without a thought of impending danger, the
+      girl suddenly opened the door, leading to the dining room. A wild-eyed man&mdash;who
+      proved to be her brother&mdash;in the uniform of a rebel soldier, dashed
+      in, and, presenting a cocked revolver, demanded their unconditional and
+      immediate surrender.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in a tight place. But Si proved equal to the sudden and
+      appalling emergency. It flashed through his mind in an instant how the
+      girl had "played it" on him. He made up his mind that he would rather be
+      shot than be captured under such circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0065" id="linkimage-0065">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/199.jpg" alt="Si Sprang Upon Him 199 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Si sprang up, and the rebel, true to his word, fired. Si dodged, and the
+      ball only chipped a piece from his left ear. There was not time to get and
+      use his gun. With the quickness of a cat Si sprang upon him, and with a
+      blow of his fist laid him sprawling upon the floor. Disarming him, he
+      placed the revolver at his head and triumphantly exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, gol durn ye, you're my prisoner. I'd like to blow the top o' yer
+      head off fer spilin' my dinner, but I won't do it this time. But you jist
+      git up 'n' come 'long with me!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With his complete mastery of the situation, Si's confidence returned, and
+      Shorty, who had been dazed and helpless at first, recovered himself and
+      came to his assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at this instant their ears caught the sound of horses' hoofs galloping
+      down the pike. Si's quick perception told him that is was a dash of rebel
+      cavalrymen, and that a few moments later escape would be impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Grab yer gun an' git!" he said to Shorty, at the same time casting one
+      ferocious glance at the terrified girl, who stood, white and speechless,
+      contemplating the scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty dashed out of the house and started for the reserve, at the
+      highest speed of which their legs were capable. On clattered the horses,
+      and a few shots from the carbines of the swift-riding horsemen whistled
+      through the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Six feet at a jump, with thumping hearts and bulging eyes, the fugitives
+      almost flew over the ground, throwing quick glances at their pursuers, and
+      then ahead, in the hope of catching a glimpse of succor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0066" id="linkimage-0066">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/203.jpg"
+      alt="'shorty if We--only Git--out O' This--' 203 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty, if we only git out o' this&mdash;" but Si found he hadn't any
+      wind to spare to finish the sentence. We must leave to the reader's
+      imagination the good resolutions as to his future conduct that were
+      forming in Si's mind at this critical juncture. He saw the awful
+      consequences of yielding to the influence of that alluring young woman and
+      her seductive dinner. What he had read about Adam and the trouble Eve got
+      him into, in pretty much the same way, flashed before him. It was a good
+      time to resolve that he wouldn't do so any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty, long and lank, was swifter on his feet than Si. Hardtack and bacon
+      had not yet reduced the latter's surplus flesh to a degree that enabled
+      him to run well. Shorty kept ahead, but would not desert his comrade,
+      slowing up for an instant now and then to give Si, who was straining to
+      the utmost every nerve, and puffing like a locomotive on an upgrade, a
+      chance to keep within supporting distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers of the reserve taking the alarm, came out at a double-quick
+      and were fortunately able to cover the retreat of Si and Shorty. The half
+      dozen cavalrymen, upon the appearance of so large a force, turned their
+      horses and galloped away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hello, Si," said the Orderly of Co. Q, "yer ear's bleedin'. What hurt
+      ye?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fell down and scratched it on a brier!" said Si, as soon as he was able
+      to speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Si and Shorty sat on a log by the campfire talking over the
+      events of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't ye never blow on this thing," said Si. "It'll be a cold day for us
+      if they'd find it out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There ain't no danger o' my tellin'," replied Shorty. "But, say, ain't
+      that a nice girl out there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "She's a mean rebel, that's what she is! But that was a smart trick o'
+      her'n, wasn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come mighty near bein' too smart fer us!" replied Shorty. "I don't want
+      no more such close shaves in mine. You 'member the story of the spider and
+      the fly, don't ye? Well, she was the spider 'n' we was two poor little
+      fool flies!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, "I'd a mighty sight ruther be an angel an' have the
+      daisies a-bloomin' over my grave, than to have been tuk a prisoner in that
+      house. But that dinner was good, anyhow&mdash;what we got of it!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. "THE SWEET SABBATH"
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOW THE BLESSED DAY OF REST WAS SPENT IN THE ARMY.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "TOMORROW'S Sunday, ye know," said the Orderly of Company Q one Saturday
+      night at roll-call.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was in the nature of news to the boys. But for the announcement very
+      few of them would have known it. The Orderly was not distinguished for his
+      piety, and it is not likely that the approach of Sunday would have
+      occurred to him if the Sergeant-Major had not come around with orders from
+      the Colonel for a proper observance of the day. The Colonel himself would
+      not have thought of it either, if the Chaplain had not reminded him of it.
+      Everybody wondered how even the Chaplain could keep track of the days well
+      enough to know when Sunday came&mdash;but that was chiefly what he wore
+      shoulder-straps and drew his salary for. It was the general impression
+      that he either carried an almanac in his pocket, or else a stick in which
+      he cut a notch every day with his jack-knife, and in that way managed to
+      know when a new week began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There'll be guard-mountin' at 9 o'clock," continued the Orderly,
+      "regimental inspection at 10, preachin' at 11, an' dress-parade at 5 in
+      the evenin'. All of ye wants to tumble out right promptly at revellee an'
+      git yer breakfast, an' then clean up yer guns an' put all yer traps in
+      apple-pie order, 'cause the Colonel's goin' to look at 'em. He's got sharp
+      eyes, an' I reck'n he'll be mighty pertickler. If there's anything that
+      ain't jest right he'll see it quicker'n litenin'. Ye know we hain't had
+      any inspections yet, an' the Cap'n wants us to be the boss company. So
+      ye've got to scratch around lively in the mornin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say," said Corporal Klegg, after the company had broken ranks, "seems to
+      me there wa'n't no use in the Orderly tellin' us to 'scratch around,' fer
+      we're doin' that purty much all the time, now that the graybacks is
+      gittin' in their work on us."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty smiled faintly at what he seemed to consider a rather feeble joke,
+      even for Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The 200th Ind. had now been in the field for many weeks, but it had been
+      continually cantering about the country, and the Generals had kept it
+      particularly active on Sundays. Probably this regiment did not manifest
+      any more than the average degree of enthusiasm and fervor in religious
+      matters, but there were many in its ranks who, at home, had always sat
+      under Gospel ministrations, and to tramp on Sundays, the same as other
+      days, was, at first, a rude shock to their moral sensibilities. These were
+      yet keen, the edges had not been worn off and blunted and battered by the
+      hard knocks of army life. True, they could scarcely tell when Sunday came,
+      but they knew that they kept right along every day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, after they had curled up under the blanket for the
+      night, "'pears to me it'll seem sort o' nice to keep Sunday agin. At the
+      rate we've bin goin' on we'll all be heathens by the time we git home&mdash;if
+      we ever do. Our Chaplain haint had no chance to preachify yet. The boys of
+      Comp'ny X, w'at knows him, says he's a staver, 'n' I b'lieve it'll make us
+      all feel better to have him talk to us once. 'Twont do us no harm, nohow,
+      I'd like to be home to-morrer 'n' go to church with mother, 'n' sister
+      Marier, 'n'&mdash;er&mdash;I mean the rest of the folks. Then I'd jest eat
+      all the afternoon. I ain't goin' ter git homesick, Shorty; but a feller
+      can't help feelin' a little streaked once 'n' a while. Mebbe it's a good
+      idee fer 'em to keep us on the jump, fer then we don't git no chance to
+      think 'bout it. I don't suppose I'm the only boy 'n the regiment that 'd
+      be glad to git a jest fer to-morrer. I sh'd want ter be back bright 'n'
+      arly to fall in Monday mornin', fer I'm goin' to stick to the 200th
+      through thick 'n' thin, if I don't git knocked out. Say, Shorty, how d'ye
+      feel, any way?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shorty was already fast asleep. Si spooned up to him and was soon, in
+      his dreams, away up in Posey County.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of the bugle and drum, at daylight, fell upon unwilling ears,
+      for the soldiers felt the same indisposition to get up early Sunday
+      morning that is everywhere One of the characteristics of modern
+      civilization. Their beds were hard, but to their weary limbs no couch of
+      down ever gave more welcome rest than did the rough ground on which they
+      lay. But the wild yell of the Orderly, "Turn out for roll-call!" with the
+      thought of the penalties for non-obedience&mdash;which some of them had
+      abundant reason to remember&mdash;quickly brought out the laggards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty were, as usual, among the first to take their places in
+      line. They were pleasantly greeted by the Captain, who had come out on the
+      run at the last moment, and wriggled himself into his coat as he strode
+      along the company street. The Captain did not very often appear at morning
+      rollcall. But one officer of the company was required to be present, and
+      the Captain generally loaded this duty upon the Lieutenants "turn about."
+      If he did show up, he would go back to bed and snooze for an hour while
+      the cook was getting breakfast. If one of the men did that he would soon
+      be promenading with a rail on his shoulder or standing on a barrel with a
+      stick or a bayonet tied in his mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think that's a fust rate notion to mount the guards," said Si to Shorty
+      as they sat on a rail by the fire making coffee and frying bacon. "It'll
+      be so much better 'n walkin' back 'n' forrard on the beats. Wonder 'f
+      they'll give us bosses or mules to ride."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like to know what put that idee into yer head," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Whydn't the Ord'ly say last night there 'd be guard-mountin' at 9 o'clock
+      this mornin'? I s'posed that fer a man to be mounted meant straddlin' a
+      boss or s'mother kind of an animal."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ain't ye never goin' to larn nuthin'," said Shorty, with a laugh.
+      "Guard-mountin' don't mean fer the men to git on hosses. It's only the
+      name they gives it in the Army Reggelations. Dunno why they calls it that,
+      'nless it's 'cause the guards has to 'mount' anybody that tries to pass
+      'thout the countersign. But don't ye fool yerself with thinkin' yer goin'
+      to get to ride. We'll keep pluggin' along afoot, on guard or anywhere
+      else, same's we have all the time."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus rudely was shattered another of Si Klegg's bright illusions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole regiment turned out to witness the ceremony of guard-mounting.
+      It was the first time the exigencies of the campaign had permitted the
+      200th Ind. to do this in regular style. The Adjutant was the most
+      important personage, and stood so straight that he narrowly escaped
+      falling over backward. In order to guard against making a mess of it, he
+      had spent half the night rehearsing the various commands in his tent. Thus
+      prepared, he managed to get through it in very fair shape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0067" id="linkimage-0067">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/211.jpg" alt="So Straight he Leaned Backward 211 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      The next thing on the program for the day was the inspection. The boys had
+      been industriously engaged in cleaning up their muskets and accouterments,
+      and putting their scanty wardrobes in presentable condition. In arranging
+      his knapsack for the Colonel's eye, each man carefully laid a clean shirt,
+      if he had one, on the top. The garments that were not clean he either
+      stowed away in the tent or put at the bottom of the knapsack. In this he
+      was actuated by the same principle that prompts the thrifty farmer to put
+      the biggest apples and strawberries at the top of his measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clothing of the regiment was already in an advanced stage of
+      demoralization. It was of the "shoddy" sort that a good hard wind would
+      almost blow to pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg was anxious that not only his person, but all his
+      belongings, should make as good an appearance as possible. He put on the
+      best and cleanest garments he had, and then betook himself to fixing his
+      knapsack so it would pass muster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Them duds is a bad lot," he said to Shorty, casting rueful glances at the
+      little heap of soiled and ragged clothes. "Purty hard to make a decent
+      show with them things."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Wait a minute," said Shorty, "an' I'll show ye a little trick."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking his poncho under His arm. Shorty went to the rear of the camp,
+      where the mules were feeding, and presently returned with a bunch of hay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What ye goin' to do with that?" asked Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You jest do 's I tell ye, and don't ask no questions. Cram some o' this
+      hay into yer knapsack 'n' fill 'er up 'n' then put a shirt or suthin', the
+      best ye kin find, on top, 'n' the Colonel 'll think she's full o' clothes
+      right from the laundry. I'm goin' to fix mine that way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty, you're a trump!" said Si, approvingly. "That 'll be a bully
+      scheme."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It required but a few minutes to carry out the plan. The hay was stuffed
+      into the knapsack, and all vagrant spears were carefully tucked in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a garment, folded so as to conceal its worst features, was nicely
+      spread over the hay, the flaps were closed and buckled, and the young
+      Hoosiers were ready for inspection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "S'posen the Colonel sh'd take a notion to go pokin' down into them
+      knapsacks," said Si; "don't ye think it'd be purty cold weather for us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "P'r'aps it mout," answered Shorty; "but we've got ter take the chances.
+      He's got seven or eight hundred knapsacks to 'nspect, 'n' I don't b'lieve
+      he'll stick his nose down into very many on 'em!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time the battalion was formed and the inspection was gone
+      through with in good style. The Colonel and the field and staff officers,
+      escorted by the Captain of each successive company, moved gradually
+      between the ranks, their swords dangling around and getting mixed up with
+      their legs. The soldiers stood facing inward like so many wooden men, with
+      their open knapsacks lying upon the ground at their feet. The Colonel
+      looked sharply right and left, stopped now and then to commend a soldier
+      whose "straps" were in particularly good condition, or to "go for" another
+      whose slouchy appearance betokened untidy habits. If a button was missing,
+      or a shoe untied, his eye was keen to detect it, and a word of reproof was
+      administered to the delinquent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Colonel started down the line of Company Q Si watched him out of
+      the corners of his eyes with no little anxiety. His heart thumped as he
+      saw him occasionally stoop and fumble over the contents of a knapsack,
+      evidently to test the truth of Longfellow's declaration that "things are
+      not what they seem." What if the Colonel should go down into the bowels of
+      Si's knapsack! Si fairly shuddered at the thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si, being the shortest of the Corporals, was at the foot of the company,
+      while Shorty, on account of his hight, was well up toward the head. Si
+      almost fainted when he saw the Colonel stop in front of his "pard" and
+      make an examination of his fatlooking knapsack. Military official dignity
+      gave way when the removal of the single garment exposed the stuffing of
+      hay. The officers burst into a laugh at the unexpected revelation, while
+      the boys on either side almost exploded in their enjoyment of Shorty's
+      discomfiture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0068" id="linkimage-0068">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/215.jpg"
+      alt="Si Almost Fainted when the Colonel Stopped 215 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      "Captain," said the Colonel, with as much sternness as he could command,
+      "as soon as your company is dismissed detail a guard to take charge of
+      this man. Have him take the hay out of his knapsack and fill it with
+      stones&mdash;and see that it is filled full. Have this man put it on and
+      march him up and down the company street till church-call, and then take
+      him to hear the Chaplain. He needs to be preached to. Perhaps, between the
+      knapsack-drill and the Chaplain, we can straight him out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corporal Klegg heard all this, and he wished the ground might open and
+      swallow him. "These stripes is gone this time, sure!" he said to himself,
+      as he looked at the chevrons on his arm. "But there's no use givin'
+      yourself away, Si. Brace up, 'n' mebbe the Colonel 'll skip ye."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si had been badly shaken up by the Colonel's episode with Shorty, but by a
+      great effort he gathered himself together and was at his best, externally,
+      when the Colonel reached him, though his thoughts were in a raging
+      condition. His face was clean and rosy, and his general make-up was as
+      good as could be expected under the circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel had always remembered Si as the soldier he had promoted to be
+      a Corporal for his gallantry in the little skirmish a few days before. As
+      he came up he greeted the Corporal with a smile and a nod of recognition.
+      He was evidently pleased at his tidy appearance. He cast a glance at the
+      voluptuous knapsack, and Si's heart seemed to sink away down into his
+      shoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the fates smiled on Si that day. The Colonel turned to the Captain and
+      told him that Corporal Klegg was the model soldier of Company Q. Si was
+      the happiest man in the universe at that precise moment. It was not on
+      account of the compliment the Colonel had paid him, but because his
+      knapsack had escaped a critical inspection of its contents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspection over, Company Q marched back to its quarters and was
+      dismissed. Poor Shorty was soon tramping to and fro, under guard, humping
+      his back to ease the load that had been put upon it. Si was very sorry for
+      him, and at the same time felt a glow of pleasure at the thought that it
+      was not his own knapsack instead of Shorty's that the Colonel had
+      examined. He could not help feeling, too, that it was a great joke on
+      Shorty to be caught in his own trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0069" id="linkimage-0069">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img src="images/217.jpg" alt="Shorty Was There--with a Guard 217 "
+      width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      Shorty took his medicine like a man, marching up and down the row of tents
+      bravely and patiently, unheeding the gibes and jeers of his hard-hearted
+      comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bugle sounded the call for religious services. Shorty was not in a
+      frame of mind that fitted him for devout worship. In fact, few in the
+      regiment had greater need of the regenerating influence. He had never been
+      inside of a church but two or three times in his life, and he really felt
+      that to be compelled to go and listen to the Chaplain's sermon was the
+      hardest part of the double punishment the Colonel had inflicted upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The companies were all marched to a wooded knoll just outside the camp.
+      Shorty went by himself, save the companionship of the guard, with fixed
+      bayonet. He had been permitted to leave his knapsack behind. He was taken
+      to a point near the Chaplain, that he might get the full benefit of the
+      preacher's words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the spreading trees, whose foliage was brilliant with the hues of
+      Autumn, in the mellow sunshine of that October day the men seated
+      themselves upon the ground to hear the Gospel preached. The Chaplain, in
+      his best uniform, stood and prayed fervently for Divine guidance and
+      protection and blessing, while the soldiers listened, with heads
+      reverently bowed. Then he gave out the familiar Methodist hymn,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Am I a soldier of the cross,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and all joined in the old tune "Balerma," their voices swelling in mighty
+      chorus. As they sang,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Are there no foes for me to face?"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      there came to the minds of many a practical application of the words, in
+      view of the long and fruitless chase after the rebels in which they had
+      been engaged for nearly a month.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chaplain had formerly been an old-fashioned Methodist circuit-rider in
+      Indiana. He was full of fiery zeal, and portrayed the terrors of eternal
+      punishment so vividly that His hearers could almost feel the heat of the
+      flame and smell the fumes of brimstone that are popularly believed to roll
+      out unceasingly from the mouth of the bottomless pit. It ought to have had
+      a salutary effect upon Shorty, but it is greatly to be feared that he
+      steeled his stubborn heart against all that the Chaplain said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was always difficult not to feel that there was something contradictory
+      and anomalous about religious services in the army. Grim-visaged, hideous
+      war, and all its attendant circumstances, seemed so utterly at variance
+      with the principles of the Bible and the teachings of Him who was meek and
+      lowly, that few soldiers had philosophy enough to reconcile them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The soldiers spent the afternoon in reading what few stray books and
+      fugitive, well-worn newspapers there were in camp, mending their clothes,
+      sleeping, and some of them, we are pained to add, in playing eucher, old
+      sledge, and other sinful games. Dress parade closed the day that had
+      brought welcome rest to the way-worn soldiers of the 200th Ind..
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, after they had gone to bed that night, "I sh'd be
+      mighty sorry if I'd ha' got up that knapsack trick this mornin', 'cause
+      you got left on it so bad."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's a good many things," replied Shorty, "that's all right when ye
+      don't git ketched. It worked tip top with you, Si, 'n' I'm glad of it. But
+      I put ye up to it, 'n' I shouldn't never got over it if the Colonel had
+      caught ye, on account of them stripes on yer arm. He'd ha' snatched 'em
+      baldheaded, sure's yer born. You're my pard, 'n' I'm jest as proud of 'em
+      as you be yerself. I'm only a privit,' 'n' they can't rejuce me any lower!
+      Besides, I 'low it sarved me right 'n' I don't keer fer the knapsack
+      drill, so I didn't git you into a scrape."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. SI AND SHORTY WERE RAPIDLY LEARNING
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE GREAT MILITARY TRUTH
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      THAT IN THE ARMY THE MOST LIKELY THING TO HAPPEN IS SOMETHING ENTIRELY
+      UNLIKELY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, as his name would indicate, had first opened
+      his eyes where the blue heavens bend over the evergreen sod of Ireland.
+      Naturally, therefore, he thought himself a born soldier, and this
+      conviction had been confirmed by a year's service as Second Lieutenant of
+      Volunteers in the Mexican War, and subsequent connection with the Indiana
+      Militia. Being an Irishman, when he went in for anything, and especially
+      soldiering, he went in with all his might. He had associated with Regular
+      Army officers whenever there was an opportunity, and he looked up to them
+      with the reverence and emulation that an amateur gives to a professional.
+      Naturally he shared their idea that an inspection and parade was the
+      summit of military art. Consequently, the main thing to make the 200th
+      Ind. the regiment it should be were frequent and rigid inspections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fine weather, two days of idleness, and the prospect that the regiment
+      would remain there some time watching the crossing of the Cumberland were
+      enough and more than enough to set the Colonel going. The Adjutant
+      published the following order:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Headquarters 200th Indiana,
+     In the Field, on the Cumberland,
+
+     Nov. 25, 1862.
+
+     I. The Regiment will be paraded for inspection tomorrow
+     afternoon at 4 o'clock.
+
+     II. Captains will be expected to parade the full strength of
+     their companies.
+
+     III. A half hour before the parade. Captains will form their
+     companies in the company streets and inspect every man.
+
+     IV. The men will be required to have their clothes neatly
+     brushed, blouses buttoned up, clean underclothes, shoes
+     blacked, letters and numbers polished, and arms and
+     accouterments in best condition. They will wear white
+     gloves.
+
+     V. The man who has his clothes, arms and accouterments in
+     the best order will be selected for the Colonel's Orderly.
+
+     By command of
+
+     Attest: COL. TERRENCE P. McTARNAGHAN, Colonel.
+
+     B. B. LAUGHLIN, Adjutant.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      When Capt. McGillicuddy marched Co. Q back to its street, he called
+      attention to the order with a few terse admonitions as to what it meant to
+      every one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Get at this as soon as you break ranks, boys," urged the Captain. "You
+      can do a whole lot between now and tattoo. The others will, and you must
+      not let them get ahead of you. No straw in knapsacks this time."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Company spirit was high, and it would be little short of a calamity to
+      have Co. Q beaten in anything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a rush to the Sutler for white gloves, blacking, needles,
+      thread, paper collars, sweet oil and rotten stone for the guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That genial bird of prey added 50 per cent to his prices, because it was
+      the first business he had done for some weeks; 50 per cent more for
+      keeping open in the evening, another 50 per cent for giving credit till
+      pay day, and still another for good will.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Government had just offered some very tempting gold-interest bonds, of
+      which he wanted a swad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tain't right to let them green boys have their hull $13 a month to waste
+      in foolishness," he said. "Some good man should gather it up and make a
+      right use of it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like Indiana farmer boys of his class. Si Klegg was cleanly but not neat.
+      Thanks to his mother and sisters, his Sunday clothes were always
+      "respectable," and he put on a few extra touches when he expected to meet
+      Annabel. He took his first bath for the year in the Wabash a week or two
+      after the suckers began to run, and his last just before the water got so
+      cold as to make the fish bite freely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a thing as a "dandy" was particularly distasteful to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty," said Si, as he watched some of the boys laboring with sandpaper,
+      rotten stone and oil to make the gunbarrels shine like silver, "what's the
+      cense o' bein' so partickler about the outside of a gun? The business
+      part's inside. Making them screw heads look like beads don't make it no
+      surer of gitting Mr. Butternut."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Trouble about you folks on the Wabash," answered Shorty, as he twisted a
+      screw head against some emery paper, "is that you don't pay enough
+      attention to style. Style goes a long ways in this vain and wicked world,"
+      (and his eyes became as if meditating on worlds he had known which were
+      not so vain and wicked), "and when I see them Kokomo persimmon knockers of
+      Co. B hustling to put on frills, I'm going to beat 'em if I don't lay up a
+      cent."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Same here," said Si, falling to work on his gunbarrel. "Just as' nice
+      people moved into Posey County as squatted in Kokomo. Gang o' hoss thieves
+      first settled Howard County."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Recollect that big two fister from Kokomo who said he'd knock your head
+      off if you ever throwed that up to him again?" grinned Shorty. "You
+      invited him to try it on, an' he said your stripes stopped him. You pulled
+      off your blouse, and you said you had no stripes on your shirt sleeves.
+      But I wouldn't say it again until those Co. B fellers try again to buck us
+      out of our place in the ration line. It's too good a slam to waste."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tattoo sounded before they had finished their guns and accouterments.
+      These were laid aside to be completed in the full light of day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning work was resumed with industry stimulated by reports of
+      the unusual things being done by the other companies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This Tennessee mud sticks closer'n a $500 mortgage to a 40-acre tract,"
+      sighed Si, as he stopped beating and brushing his blouse and pantaloons.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Or,
+     "'Aunt Jemima's plaster,
+     "The more you try to pull it off the more it sticks
+                     the faster."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      hummed Shorty, with what breath he had left from his violent exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So well did they work that by dinner time they felt ready for inspection,
+      careful reconnoissances of the other companies showing them to have no
+      advantages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the Sutler's for the prescribed white gloves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si' had never worn anything on his hands but warm, woolen mittens knit for
+      him by his mother, but the order said white gloves, and gloves they must
+      have. The accommodating sutler made another stoppage in their month's pay
+      of $1 for a pair of cheap, white cotton gloves. By this time the sutler
+      had accumulated enough from the 200th Ind. to secure quite a handful of
+      gold interest-bearing bonds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, what do you think of them. Si?" said Shorty, as he worked his
+      generous hands into a pair of the largest sized gloves and held them up to
+      view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If they were only painted yaller and had a label on them," said Si, "they
+      could be issued for Cincinnati canvas covered hams."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty's retort was checked by hearing the bugle sound the officers' call.
+      The Colonel announced to them that owing to the threatening look of the
+      skies the parade and inspection would take place in an hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was feverish haste to finish undone things, but when Capt.
+      McGillicuddy looked over his men in the company street, he declared
+      himself proud to stack up Co. Q against any other in the regiment. Gun
+      barrels and bayonets shone like silver, rammers rang clear, and came out
+      without a stain to the Captain's white gloves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The band on the parade ground struck up the rollicking
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "O, ain't I glad to git out of the wilderness,
+     Out of the wilderness-Out of the wilderness,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and Capt. McGillicuddy marched proudly out at the head of 75
+      broad-shouldered, well-thewed young Indianians, fit and fine as any south
+      of the Ohio.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guides, holding their muskets butts up, indicated where the line was
+      to form, the trim little Adjutant, glorious as the day in a new uniform
+      and full breasted as a pouter-pigeon, was strutting over toward the band,
+      and the towering red-headed Colonel, martial from his waving plume to his
+      jangling spurs, stood before his tent in massive dignity, waiting for the
+      color company to come up and receive the precious regimental standard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This scene of orderly pomp and pageantry was rudely disturbed by an Aid
+      dashing in on a sweating horse, and calling out to the statuesque
+      commander:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Colonel, a train is stalled in the creek about three miles from here, and
+      is threatened with capture by Morgan's cavalry. The General presents his
+      compliments, and directs that you take your regiment on the double-quick
+      to the assistance of the train. You v'e not a moment lose."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tare and 'ounds!" swore the Colonel in the classic he used when excited,
+      "am I niver to have a dacint inspection? Orderly, bring me me harse. Stop
+      that band's ijiotic blatting. Get into line there, quick as love will let
+      you, you unblessed Indiana spalpeans. Without doubling; right face!
+      Forward, M-a-r-c-h!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Col. McTarnaghan, still wearing his parade grandeur, was soon at the head
+      of the column, on that long-striding horse which always set such a hot
+      pace for the regiment; especially over such a rough, gullied road as they
+      were now traveling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still, the progress was not fast enough to suit the impatient Colonel, who
+      had an eye to the report he would have to make to the Brigadier General,
+      who was a Regular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Capt. McGillicuddy," commanded he, turning in his saddle, "send forward a
+      Corporal and five men for an advance guard."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal Klegg, take five men and go to the front," commanded the
+      Captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now you b'yes, get ahead as fast as you can. Get a move on them durty
+      spalpanes of tamesters. We must get back to camp before this storm strikes
+      us. Shove out, now, as if the divil or Jahn Morgan was after yez."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was awful double-quicking over that rocky, rutty road, but taking
+      Shorty and four others. Si went on the keen jump to arrive hot and
+      breathless on the banks of the creek. There he found a large bearded man
+      wearing an officer's slouched hat sitting on a log, smoking a black pipe,
+      and gazing calmly on the ruck of wagons piled up behind one stalled in the
+      creek, which all the mules they could hitch to it had failed to pull out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the Wagon Master, and his calmness was that of exhaustion. He had
+      yelled and sworn himself dry, and was collecting another fund of abuse to
+      spout at men and animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here, why don't you git a move on them wagons?" said Si hotly, for he was
+      angered at the man's apparent indifference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Tend to your own business and I'll tend to mine," said the Wagon Master,
+      sullenly, without removing his pipe or looking at Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look here, I'm a Corporal, commanding the advance guard," said Si. "I
+      order you!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This seemed to open the fountains of the man's soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You order me?" he yelled, "you splay-footed, knock-kneed, chuckled-headed
+      paper-collared, whitegloved sprat from a milk-sick prairie. Corporal! I
+      outrank all the Corporals from here to Christmas of next year."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The gentleman seems to have something on his mind," grinned Shorty.
+      "Mebbe his dinner didn't set well."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shorty?" inquired Si, "how does a Wagon Master rank? Seems to me nobody
+      lower'n a Brigadier-General should dare talk to me that way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dunno," answered Shorty, doubtfully. "Seems as if I'd heard some of them
+      Wagon Masters rank as Kurnels. He swears like one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Corporal!" shouted the Wagon Master with infinite scorn. "Measly
+      $2-a-month water toter for the camp-guard, order me!" and he went off into
+      a rolling stream of choice "army language."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He must certainly be a Kurnel," said Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here," continued the Wagon Master, "if you don't want them two
+      shoat-brands jerked offen you, jump in and get them wagons acrost. That's
+      what you were sent to do. Hump yourself, if you know what's good for you.
+      I've done all I can. Now it's your turn."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dazed and awed by the man's authoritativeness the boys ran down to the
+      water to see what was the trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They found the usual difficulty in Southern crossings. The stupid
+      tinkerers with the road had sought to prevent it running down into the
+      stream by laying a log at the edge of the water. This was an enormous one
+      two feet in diameter, with a chuckhole before it, formed by the efforts of
+      the teams to mount the log. The heavily laden ammunition wagon had its hub
+      below the top of the log, whence no amount of mule-power could extricate
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si, with Indiana commonsense, saw that the only help was to push the wagon
+      back and lay a pile of poles to make a gradual ascent. He and the rest
+      laid their carefully polished muskets on dry leaves at the side, pulled
+      off their white gloves, and sending two men to hunt thru the wagons for
+      axes to cut the poles. Si and Shorty roused up the stupid teamsters to
+      unhitch the mules and get them behind the wagon to pull it back. Alas for
+      their carefully brushed pantaloons and well-blackened shoes, which did not
+      last a minute in the splashing mud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wagon Master had in the meanwhile laid in a fresh supply of epithets
+      and had a fresh batch to swear at. He stood up on the bank and yelled
+      profane injunctions at the soldiers like a Mississippi River Mate at a
+      boat landing. They would not work fast enough for him, nor do the right
+      thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The storm at last burst. November storms in Tennessee are like the charge
+      of a pack of wolves upon a herd of buffalo. There are wild, furious
+      rushes, alternating with calmer intervals. The rain came down for a few
+      minutes as if it would beat the face off the earth, and the stream swelled
+      into a muddy torrent. Si's paper collar and cuffs at once became pulpy
+      paste, and his boiled shirt a clammy rag. In spite of this his temper rose
+      to the boiling point as he struggled thru the sweeping rush of muddy water
+      to get the other wagons out of the road and the ammunition wagon pulled
+      back a little ways to allow the poles to be piled in front of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dashing downpour did not check the Wagon Master's flow of profanity.
+      He only yelled the louder to make himself heard above the roar. The rain
+      stopped for a few minutes as suddenly as it had begun and Col. McTarnaghan
+      came up with all his parade finery drenched and dripping like the feathers
+      of a prize rooster in a rainy barnyard. His Irish temper was at the
+      steaming point, and he was in search of something to vent it on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You blab-mouthed son of a thief," he shouted at the Wagon Master, "what
+      are you ordering my men around for? They are sent here to order you, not
+      you to order them. Shut that ugly potato trap of yours and get down to
+      work, or I'll wear my saber out on you. Get down there and put your own
+      shoulders to the wheels, you misbegotten villain. Get down there into the
+      water, I tell you. Corporal, see that he does his juty!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Wagon Master slunk down the hill, where Shorty grabbed him by the
+      collar and yanked him over to help push one of the wagons back. The other
+      boys had meanwhile found axes, cut down and trimmed up some pine poles and
+      were piling them into the chuckhole under Si's practical guidance. A
+      double team was put on the ammunition wagon, and the rest of Co. Q came up
+      wet, mad and panting. A rope was found and stretched ahead of the mules,
+      on which the company lined itself, the Colonel took his place on the bank
+      and gave the word, and with a mighty effort the wagon was dragged up the
+      hill. Some other heavily loaded ammunition wagons followed. The whole
+      regiment was now up, and the bigger part of it lined on the rope so that
+      these wagons came up more easily, even tho the rain resumed its wicked
+      pounding upon the clay soil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wading around thru the whirling water. Si had discovered, to his
+      discomfiture, that there was a narrow, crooked reef that had to be kept
+      to. There were deep overturning holes on either side. Into one of these Si
+      had gone, to come again floundering and spurting muddy water from his
+      mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shorty noted the place and took the first opportunity to crowd the Wagon
+      Master into it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A wagon loaded with crackers and pork missed the reef and went over
+      hopelessly on its side, to the rage of Col. McTamaghan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Lave it there; lave it there, ye blithering numbskulls," he yelled,
+      "Unhitch those mules and get 'em out. The pork and wagon we can get when
+      the water goes down. If another wagon goes over Oi'll rejuce it every
+      mother's son of yez, and tie yez up by the thumbs besides."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si and Shorty waded around to unhitch the struggling mules, and then,
+      taking poles in hand to steady themselves, took their stations in the
+      stream where they could head the mules right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thru the beating storm and the growing darkness, the wagons were, one by
+      one, laboriously worked over until, as midnight approached, only three or
+      four remained on the other side. Chilled to the bone, and almost dropping
+      with fatigue from hours of standing in the deep water running like a mill
+      race. Si called Al Klapp, Sib Ball and Jesse Langley to take their poles
+      and act as guides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Al Klapp had it in for the sutlers. He was a worm that was ready to turn.
+      He had seen some previous service, and had never gone to the Paymaster's
+      table but to see the most of his $13 a month swept away by the sutler's
+      remorseless hand. He and Jesse got the remaining army wagons over all
+      right. The last wagon was a four-horse team belonging to a sutler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fire of long-watched-for vengeance gleamed in Al's eye as he made out
+      its character in the dim light. It reached the center of the stream, when
+      over it went in the rushing current of muddy water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Al and Jesse busied themselves unhooking the struggling mules.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Colonel raged. "Lave it there! Lave it there!" he yelled after
+      exhausting his plentiful stock of Irish expletives. "But we must lave a
+      guard with it. Capt. Sidney Hyde, your company has been doing less than
+      any other. Detail a Sergeant and 10 men to stand guard here until
+      tomorrow, and put them two thick-headed oudmahouns in the creek on guard
+      with them. Make them stand double tricks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right. It was worth it," said Al Klapp, as the Sergeant put him on
+      post, with the water running in rivulets from his clothes. "It'll take a
+      whole lot of skinning for the sutlers to get even for the dose I've given
+      one of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "B'yes, yoi've done just splendid," said the Colonel, coming over to where
+      Si and Shorty were sitting wringing the water and mud from their
+      pantaloons and blouses. "You're hayroes, both of yez. Take a wee drap from
+      my canteen. It'll kape yez from catching cold."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, thankee, Kurnel," said Si, blushing with delight, and forgetting his
+      fatigue and discomfort, in this condescension and praise from his
+      commanding officer. "I'm a Good Templar."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sinsible b'y," said the Colonel approvingly, and handing his canteen to
+      Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm mightily afraid of catching cold," said Shorty, reaching eagerly for
+      the canteen, and modestly turning his back on the Colonel that he might
+      not see how deep his draft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Should think you were," mused the Colonel, hefting the lightened vessel.
+      "Bugler, sound the assembly and let's get back to camp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day the number of rusty muskets, dilapidated accouterments and
+      quantity of soiled clothes in the camp of the 200th Ind. was only equaled
+      by the number of unutterably weary and disgusted boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. A NIGHT OF SONG
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOME-SICKNESS AND ITS OUTPOURING IN MUSIC.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      IT WAS Sunday again, and the 200th Ind. still lingered near Nashville. For
+      some inscrutible reason known only to the commanding officers the brigade
+      had been for nearly a week in camp on the banks of the swift running
+      Cumberland. They had been bright, sunshiny days, the last two of them.
+      Much rain in the hill country had swollen the swift waters of the
+      Cumberland and they fiercely clamored their devious way to the broad Ohio.
+      The gentle roar as the rippling wavelets dashed against the rock bound
+      shores sounded almost surf-life, but to Si, who had never heard the salt
+      waves play hide-and-go-seek on the pebbly beach, the Cumberland's angry
+      flood sang only songs of home on the Wabash. He had seen the Wabash raging
+      in flood time and had helped to yank many a head of stock from its
+      engulfing fury. He had seen the Ohio, too, when she ran bank full with her
+      arched center carrying the Spring floods and hundreds of acres of good
+      soil down to the continent-dividing Mississippi, and on out to sea. His
+      strong arms and stout muscles had piloted many a boat-load of boys and
+      girls through the Wabash eddies and rapids during the Spring rise, and as
+      he stood now, looking over the vast width of this dreary waste of waters,
+      a great wave of home-sickness swept over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After all, Si was only a kid of a boy, like thousands of his comrades.'
+      True, he was past his majority a few months, but his environment from
+      youth to his enlistment had so sheltered him that he was a boy at heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The like precurse of fierce events and prologue to the omen coming on"
+      had as yet made small impression upon him. Grim visaged war had not
+      frightened him much up to that time. He was to get his regenerating
+      baptism of blood at Murfreesboro a few weeks later. Just now Si Klegg was
+      simply a boy grown big, a little over fat, fond of mother's cooking,
+      mother's nice clean feather beds, mother's mothering, if the truth must be
+      told. He had never in his life before been three nights from under the
+      roof of the comfortable old house in which he was born. He had now been
+      wearing the blue uniform of the Union a little more than three months, and
+      had not felt mother's work-hardened hands smoothing his rebellious hair or
+      seen her face or heard a prayer like she could make in all that three
+      months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Shucks!" he said fretfully to himself as he looked back at the droning,
+      half asleep brigade camp, and then off to the north, across the boiling
+      yellow flood of waters that tumbled past the rocks far below him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A feller sure does git tired of doin' nothin'."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lusty, young, and bred to an active life, Si, while he did not really
+      crave hustle and bustle, was yet wedded to "keeping things moving." He had
+      already forgotten the fierce suffering of his early marching&mdash;it
+      seemed three years to him instead of three months back; he had forgotten
+      the graybacks, the wet nights, the foraging expeditions, the extra guard
+      duty and all that. There had been two days of soft Autumn sunshine in a
+      camp that was almost ideal. Everything was cleaned up, mended up, and the
+      men had washed and barbered themselves into almost dude-like neatness.
+      Their heaviest duties had been lazy camp guard duty, which Shorty, growing
+      indolent, had declared to be "dumned foolishness," and the only excitement
+      offered came from returning foraging parties. There was no lurking enemy
+      to fear, for the country had been cleared of guerrillas, and in very truth
+      the ease and quietness of the days of inactivity was almost demoralizing
+      the men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been no Sunday services. The 200th Ind. was sprawled out on the
+      ground in its several hundred attitudes of ease, and those with whom they
+      were brigaded were just as carelessly disposed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Si sauntered aimlessly back to look for Shorty, the early twilight
+      began to close in as the sun slid down behind the distant hills. Campfires
+      began to glow as belated foragers prepared their suppers, and the gentle
+      hum of voices came pleasantly to the ear, punctuated by laughter, often
+      boisterous, but quite as often just the babbling, cheery laugh of carefree
+      boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si felt&mdash;well, Si was just plain homesick for mother and the girls,
+      and one particular girl, whose front name was Annabel, and he almost felt
+      as though he didn't care who knew it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air was redolent with the odor of frying meat. Mingled with this were
+      vagrant whiffs of cooking potatoes, onions, chickens, and the fragrance of
+      coffee steaming to blackest strength, all telling tales of skillful and
+      successful foraging, and it all reminded Si of home and the odors in his
+      mother's kitchen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Si couldn't find Shorty, so he hunched down, silent and alone, beside his
+      tent, a prey to the blue devils. It would soon be Christmas at home. He
+      could see the great apple bins in the cellar; the pumpkins in the hay in
+      the barn; the turkeys roosting above the woodshed; the yards of encased
+      sausages in the attic; he could even smell the mince meat seasoning in the
+      great stone jar; the honey in the bee cellar; the huge fruit cake in the
+      milk pan in the pantry; since he could remember he seen and smelled all
+      these, with 57 varieties of preserves, "jells," marmalades, and
+      fruit-butters thrown in for good measure at Christmas time. He had even
+      contemplated with equanimity all these 21 Christmases, the dose of "blue
+      pills" that inevitably followed over-feeding at Mother Klegg's, and now on
+      his 22d Christmas he might be providing a target for a rebel bullet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Si noticed that the dark had come; the fragrance of tobacco from
+      hundreds of pipes was filling the air, and from away off in the distance
+      the almost Indian Summer zephyrs were bringing soft rythmic sounds like&mdash;surely&mdash;yes,
+      he caught it now, it was that mighty soother of tired hearts&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Jesus, lover of my soul,
+     Let me to Thy bosom fly.
+     While the billows near me roll.
+     While the tempest still is high."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Si shut his eyes lest the tear drops welling suddenly up fall on his
+      uniform, not stopping to think that in the gloom they could not be seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miles away the singers seemed to be when Si caught the first sounds, but
+      as the long, swinging notes reached out in the darkness, squad after
+      squad, company after company, regiment after regiment took up the grand
+      old hymn until Si himself lifted up his not untuneful voice and with the
+      thousands of others was pleading&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Hide me, oh, my Savior hide,
+     'Till the storm of life is past;
+     Safe into the haven guide.
+     Oh, receive my soul at last."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and the song rose and swelled out and up toward heaven, and stole away off
+      to the horizon till the whole vast universe seemed filled with the sacred
+      melody. As the last words and their music faded out in space. Shorty
+      lunged down beside Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Say, Pard," he began banteringly, "you've missed yer callin'. Op'ry
+      oughter have been yer trade."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, chop off yer chin music for a minute. Shorty," broke in Si. "In the
+      dark here it seemed most as though I was at home in the little old church
+      with Maria and Annabel and Pap and Mother, and us all singing together,
+      and you've busted it&mdash;ah! listen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From not far away a bugler had tuned up and through the fragrant night
+      came piercingly sweet&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "I will sing you a song of that beautiful land&mdash;"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Then near at hand a strong, clear, musical tenor voice took up the second
+      line,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The far away home of the soul,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and almost instantly a deep, resonant bass voice boomed in&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Where no storms ever beat on that glittering strand
+     While the years of eternity roll,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and soon a hundred voices were making melody of the spheres as they sang
+      Philip Phillips's beautiful song.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That was Wilse Hornbeck singin' tenor," said Si, as the song ended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And it was Hen Withers doin' the bass stunt," returned Shorty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You just oughter hear him do the ornamental on a mule whacker. Why, Si,
+      he's an artist at cussing. Hen Withers is. Sodom and Gomorrah would git
+      jealous of him if he planted himself near 'em, he's that wicked."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, he can sing all right," grunted Si.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then Hen Withers, in the squad some 50 feet away broke into song
+      again&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It welled up from his throat like the pipe from a church organ, and as
+      mellow as the strains from a French horn. When the refrain rolled out
+      fully 3,000 men were singing, yelling and shouting in frenzied fervor&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "And the Star Spangled banner.
+    In triumph shall wave,
+    O'er the land of the free,
+    And the home of the brave."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      While Hen Withers rested on his well-earned laurels, a strong, clear
+      voice, whose owner was probably thinking of home and the shady gloom of
+      the walk through the grove to singing school with his sweetheart, trilled
+      an apostrophe to the queen of light.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "Roll on, silvery moon,
+    Guide the traveler on his way,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      but he had it pretty much to himself, for not many knew the words, and he
+      trailed off into
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    "I loved a little beauty, Bell Brandon,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      then his music died out in the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now the "tenore robusto" who chimed in bells, on a new battle song
+      that held a mile square of camp spellbound:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Oh, wrap the flag around me, boys,
+
+     To die were far more sweet
+     With freedom's starry emblem, boys.
+
+     To be my winding sheet.
+     In life I loved to see it wave
+
+     And follow where it led,
+     And now my eyes grow dim, my hands
+
+     Would clasp its last bright shred.
+     Oh, I had thought to meet you, boys,
+
+     On many a well-worn field
+     When to our starry emblem, boys,
+
+     The trait'rous foe should yield.
+     But now, alas, I am denied
+
+     My dearest earthly prayer,
+     You'll follow and you'll meet the foe,
+
+     But I shall not be there."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Wilse Hornback knew by the hush of the camp as the sound of his wonderful
+      voice died on the far horizon that he had his laurels, too, and so he sang
+      on while the mile square of camp went music-mad again as it sang with him&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+     And we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Chorus:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The Union forever! Hurrah, boys. Hurrah;
+     Down with the traitor and up with the Star,
+     While we rally 'round the Flag, boys,
+     We'll rally once again,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And although they may be poor, not a man shall
+     be a slave.
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
+
+     So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
+     And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,
+     Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In the almighty hush that followed the billows of sound, some sweet-voiced
+      fellow started Annie Laurie, and then sang&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "In the prison cell I sit"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      with grand chorus accompaniment. Then Wilse Hornback started and Hen
+      Withers joined in singing the Battle Hymn&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and oh, God of Battles! how that army of voices took up the refrain&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah,"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and tossed and flung it back and forth from hill to hill and shore to
+      shore till it seemed as though Lee and his cohorts must have heard and
+      quailed before the fearful prophecy and arraignment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the "tenore robusto" and the "basso profundo" opened a regular
+      concert program, more or less sprinkled with magnificent chorus: singing,
+      as it was easy or difficult for the men to recall the words. You must
+      rummage in the closets of memory for most of them! The Old Oaken Bucket;
+      Nellie Gray; Anna Lisle; No, Ne'er Can Thy Home be Mine; Tramp, Tramp,
+      Tramp; We are Coming, Father Abraham; Just as I Am; By Cold Siloam's Shady
+      Rill&mdash;how those home-loving Sunday school young boys did sing that!
+      It seemed incongruous, but every now and then they dropped into these old
+      hymn tunes, which many a mother had sung her baby to sleep with in those
+      elder and better days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The war songs are all frazzled and torn fragments of memory now, covered
+      with dust and oblivion, but they were great songs in and for their day. No
+      other country ever had so many.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laughter and badinage had long since ceased. Flat on their backs, gazing
+      up at the stars through the pine and hemlock boughs, the boys lay quietly
+      smoking while the "tenore robusto" assisted by the "basso profundo" and
+      hundreds of others sang "Willie, We Have Missed You," "Just Before the
+      Battle, Mother," "Brave Boys Are They," and the "Vacant Chair."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a little break in the singing. Hen Withers sang a wonderful song, now
+      almost forgotten. It was new to the boys then, but the bugler had heard
+      it, and as Hen's magnificent voice rolled forth its fervid words the bugle
+      caught up the high note theme, and never did the stars sing together more
+      entrancingly than did the "wicked mule whacker" and that bugle&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Lift up your eyes, desponding freemen.
+     Fling to the winds your needless fears.
+     He who unfurled our beauteous banner
+     Says it shall wave a thousand years."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      On the glorious chorus a thousand voices took up the refrain in droning
+      fashion that made one think of "The Sound of the Great Amen."
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "A thousand years, my own Columbia!
+     Tis the glad day so long foretold!
+     'Tis the glad mom whose early twilight
+     Washington saw in times of old."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By the time Hen had sung all of the seven verses the whole brigade knew
+      the refrain and roared it forth as a defiance to the Southern Confederacy,
+      which took on physical vigor in the days that came after, when the 200th
+      Ind. went into battle to come off victorious on many a fiercely contested
+      field.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the tenor sang that doleful, woe begone, hope effacing,
+      heart-string-cracking "Lorena." Some writer has said that it sung the
+      heart right out of the Southern Confederacy.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,
+     The snow is on the grass again."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      As Wilse Hornbeck let his splendid voice out on the mournful cadences, Si
+      felt his very heart strings snap, and even Shorty drew his breath hard,
+      while some of the men simply rolled over, and burying their faces in their
+      arms, sobbed audibly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wilse had not counted on losing his own nerve, but found his voice
+      breaking on the melancholy last lines, and bounding to his feet with a
+      petulant,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Oh, hang it!"
+
+     "Say, darkies, hab you seen de Massa"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      came dancing up from the jubilating chords of that wonderful human music
+      box, and soon the camp was reeling giddily with the jolly, rollicking,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Or Massa ran, ha! ha!!
+     The darkies stay, ho! ho!!"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Then, far in the distance a bugle sounded "lights out," and the songfest
+      was at an end; as bugler after bugler took it up, one by one the campfires
+      blinked out, and squad after squad sank into quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I feel a heap better somehow," remarked Si, as he crawled under his
+      blanket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dogged if I hain't had a sort of uplift, too," muttered Shorty, as he
+      wrapped his blanket round his head. In the distance a tenor voice was
+      singing as he kicked out his fire and got ready for bed&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Glory, glory, hallelujah."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6), by John McElroy
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>