CHAPTER XXII. TRYING TO EDUCATE ABRAHAM LINCOLN TOO HIGH-PRESSURE

SCHOOLING—THE BOYS ON PICKET.

ALL THREE of the men at once became guardians of Abraham Lincoln, and in

their several ways heartily interested in his welfare.

The Deacon was fired by the missionary spirit of his kind and class.

"No use talkin' no more about the heathen 'On Greenland's icy

mountains,' or any place else," he communed with himself that evening,

as he sat and smoked, and occasionally glanced at the ebon face of the

sleeper in the corner. "Providence has cut out a job for me, and sent it

home. Rather, He sent me where I couldn't help stumblin' upon it, and

reckonizin' it. The responsibility to Him is clear. I've got heathen

enough to last me for a 'coon's age, to lift that poor, ignorant soul

up, and bring it to a knowledge of Christian ways. He's not nice nor

purty; never heard of a pagan that wuz. Wouldn't be pagans if they wuz.

But he's a man and a brother, and the Bible says that I'm my brother's

keeper. I'll keep him agin fifty-'leven o' that old snortin' rebel and

Copperhead Blowhard Billings. I wuzzent brung up in the woods to be

scared by the hootin' of an owl."

"We might take him along with us, Si," said Shorty, in a low tone, with

a nod toward Abraham267 Lincoln. "We could make a bully cook out of him.

We could have no end of fun with him. We could learn him lots o' tricks.

He's as strong as an ox, and after I'd give him a few lessons in puttin'

up his hands, he'd knock out that sassy nigger o' the Colonel's."

"I think so, too," acquiesced Si, with an estimating glance at the

sleeper.

Abraham Lincoln's education began bright and early the next morning,

when Shorty kicked and shook him into wakefulness at the sound of the

reveille.

"Git up; git up," said Shorty. "Wash your hands and face, comb your

hair, cut some wood and put it on the fire, and bring a kettle o' water

from the spring."

"Wash my hands and face," said the negro, in a dazed way. "Wha' fo'?

Don't got nufin on dem. Comb my ha'r? Nebber did dat in my life."

"Well, you've got to do it now every mornin', and be spry about it, too.

Come, don't move around as if sawed out o' basswood. This ain't nigger-

quarters. Git some springs in your feet."

And he emphasized his injunctions with a vigorous push.

The negro's face looked as if he began to have doubts as to whether

freedom was all that had been represented to him. To have to get up

early every morning, and wash his face and hands and comb his hair,

seemed at the moment to be a high price to pay for liberty.

"Does I hab tuh do dat ebbery mornin', Boss?" he said, turning with a

look of plaintive inquiry to the Deacon.268

"Why, certainly," said the Deacon, who had just finished his own

ablutions,' and was combing his hair. "Every man must do that to be

decent."

Abraham Lincoln gave a deep sigh.

"Washes himself as if he's afraid the water'd scald him," said the

Deacon, watching the negro's awkward efforts. "He'll have to take more

kindly to water, if he comes into a Baptist total immersion family.

There's no salvation except by water, and plenty of it, too. Now," he

continued, as the black man had finished, "pick up that ax and cut some

wood to get breakfast with."

Abraham Lincoln took the ax, and began belaboring the wood, while the

Deacon studied him with a critical eye. There was little that the Deacon

prided himself on more than his skill as a wood chopper. People who

think the ax is a simple, skill-less tool, dependent for its efficiency

solely upon the strength and industry with which it is wielded, make a

great mistake. There is as much difference in the way men handle axes,

and in the result they produce, as there is in their playing the violin.

Anybody can chop, it is true, as anybody can daub with a paint brush,

but a real axman of the breed of the Deacon, who had gone into the

wilderness with scarcely any other tool than an ax, can produce results

with it of which the clumsy hacker can scarcely imagine. The Deacon

watched the negro's work with disgust and impatience.

"Hadn't oughter named sich a clumsy pounder as that 'Abraham Lincoln,'"

he mused. "Old Abe could handle an ax with the best of 'em. This feller

handles it as if it was a handspike. If Si couldn't 've269 used an ax

better'n that when he was 10 years old, I'd 'a' felt mortally ashamed o'

him. Gracious, what a job I have before me o' makin' a first-class man

out o' him."

The Deacon Gives Abe a Lesson in Wood Chopping 269

He took the ax from the negro's hand, and patiently showed him how to

hold and strike with it. The man apparently tried his best to learn, but

it270 was a perspiring effort for him and the Deacon. The negro

presently dropped his ax, sat down on the log, and wiped his forehead

with his shirtsleeve.

"'Fore God, Boss, dat's de hardest way ob cuttin' wood dat I ebber seed.

Hit'll kill me done daid to chop wood dat a-way."

"Pshaw!" said the impatient Deacon. "You're simply stupid; that's all.

That's the only way to handle an ax. You kin cut with half the work that

way."

He was discovering what so many of us have found out, that among the

hardest things in life is that of getting people to give up clumsy ways

for those that are better.

In the meantime the boys had gotten breakfast. Then Shorty, who was

dying to train their new acquisition for a winning fight with the

Colonel's negro, took him behind the house for a little private

instruction in boxing. The field-hand had never even heard of such a

thing before, but Shorty was too much in earnest to care for a little

thing like that. He went at his task with a will, making the negro

double his fists just so, strike in a particular way, make a certain

"guard," and hit out scientifically. Shorty was so enthusiastic that he

did not stop to think that it was severe labor for the poor negro, and

when he had to stop his lesson at the end of half an hour to go on

battalion drill he left his pupil in a state of collapse.

Ignorant of the new ordeal through which his charge had been going, the

Deacon went out in search of him. He had just finished reading the news

in the Cincinnati Commercial, ending with an271 editorial on "Our Duty

Toward the Freedmen," which impelled him to think that he could not

begin Abraham Lincoln's education too soon.

"Now, Abe," said he briskly, "you've had a good rest, and it's time that

you should be doin' some thing. You ought to learn to read as soon as

possible, and you might as well begin to learn your letters at once.

I'll give you your first lesson. Here are some nice large letters in

this newspaper head, that you kin learn very easily. Now, the first one

is T. You see it is a cross."

"Afo' de Lawd, Boss," wailed the desperate negro, "I jest can't l'arn no

mo', now, nohow. 'Deed I can't. Hit's bin nuffin but l'arn, l'arn,

ebbery minnit sense I got up dis mawnin', an' my haid's jest bustin', so

hit is. I a'most wisht I wuz back wid my ole mas'r, who didn't want to

l'arn me nuffin."

The astonished Deacon paused and reflected.

"Mebbe we've bin tryin' to force this plant too fast. There's danger

about puttin' new wine into old bottles. It's not the right way to train

anything. The way to break a colt is to hang the bridle on the fence

where he kin see and smell it for a day or two. I'll go a little slow

with him at first. Would you like something more to eat, Abe?"

"Yes, Boss. 'Deed I would," answered the negro with cheerful promptness,

forgetting all about the pangs of the "new birth of freedom."

THE END OF BOOK NO. 2.

SI KLEGG SI AND SHORTY MEET MR. ROSENBAUM, THE SPY, WHO RELATES HIS

ADVENTURES

By John McElroy

BOOK No. 3

PUBLISHED BY

THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE CO.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

SECOND EDITION

COPYRIGHT 1910

THE SIX VOLUMES SI KLEGG, Book I, Transformation From a Raw Recruit SI

KLEGG, Book II, Through the Stone River Campaign SI KLEGG, Book III,

Meets Mr. Rosenbaum, the Spy SI KLEGG, Book IV, On The Great Tullahoma

Campaign SI KLEGG, Book V, Deacon's Adventures At Chattanooga SI KLEGG,

Book VI, Enter On The Atlanta Campaign

Si and Shorty As Mounted Infantry

titlepage (25K)

CONTENTS

SI KLEGG

PREFACE

CHAPTER I. OUT ON PICKET

CHAPTER II. ROSENBAUM, THE SPY

CHAPTER III. THE DEACON GOES HOME

CHAPTER IV. A SPY'S EXPERIENCES

CHAPTER V. THE BOYS GO SPYING

CHAPTER VI. LETTER FROM HOME

CHAPTER VII. CORN PONE AND BUTTERMILK

CHAPTER VIII. A PERIOD OF SELF-DISGUST

CHAPTER IX. SHORTY GETS A LETTER

CHAPTER X. TRADING WITH THE REBS

CHAPTER XI. SHORTY'S CORRESPONDENT

CHAPTER XII. THE BAN ON WET GOODS

CHAPTER XIII. THE JEW SPY WRITES

CHAPTER XIV. SHORTY HAS AN ADVENTURE WITH SI

CHAPTER XV. SHORTY NEARLY GOT MARRIED

CHAPTER XVI. AN UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE

CHAPTER XVII. GATHERING INFORMATION

CHAPTER XVIII. THE JEW SPY AGAIN

ILLUSTRATIONS

Si and Shorty As Mounted Infantry

Mr. Klegg Enjoys Solid Comfort. 16

"surrender, There, You Dumbed Rebel." 21

Trying to Save his Neck. 30

"i Know You, Unt What You're Here For." 32

The Negroes Merrymaking. 39

Klegg Starts Home. 45

Shorty Settles With the Banker. 51

Close Call for Rosenbaum. 54

The Spy in Custody. 58

Rosenbaum Runs Into Sigel's Pickets. 66

Watching the House. 75

The Surprise 79

Undesirable Acquaintances. 100

The Spoils of War 105

An Uncomfortable Situation 107

Shorty and si Are at Outs. 110

Si and Shorty As Mounted Infantry 117

Bushrod Prays for his Life 119

The Duel. 139

The Overture for Trade. 144

Si Wants a Fight 147

Shorty Wants to Fight Groundhog 157

Shorty Reading the Letter 160

She Whipped out a Long Knife. 189

Take Your Arm from Around That Yank's Neck 203

Jeff Sat up and Rubbed Himself 208

Old Bragg Used to Walk up Unt Down, Growling Unt Cussing. 259

SI KLEGG SI AND SHORTY MEET MR. ROSENBAUM, THE SPY, WHO RELATES HIS

ADVENTURES By John McElroy.

PREFACE

"Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., and Shorty, his Partner," were born years

ago in the brain of John McElroy, Editor of The National Tribune.

These sketches are the original ones published in The National Tribune,

revised and enlarged somewhat by the author. 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 which

those of Si Klegg are a strong reminder.

The Publishers.

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE RANK AND FILE OF THE GRANDEST

ARMY EVER MUSTERED FOR WAR.

CHAPTER I. OUT ON PICKET THE BOYS SHOW THE DEACON A NEW WRINKLE IN THE

CULINARY ART.

SOME days later, Si had charge of a picket-post on the Readyville Pike,

near Cripple Deer Creek. The Deacon went with them, at their request,

which accorded with his own inclinations, The weather was getting warmer

every day, which made him fidgety to get back to his own fields, though

Si insisted that they were still under a foot of snow in Indiana. But he

had heard so much about picket duty that, next to battle, it was the

thing he most wanted to see. Abraham Lincoln was left behind to care for

the "house." He had been a disappointment so far, having developed no

strong qualities, except for eating and sleeping, of which he could do

unlimited quantities.

"No use o' takin' him out on picket," observed Shorty, "unless we kin

git a wagon to go along and haul rations for him. I understand now why

these rebels are so poor; the niggers eat up everything they kin raise.

I'm afraid, Deacon, he'll make the Wabash Valley look sick when you turn

him loose in it."

"I guess my farm kin stand him," said the Deacon proudly. "It stood Si

when he was a growin' boy, though he used, to strain it sometimes."

They found a comfortable fence-corner facing16 south for their "tent,"

which they constructed by making a roof of cedar boughs resting on a

rail running from one angle to another. They laid more boughs down in

the corner, and on this placed their blankets, making a bed which the

Deacon pronounced very inviting and comfortable. They built a fire in

front, for warmth and for cooking, and so set up housekeeping in a very

neat and soldier-like way.

Mr. Klegg Enjoys Solid Comfort. 16

The afternoon passed without special incident. Shorty came in with a

couple of chickens, but the17 Deacon had learned enough to repress any

questions as to where and how he got them. He soon became more

interested in his preparations for cooking them. He had built a big fire

in a hole in the ground, and piled a quantity of dry cedar on this. Then

he cut off the heads and legs of the chickens, and, getting some mud

from the side of the road, proceeded to cover each, feathers and all,

with a coating nearly an inch thick.

"What in the world do you mean by that, Shorty?" asked the Deacon in

surprise.

"He's all right. Pap," assured Si. "He'll show you a new wrinkle in

chicken-fixin' that you kin teach mother when you go home. She knows

more about cookin' than any other woman in the world, but I'll bet she's

not up to this dodge."

The fire had by this time burned down to a heap of glowing embers. The

boys scraped a hole in these, laid on it their two balls of mud, then

carefully covered them with live coals and piled on a little more wood.

"I'll say right now," said the Deacon, "that I don't think much o' that

way. Why didn't you take their feathers off and clean out their innards?

Seems to me that's a nasty way."

"Wait and see," said Shorty sententiously.

Si had mixed some meal into a dough in the half-canteens he and Shorty

carried in their haversacks. He spread this out on a piece of sheet-

iron, and propped it up before the fire. In a little while it was nicely

browned over, when Si removed it from the sheet-iron, turned it over,

and browned the other side. He repeated this until he had a sufficiency

of18 "hoe cakes" for their supper. A kettle of good, strong coffee had

been boiling on the other side of the fire while this was going on. Then

they carefully raked the embers off, and rolled out two balls of hard-

baked clay. Waiting for these to cool a little, they broke them. The

skin and feathers came off with the pieces and revealed deliciously

savory, sweet meat, roasted just to a turn. The intestines had shriveled

up with the heat into little, hard balls, which were thrown away.

"Yum—yum—yum," said Shorty, tearing one of the chickens in two, and

handing a piece to the Deacon, while Si gave him a sweet, crisp hoe cake

and a cup of strong coffee. "Now, this's what you might call livin'.

Never beat that cookin' in any house that had a roof. Only do that when

you've stars in the roof of your kitchen."

"It certainly is splendid," admitted the Deacon. "I don't think Maria

could've done better."

It was yet light when they finished their supper, filled their pipes,

and adjusted themselves for a comfortable smoke. One of the men came

back and said:

"Corporal, there's a rebel on horseback down the road a little ways who

seems to be spying on us. We've noticed him for some little time. He

don't come up in good range, and we haven't fired at him, hopin' he'd

come closer. Better come and take a look at him."

"Don't do anything to scare him off," said Si. "Keep quiet. Me and

Shorty'll sneak down through the field, out of sight, and git him."

They picked up their guns and slipped out under19 the cover of the

undergrowth to where they could walk along the fence, screened by the

heavy thicket of sumach. Catching the excitement of the occasion, the

Deacon followed them at a little distance.

Without discovery Si and Shorty made their way to a covert within an

easy 50 yards of where the horseman sat rather uneasily on a fine,

mettled animal. They got a good look at him. He was a young, slender

man, below medium hight, with curly, coalblack hair, short whiskers, a

hooked nose, and large, full eyes. He wore a gray suit of rather better

make and material than was customary in the rebel army. He had a

revolver in his belt and a carbine slung to his saddle, but showed no

immediate intention of using either. His right hand rested on his thigh,

and his eyes were intently fixed on the distant picket-post.

"A rebel scout," whispered Si. "Shall we knock him over, and then order

him to surrender, or halt him first, and then shoot?"

"He can't git away," said Shorty. "I have him kivered. You kivver his

hoss's head. Then call him down."

Si drew his sights fine on the horse's head and yelled:

"Surrender, there, you dumbed rebel."

'surrender, There, You Dumbed Rebel.' 21

The man gave a quick start, a swift glance at the blue uniforms, and

instantly both hands went up.

"That is all right, boys. Don't shoot. I'm a friend," he called in a

strong German accent.

"Climb down off o' that boss, and come here, and do it mighty sudden,"

called out Si, with his finger still on the trigger.20

The horse became restive at the sound of strange voices, but the man

succeeded in dismounting, and taking his reins in his hand, led the

horse up to the fence.

"Very glad to see you, boys," said he, surveying their blue garments

with undisguised satisfaction, and putting out his other hand to shake.

"Take off that revolver, and hand it here," ordered the wary Shorty,

following the man with the muzzle of his gun. The man slipped his arm

through the reins, unbuckled his revolver, and handed it to Shorty. Si

jumped over the fence and seized the carbine.

"Who are you, and where did you come from?" asked Si, starting the man

up the road toward the post.

"What rechiment do you belong to?" asked the stranger, warily.

"We belong to Co. Q, 200th Injianny, the best regiment in Gen.

Rosecrans's army," answered Si proudly, that the captive might

understand where the honor of his taking belonged.

"That is all right," said the stranger, with an air of satisfaction.

"The 200th Indianny is a very good regiment. I saw them whip John

Morgan's cavalry at Green River. Clumsy farmer boys, but shoot like born

devils."

"But who are you, and where did you come from?" repeated Si impatiently.

"I'm all right. I'm Levi Rosenbaum of Gen. Rosecrans's secret service. I

got some news for him."

"You have?" said Si suspiciously. "Why didn't you ride right in and tell

it to him? What've you21 bin hangin' around here all afternoon, watchin'

our post for?"

"I wasn't sure you was there. I was told that the Yankee pickets was

going to be pushed out to Cripple Deer Creek to-day, but I didn't know

it for sure. I was afraid that the rebels was there yet. Jim Jones, of

the secret service, had agreed to come out this afternoon and wave a

flag if it was all22 right. I was waiting for his sign. But he is

probably drunk. He always gets so when he reaches camp."

The Deacon joined them in the road, and gave a searching glance at the

prisoner.

"Ain't you a Jew?" he inquired presently. "Ain't your name Rosenbaum?

Didn't you go through Posey County, Ind., a year or two ago, with a

wagon, sellin' packs o' cloth to the farmers?"

"I'm an American citizen," said the man proudly, "the same as the rest

of you. My religion is Hebrew. I don't know and don't care what your

religion is. Every man has the religion that suits him. My name is

Rosenbaum. I did sell cloth in Posey County, unt all over Indianny. It

was good cloth, too, unt I sold it at a bargain."

"It certainly was good cloth, and cheap," admitted the Deacon. "What in

the world are you doin' down here in them clothes?"

"I'm doing just what these men are doing here in their cloze," answered

Rosenbaum. "I'm trying to serve the country. I'm doing it different from

them, because I'm built different from them. I hope I'm doing it well.

But I'm awfully hungry. Got anything to eat? Just a cup of coffee and a

cracker? Don't care for any pork."

"Yes, we'll give you something to eat," said Shorty. "I think there's

some of our chicken left. You'll find that good."

"How did you cook that?" said Rosenbaum, looking at the tempting morsel

suspiciously.

Shorty explained.23

"Thanks; I can't eat it," said Rosenbaum with a sigh. "It ain't kosher."

"What the devil's that?" asked Shorty.

"It's my religion. I can't explain. Send for the Officer of the Guard to

take me to Headquarters," answered Rosenbaum, sipping his coffee.

CHAPTER II. ROSENBAUM, THE SPY THE JEW TELLS THE THRILLING STORY OF HIS

ADVENTURE.

THE Officer of the Guard was a long time in coming, and Mr. Rosenbaum

grew quite chatty and communicative, as they sat around the bright fire

of cedar logs and smoked.

"Yes," he said, "I have been in the secret service ever since the

beginning of the war—in fact, before the war, for I began getting news

for Frank Blair in the Winter before the war. They say Jews have no

patriotism. That's a lie. Why should they have no patriotism for

countries where they were treated like dogs? In Germany, where I was

born, they treated us worse than dogs. They made us live in a little,

nasty, pig-pen of an alley; we had to go in at sundown, unt stay there;

we had to wear a different cloze from other folks, unt we didn't dare to

say our souls were our own to any dirty loafer that insulted us.

"Here we are treated like men, unt why shouldn't we help to keep the

country from breaking up? Jews ought to do more than anybody else, unt I

made up my mind from the very first that I was going to do all that I

could. The Generals have told me that I could do much better for the

country in the secret service than as a soldier; they could get plenty

of soldiers unt but few spies."25

"Now you're shoutin'," said Shorty. "They kin git me to soldier as long

as the war lasts, for the askin', but I wouldn't be a spy 10 minutes for

a corn-basket full o' greenbacks. I have too much regard for my neck. I

need it in my business."

"You a spy," said Si derisively. "You couldn't spy for sour apples. Them

big feet o' your'n 'd give you dead away to anybody that'd ever seen you

before."

"Spyin' isn't the business that any straightfor'rd man,"—the Deacon

began to say in tones of cold disapproval, and then he bethought him of

courtesy to the stranger, and changed hastily—"that I'd like to do. It's

entirely too resky."

"O, it's jest as honorable as anything else. Pap," said Si, divining his

father's thought. "All's fair in love and war. We couldn't git along

without spies. They're as necessary as muskets and cannon."

"Indeed they are," said Mr. Rosenbaum earnestly; "you wouldn't know what

to do with your muskets and cannon if the spies didn't tell you where

the rebels were, unt how many there was of them. I go out unt get

information that it would cost hundreds of lives to get, unt may save

thousands of lives, unt all that it costs is one poor little Jew's neck,

when they drop on to him some day, unt leave him swinging from a tree.

But when that time comes, I shall make no more complaint than these

other poor boys do, who get their heads knockt off in battle. I'm no

better than they are. My life belongs to the country the same as theirs,

unt this free Government is worth all our lives, unt more, too."

His simple, sincere patriotism touched the Deacon26 deeply. "I'd no idee

that there was so much o' the man in a Jew," he said to himself. Then he

asked the stranger:

"How did you come to go into the spy business, Mr. Rosenbaum?"

"Well, I was in St. Louis in the Clothing pizniss, unt you know it was

purty hot there. All the Germans were for the Union, unt most of the

Americans unt Irish seemed to be Secessionists. I sided with the

Germans, but as nobody seemed to think that a Jew had any principles or

cared for anything but the almighty dollar, everybody talked right out

before me, unt by keepin' my ears wide open I got hold of lots of news,

which I took straight to General Lyon. I got well acquainted with him,

and he used to send me here and there to find out things for him. I'd

sell gray uniforms and other things to the Secessionists; they'd talk to

one another right before me as to what was being done, and I'd keep my

ears wide open all the time, though seemed to be only thinking about the

fit and the buttons and the gold lace.

"Then General Lyon wanted to find out just exactly how many men there

was in Camp Jackson—no guesswork—no suppose. I took 2,000 of my business

cards, printed on white, and 1,000 printed on gray paper. I went through

the whole camp. To every man in uniform I give a white card; to every

man without a uniform, who seemed to be there for earnest, I give a gray

card. When I got back I counted my cards in General Lyon's office, unt

found I'd give out 500 white cards unt 200 gray27 ones. Then General

Lyon took out about 3,000 men, unt brought the whole crowd back with

him."

"Then General Lyon," continued Rosenbaum, "sent me out from Springfield,

Mizzouri, to see how many men old Pap Price unt Ben McCullough had

gathered up against him from Mizzouri, Arkansaw, Texas unt the plains.

Holy Moses, I was scared when I saw the pile of them. The whole world

seemed to be out there, yipping unt yelling for Jeff Davis, drinking raw

sod-corn whisky, making secession speeches, unt shooting at marks.

"I rode right into them, unt pretended that I was looking for Mexican

silver dollars to take to Mexico to buy powder unt lead for the rebel

army. I had a lot of new Confedrit notes that I'd got from my cousin,

who was in the tobacco business in Memphis. They was great curiosities,

unt every man who had a Mexican dollar wanted to trade it for a

Confedrit dollar.

"There was no use tryin' to count the men—might as well have tried to

count the leaves on the trees, so I begun to count the regiments. I

stuck a pin in my right lapel for every Mizzouri regiment, one in my

left lapel for every Arkansaw regiment, one in my vest for every one

from Texas. I had black pins for the cannons. I was getting along very

well, when I run across Bob Smiles, a dirty loafer, who had been a

customer in St. Louis. He wouldn't pay me, unt I had to get out a writ

unt levy on his clothes just as he was dressing to go to a quadroon

ball.

"I left him with only a necktie, which was worth nothing to me, as it

had been worn and soiled. He was very sore against me, unt I was not

surprised.28

"It made me sick at my stomach when I saw him come up.

"'Hello, you damn Dutch Jew,' he said. 'What are you doing here?'

"I tried to be very pleasant, unt I put out my hand unt said, with my

best smile:

"'Good gracious. Bob, how glad I am to see you. When did you get here?

Are you well? How are the other boys? Who's here? Where are you

stopping?'

"But I might as well have tried to make friends with a bull dog in front

of a farm house where all the people had gone away.

"'Go to blazes,' he said. 'None of your bizniss how I am, how I got

here, or how the other boys are. Better not let them find out you're

here. They'll take it out of your Jew hide for the way you used to skin

them in St. Louis. I want to know what the devil you are doing here?'

"'Now, Mister Smiles,' I said, pleasant as a May morning, 'that's not

the way to talk to me. You know I got up the stylishest clothes unt the

best fits in St. Louis. We had a little trouble, it is true. It was

nothing, though. Just a little business dispute. You know I always

thought you one of the very nicest men in St. Louis, unt I said so, even

to the Squire unt to the Constable.'

"'Go to the devil, you Savior-killing Jew,' said he. 'Shut up your

mouth, or I'll stuff a piece of pork in it. I want to know at once what

you are doing here? Where did you come from?'

"'I come from Memphis,' said I. 'I'm in the service of the Southern

Confedrisy. General Pillow sent29 me to gather up all the Mexican

dollars I could find, to send to Mexico to buy ammunition.'

"'It's a lie, of course,' said he. 'A Jew'd rather lie than eat, any

day. Then you're one of them St. Louis Dutch—them imported Hessians.

They're all dead against us. They all ought to be killed. I ought to

kill you myself for being so cussed mean to me.'

"He put his hand on his revolver in a way that made my breakfast sour in

my stomach, but then I knew that Bob Smiles was a great blowhard, unt

his bark was much worse than his bite. In St. Louis he was always going

to fight somebody unt kill somebody, but he never done neither. Quite a

crowd gathered around, unt Bob blew off to them, unt they yelled, 'Hang

the Jew spy. Kill the damn rascal,' and other things that made me

unhappy. But what made my flesh crawl was to see a man who wasn't saying

much, go to a wagon, pull out a rope, unt begin making a noose on the

end. Bob Smiles caught hold of my collar unt started to drag me toward a

tree. Just as I was giving up everything for lost, up comes Jim

Jones—the same man I'm going to meet here—he come runnin' up. He was

dressed in full uniform as a rebel officer—gray coat unt pants, silver

stars on his collar, high boots, gray slouched hat with gold cord, unt

so on.

"'Here, what is the matter? What's all this fuss in camp?' he said.

"'We've ketched one of them Dutch Jews from St. Louis spying our camp,

Major,' said Bob Smiles, letting loose of my collar to salute the

Major's silver stars. 'And we are going to hang him.'30

"'A spy? How do you know he's a spy?'" asked Jim Jones.

"'Well, he's Dutch; he's a Jew, unt he's from St. Louis. What more do

you want?'" asked Bob Smiles.

Trying to Save his Neck. 30

The crowd yelled, unt de man with the rope went to the tree unt flung

one end over a limb.

"'His being a St. Louis Dutchman is against him,'31 said Jim Jones, 'but

his being a Jew is in his favor. A Jew don't care a blame for politics.

He hain't got no principles. He'd rather make a picayune off you in a

trade than have a wagon-load of principles. But you fellers have got

nothing to do with spies, anyway. That's headquarters' bizniss. I'm an

officer at General Price's headquarters. I'll take him up there unt

examine him. Bring him along.'

"'Go along, Jew,' said two of three of them, giving me kicks, as Bob

Smiles started with me. The man with the rope stood by the tree looking

very disappointed.

"When we got near General Price's tent, Jim Jones says to the rest:

"'You stop there. Come along with me, Jew.'

"He took me by the collar, unt we walked toward General Price's tent. He

whispered to me as we went along: 'You're all right, Rosenbaum. I know

you, unt I know what you're here for. Just keep a stiff upper lip, tell

your story straight, unt I'll see you through.'

'i Know You, Unt What You're Here For.' 32

"That scared me worse than ever, but all that I could do was to keep up

my nerve, unt play my cards coolly. We went into the General's tent, but

he was busy, unt motioned us with his hand to the Adjutant-General.

"'What's the matter?' asked the Adjutant-General, motioning me to sit

down, while he went on making tally marks on a sheet of paper, as a man

called off the regiments that had reported. Then he footed them all up,

unt, turning to another officer, read from it so many Arkansaw

regiments, so many32 Louisianny, so many Mizzouri, so many Texas, so

many batteries of artillery, unt he said to another officer as he laid

the paper face down among the other papers on his table: 'Just as I told

you, Colonel. We have fully 22,000 men ready for battle.' Then to us:

'Well, what can I do for you?'

"'The boys had picked up this Jew for a spy, Colonel,' said Jim Jones,

pointing to me, 'unt they33 were about to hang him, just to pass away

the afternoon more than for anything else. I took him away from them,

telling them that it was your privilege to hang spies, unt you could do

it according to the science of war. I brung him up here to get him away

from them. After they're gone away or got interested in something else

I'll take him unt put him outside of camp.'

"'All right," said de Adjutant-General, without taking much interest in

the matter. 'Do with him as you please. A Jew more or less isn't of any

consequence. Probably he deserves hanging, though, but it isn't well to

encourage the boys to hang men on sight. They're quite too ready to do

that, anyway.'

"He talked to the other man a little, unt then when he went away he

turned to me, unt said, sort of lazy like, as if he didn't care anything

about it:

"'Where are you from?'

"'From Memphis,' said I.

"'Great place, Memphis,' said he; 'one of the thriving suburbs of

Satan's Kingdom. Had lots of fun there. I know every faro bank in it,

which speaks well for my memory, if not for my morals. What bizniss was

you in?'

"'Clothing,' said I.

"'What a fool question to ask a Jew,' said he, yawning. 'Of course, you

was in the clothing trade. You was born in it. All Jews have been since

they gambled for the Savior's garments.'

"'They wasn't Jews what gambled for Christ's clothes,' said I, picking

up a little courage. 'They vass Romans—Italians—Dagoes.'34

"'Was they?' said he. 'Well, mebbe they was. I haven't read my Bible for

so long that I've clean forgot. Say, what are you doing with all them

pins?'

"The question come so unexpected that it come nearly knocking me off my

base. I had calculated on almost every other possible thing, unt was

ready for it, except that fool question. I thought for a minit that

disappointed man by the tree with the rope was going to get his job,

after all. But I gathered myself together with a jerk, unt calmly said

with a smile:

"'O, that's some of my foolishness. I can't get over being a tailor, and

sticking all the pins what I find in my lapel. I must pick up every one

I see.'

"'Queer where you found them all,' said he. 'Must've brung them from

Memphis with you. I can't find one in the whole camp. Our men use nails

unt thorns instead of pins. I've been wanting a lot of pins for my

papers. Let me have all you got. I wish you had a paper of them.'

"I did have two or three papers in my pockets, unt first had a fool idea

of offering them to him. Then I remembered that disappointed man with

the rope by the tree, unt pulled the pins out of my lapels one by one

unt give them to him, trying to keep count in my head as I did so.

"'What are you doing here, anyway?' he asked as he gathered up the pins

unt put them in a pasteboard box.

"'I come here at General Pillow's orders, to pick up some Mexican silfer

dollars, to buy ammunition in Mexico.

"'Another of old blowhard Pillow's fool schemes,'35 said he. 'I know old

Pillow. I served with him in Mexico, when he dug his ditch on the wrong

side of his fortification. He's probably going to do some-thing else

with the dollars than buy ammunition. Old Gid Pillow's a mighty slick

one, I tell you, when it comes to filling his own pockets. He's no fool

there, whatever he may be in other ways. He's working some scheme to

skin our men, unt making you his partner, then he'll turn around unt

skin you. I'll stop it going any further by turning you out of camp, unt

I ought to take away from you all the money you've gathered up, but I

won't do it on one condition.'

"'What is your condition?' said I, trying not to speak too quick.

"'You say you are in the clothing pizniss. I want awfully a nice

uniform, just like the Major's there. What's such a uniform worth?'

"'About $75,' said I.

"'I paid $65 for this in St. Louis,' said Jim Jones.

"'Well, $10 is not much of a skin for a Memphis Jew,' laughed the

Adjutant-General. 'I tell you what I'll do, if you'll swear by the book

of Deuteronomy, unt Moses, Abraham unt Isaac, to have me inside of two

weeks just such a uniform as the Major's there, I'll let you off with

all the money you have made already, unt when you come back with it I'll

give you written permission to trade for every silver dollar in camp.'

"'It is a bargain,' said I.

"'Unt it'll be a perfect fit," said he.

"'Just like the paper on the wall,' said I. 'Let me36 take your

measure.'

"I had my eye all the time on the paper he had laid carelessly down unt

forgotten. I pulled my tapemeasure out. The old idee of the tailor come

up. I forgot about the disappointed man with the rope by the tree, unt

was my old self taking the measure of a customer. I put all the figures

down on his piece of paper, without his noticing what I was using. I

asked him about the lining, the trimming, unt the pockets, unt wrote

them down. Then I folded up the paper unt stuck it in my breast pocket,

unt my heart gave a big thump, though I kept my face straight, unt went

on talking about buttons unt silk braid unt gold lace for the sleeves. I

promised him he should have the uniform in the army in two weeks' time.

Just then some officers come in, unt Jim Jones hurried me out. I could

not understand Jim Jones. He hurried me across to a place behind the

woods, where we found some horses.

"'Untie that one unt get on quick,' he said. 'My God, you've got the

thing dead to rights; you've got everything on that piece of paper. My

God, what luck! Smartest thing I ever saw done. Get that paper in

General Lyon's hands before midnight if you kill yourself unt horse in

doing it. I'll take you out past part of the guards, unt show you how to

avoid the rest. Then ride as if the devil was after you, until you reach

General Lyon's tent.'

"I was dumfounded. I looked at Jim Jones. His eyes was like fire. Then

it suddenly occurred to me that Jim Jones was a spy, too.

"As I mounted I looked back across the camp. I saw the rope still

hanging from a limb of the tree,37 and the disappointed man sitting down

beside it patiently waiting.

"That night the paper was in General Lyon's hands, unt the next night

the army moved out to fight the battle of Wilson's Creek.

"The Adjutant-General is still waiting for that uniform."

"Halt, who comes there?" called out Shorty, whose quick ears caught the

sound of approaching footsteps.

"The Officer of the Guard," responded from the bank of darkness in the

rear.

"Advance, Officer of the Guard, and give the countersign," commanded

Shorty, lowering his musket to a charge bayonets.

The officer advanced, leaned over the bayonet's point, and whispered the

countersign.

"Countersign's correct," announced Shorty, bringing his gun to a

present. "Good evening. Lieutenant. We have got a man here who claims to

belong to the Secret Service."

"Yes," answered the officer. "We've been expecting him all afternoon,

but thought he was coming in on the other road. I'd have been around

here long ago only for that. This is he, is it? Well, let's hurry in.

They want you at Headquarters as soon as possible."

"Good night, boys," called out Mr. Rosenbaum as he disappeared; "see you

again soon."

38

CHAPTER III. THE DEACON GOES HOME SHORTY FALLS A VICTIM TO HIS GAMBLING

PROPENSITIES.

THE BOYS did not finish their tour of picket duty till the forenoon of

the next day, and it was getting toward evening when they reached their

own camp.

"What in the world's going on at the house?" Si asked anxiously, as they

were standing on the regimental parade ground waiting to be dismissed.

Strange sounds came floating from that direction. The scraping of a

fiddle was mingled with yells, the rush of feet, and laughter.

"I'll go over there and see," said the Deacon, who had sat down behind

the line on a pile of the things they had brought back with them. He

picked up the coffee-pot, the frying-pan, and one of the haversacks, and

walked in the direction of the house. As he turned into the company

street and came in sight of the cabin he looked for an instant, and then

broke out:

"I'm blamed if they don't seem to be havin' a nigger political rally

there, with the house as campaign headquarters. Where in time could they

have all come from? Looks like a crow-roost, with some o' the crows

drunk."

Apparently, all the negro cooks, teamsters, officers' servants, and

roustabouts from the adjoining camps39 had been gathered there, with

Groundhog, Pilgarlic, and similar specimens of the white teamsters among

them and leading them.

The Negroes Merrymaking. 39

Seated on a log were three negroes, one sawing on an old fiddle, one

picking a banjo, and one playing the bones. Two negroes were in the

center of a ring, dancing, while the others patted "Juba." All were more

or less intoxicated. Groundhog and Pilgarlic were endeavoring to get up

a fight between Abraham Lincoln and another stalwart, stupid negro, and

were plying them with whisky from a canteen and egging them on with

words.40

The Deacon strode up to Groundhog and, catching him by the arm, demanded

sternly:

"What are you doing, you miserable scoundrel? Stop it at once."

Groundhog, who had drunk considerable himself, and was pot-valiant,

shook him off roughly, saying:

"G'way from here, you dumbed citizen. This hain't none o' your bizniss.

Go back to your haymow and leave soldiers alone."

The Deacon began divesting himself of his burden to prepare for action,

but before he could do so, Shorty rushed in, gave Groundhog a vigorous

kick, and he and Si dispersed the rest of the crowd in a hurry with

sharp cuffs for all they could reach. The meeting broke up without a

motion to adjourn.

The Deacon caught Abraham Lincoln by the collar and shook him

vigorously.

"You black rascal," he said, "what've you bin up to?"

"Didn't 'spect you back so soon. Boss," gasped the negro. "Said you

wouldn't be back till termorrer."

"No matter when you expected us back," said the Deacon, shaking him

still harder, while Si winked meaningly at Shorty. "What d'ye mean by

sich capers as this? You've bin a-drinkin' likker, you brute."

"Cel'bratun my freedom," gasped the negro. "Groundhog done tole me to."

"I'd like to celebrate his razzled head offen him," exploded the Deacon.

"I'll welt him into dog's meat hash if I kin lay my hands on him. He's

too mean and wuthless to even associate with mules. If I'd a41 dog on my

place as onery as he is I'd give him a button before night. He's not

content with bein' a skunk himself; he wants to drag everybody else down

to his level. Learnin' you to drink whisky and fight as soon as you're

out o' bondage. Next thing he'll be learnin' you to steal sheep and vote

for Vallandigham. I'd like to put a stone around his neck and feed him

to the catfish."

There was something so strange and earnest about the Deacon's wrath that

it impressed the negro more than any of the most terrible exhibitions of

wrath that he had seen his master make. He cowered down, and began

crying in a maudlin way and begging:

"Pray God, Boss, don't be so hard on a poor nigger."

Si, who had learned something more of the slave nature than his father,

ended the unpleasant scene by giving Abraham Lincoln a sharp slap across

the hips with a piece of clapboard and ordering:

"Pick up that camp-kettle, go to the spring and fill it, and git back

here in short meter."

The blow came to the negro as a welcome relief. It was something that he

could understand. He sprang to his feet, grinned, snatched up the

campkettle, and ran to the spring.

"I must get that man away from here without delay," said the Deacon.

"The influences here are awful. They'll ruin him. He'll lose his soul if

he stays here. I'll start home with him to-morrow."

"He'll do worse'n lose his soul," grumbled Shorty, who had been looking

over the provisions. "He'll lose the top of his woolly head if he brings

another42 gang o' coons around here to eat us out o' house and home.

I'll be gosh durned if I don't believe they've eat up even all the salt

and soap. There ain't a crumb left of anything. Talk about losin' his

soul. I'd give six bits for something to make him lose his appetite."

"I'll take him home to-morrow," reiterated the Deacon. "I raised over

'leven hundred bushels o' corn last year, 'bout 500 o' wheat, and just

an even ton o' pork. I kin feed him awhile, anyway, but I don't know as

I'd chance two of him."

"What'll you do if you have him and the grasshoppers the same year,

Pap?" inquired Si.

That night the Deacon began his preparations for returning home. He had

gathered up many relics from the battlefield to distribute among his

friends at home and decorate the family mantlepiece. There were

fragments of exploded shells, some canister, a broken bayonet, a smashed

musket, a solid 12-pound shot, and a quart or more of battered bullets

picked up in his walks over the scenes of the heavy fighting.

"Looks as if you were going into the junk business. Pap," commented Si,

as the store was gathered on the floor.

The faithful old striped carpetsack was brought out, and its handles

repaired with stout straps. The thrifty Deacon insisted on taking home

some of Si's and Shorty's clothes to be mended. The boys protested.

"We don't mend clothes in the army, Pap," said Si. "They ain't wuth it.

We just wear 'em out throw 'em away, and draw new ones."

The Deacon held out that his mother and sisters43 would take great

pleasure in working on such things, from the feeling that they were

helping the war along. Finally the matter was compromised by putting in

some socks to be darned and shirts to be mended. Then the bullets,

canister, round-shot, fragments of shell, etc., were filled in.

"I declare," said the Deacon dubiously, as he hefted the carpetsack.

"It's goin' to be a job to lug that thing back home. Better hire a mule-

team. But I'll try it. Mebbe it'll help work some o' the stupidity out

o' Abraham Lincoln."

The whole of Co. Q and most of the regiment had grown very fond of the

Deacon, and when it was noised around that he was going, they crowded in

to say good-by, and give him letters and money to take home. The

remaining space in the carpetsack and all that in the Deacon's many

pockets were filled with these.

The next morning the company turned out to a man and escorted him to the

train, with Si and his father marching arm-in-arm at the head, the

company fifers playing,

"Ain't I glad to get out of the Wilderness, Way down in Tennessee,"

and Abraham Lincoln, laden with the striped carpetsack, the smashed

musket and other relics, bringing up the rear, under the supervision of

Shorty. Tears stood in the old man's eyes as he stood on the platform of

the car, and grasped Si's and Shorty's hands in adieu. His brief

farewell was characteristic of the strong, self-contained Western44 man:

"Good-by, boys. God bless you. Take care of yourselves. Be good boys.

Come home safe after the war."

Klegg Starts Home. 45

The boys stood and watched the train with sorrowful eyes until it had

passed out of sight in the woods beyond Overall's Creek, and then turned

to go to their camp with a great load of homesickness weighing down

their hearts.

"Just think of it; he's going straight back to God's country," said

someone near.

A sympathetic sigh went up from all.

"Shet up," said Shorty savagely. "I don't want to hear a word o' that

kind. He pulled his hat down over his eyes, rammed his hands deep in his

pockets, and strode off, trying to whistle

"When this cruel war is over,"

but the attempt was a dismal failure. Si separated from the crowd and

joined him. They took an unfrequented and roundabout way back to camp.

"I feel all broke up. Si," said Shorty. "I wish that we were goin' into

a fight, or something to stir us up."

Si understood his partner's mood, and that it was likely to result in an

outbreak of some kind. He tried to get him over to the house, so that he

could get him interested in work there.

They came to a little hidden ravine, and found it filled with men

playing that most fascinating of all gambling games to the average

soldier—chucka-luck. There were a score of groups, each gathered around

as45 many "sweat-boards." Some of the men "running" the games were

citizens, and some were in uniform. Each had before him a small board on

which was sometimes painted, sometimes rudely marked with charcoal,

numbers from 1 to 6.

On some of the boards the numbers were indicated by playing-cards, from

ace to six-spot, tacked down. The man who "ran" the game had a dice-box,

with three dice. He would shake the box, turn it upside46 down on the

board, and call upon the group in front of him to make their bets.

The players would deposit their money on the numbers that they fancied,

and then, after the inquiry, "All down?" the "banker" would raise the

box and reveal the dice. Those who had put their money on any of the

three numbers which had turned up, would be paid, while those who bet on

the other three would lose.

Chuck-a-luck was strictly prohibited in camp, but it was next to

impossible to keep the men from playing it. Citizen gamblers would gain

admittance to camp under various pretexts and immediately set up boards

in secluded places, and play till they were discovered and run out, by

which time they would have made enough to make it an inducement to try

again whenever they could find an opportunity. They followed the army

incessantly for this purpose, and in the aggregate carried off immense

sums of the soldiers' pay. Chuck-a-luck is one of the fairest of

gambling games, when fairly played, which it rarely or never is by a

professional gambler. A tolerably quick, expert man finds little

difficulty in palming the dice before a crowd of careless soldiers so as

to transfer the majority of their bets to his pocket. The regular

citizen gamblers were reinforced by numbers of insatiable chuck-a-

luckers in the ranks, who would set up a "board" at the least chance,

even under the enemy's fire, while waiting the order to move.

Chuck-a-luck was Shorty's greatest weakness. He found it as difficult to

pass a chuck-a-luck board as an incurable drunkard does to pass a dram-

shop.47

Si knew this, and shuddered a little as he saw the "layouts," and tried

to get his partner past them. But it was of no use. Shorty was in an

intractable mood. He must have a strong distraction. If he could not

fight he would gamble.

"I'm goin' to bust this feller's bank before I go another step," said

he, stopping before one. "I know him. He's the same feller that, you

remember, I busted down before Nashville. I kin do it agin. He's a bum

citizen gambler. He thinks he's the smartest chuck-a-lucker in the Army

o' the Cumberland, but I'll learn him different."

"Don't risk more'n a dollar," begged Si as a final appeal.

"All down?" called the "banker."

"Allow doublin'?" inquired Shorty.

"Double as much as you blamed please, so long's you put your money

down," answered the "banker" defiantly.

"Well, then, here goes a dollar on that five-spot," said Shorty,

"skinning" a bill from a considerable roll.

"Don't allow more'n 25 cents bet on single cards, first bet," said the

"banker," dismayed by the size of the roll.

"Thought you had some sand," remarked Shorty contemptuously. "Well,

then, here's 25 cents on the five-spot, and 25 cents on the deuce," and

he placed shin-plasters on the numbers. "Now, throw them dice straight,

and no fingerin'. I'm watchin' you."

"Watch and be durned," said the "banker" surlily. "Watch your own

business, and I'll watch mine. I'm as honest as you are any day."48

The "banker" lifted the box, and showed two sixes and a tray up. He

raked in the bets on the ace, deuce, four and five-spots, and paid the

others.

"Fifty cents on the deuce; 50 cents on the five," said Shorty, laying

down the fractional currency.

Again they lost.

"A dollar on the deuce; a dollar on the five," said Shorty.

The same ill luck.

"Two dollars on the deuce; two dollars on the five," said Shorty, though

Si in vain plucked his sleeve to get him away.

The spots remained obstinately down.

"Four dollars on the deuce; four dollars on the five," said Shorty.

No better luck.

"Eight dollars on the deuce; eight dollars on the five," said Shorty.

"Whew, there goes more'n a month's pay," said the other players,

stopping to watch the dice as they rolled out, with the deuce and five-

spot down somewhere else than on top. "And his roll's beginning to look

as if an elephant had stepped on it. Now we'll see his sand."

"Come, Shorty, you've lost enough. You've lost too much already. Luck's

agin you," urged Si. "Come away."

"I ain't goin'," said Shorty, obstinately. "Now's my chance to bust him.

Every time them spots don't come up increases the chances that they'll

come up next time. They've got to. They're not loaded; I kin tell that

by the way they roll. He ain't fingerin' 'em; I stopped that when I made

him49 give 'em a rollin' throw, instead o' keep in' 'em kivvered with

the box."

"Sixteen dollars on the deuce; sixteen dollars on the five-spot. And I

ain't takin' no chances o' your jumpin' the game on me, Mr. Banker. I

want you to plank down $32 alongside o' mine."

Shorty laid down his money and put his fists on it. "Now put yours right

there."

"O, I've got money enough to pay you. Don't be skeered," sneered the

"banker," "and you'll git it if you win it."

"You bet I will," answered Shorty. "And I'm goin' to make sure by havin'

it right on the board alongside o' mine. Come down, now."

The proposition met the favor of the other players, and the "banker" was

constrained to comply.

"Now," said Shorty, as the money was counted down, "I've jest $20 more

that says that I'll win. Put her up alongside."

The "banker" was game. He pulled out a roll and said as he thumbed it

over:

"I'll see you $20, and go you $50 better that I win."

Shorty's heart beat a little faster. All his money was up, but there was

the $50 which the Deacon had intrusted to him for charitable purposes.

He slipped his hand into his bosom, felt it, and looked at Si. Si was

not looking at him, but had his eyes fixed on a part of the board where

the dice had been swept after the last throw. Shorty resisted the

temptation for a moment, and withdrew his hand.

"Come down, now," taunted the "banker." "You've blowed so much about

sand. Don't weaken over a50 little thing like $50. I'm a thoroughbred,

myself, I am. The man don't live that kin bluff me."

The taunt was too much for Shorty. He ran his hand into his bosom in

desperation, pulled out the roll of the Deacon's money, and laid it on

the board.

Si had not lifted his eyes. He was wondering why the flies showed such a

liking for the part of the board where the dice were lying. Numbers of

them had gathered there, apparently eagerly feeding. He was trying to

understand it.

He had been thinking of trying a little shy at the four-spot himself, as

he had noticed that it had never won, and two or three times he had

looked for it before the dice were put in the box, and had seen the

"banker" turn it down on the board before picking the dice up. A thought

flashed into his mind.

The "banker" picked up the dice with seeming carelessness, dropped them

into the box, gave them a little shake, and rolled them out. Two threes

and a six came up. The "banker's" face lighted up with triumph, and

Shorty's deadened into acute despair.

"I guess that little change is mine," said the "banker" reaching for the

pile.

"Hold on a minnit. Mister," said Si, covering the pile with his massive

hands. "Shorty, look at them dice. He's got molasses on one side. You

kin see there where the flies are eatin' it."

Shorty snatched up the dice, felt them and touched his tongue to one

side. "That's so, sure's you're a foot high," said he sententiously.

Just then someone yelled:

"Scatter! Here come the guards!"51

All looked up. A company coming at the doublequick was almost upon them.

The "banker" made a final desperate claw for the money, but was met by

the heavy fist of Shorty and knocked on his back. Shorty grabbed what

money there was on the board, and he and Si made a burst of speed which

took them out of reach of the "provos" in a few seconds. Looking back

from a safe distance they could see the "bankers" and a lot of the more

luckless ones being gathered together to march to the guard-house.

"Another detachment of horny-handed laborers for the fortifications,"

said Shorty grimly, as he52 recovered his breath, watched them, and sent

up a yell of triumph and derision. "Another contribution to the charity

fund," he continued, looking down at the bunch of bills and fractional

currency in his hands.

Shorty Settles With the Banker. 51

"Shorty," said Si earnestly, "promise me solemnly that you'll never bet

at chuck-a-luck agin as long as you live."

"Si, don't ask me impossibilities. But I want you to take every cent o'

this money and keep it. Don't you ever give me more'n $5 at a time,

under any consideration. Don't you do it, if I git down on my knees and

ask for it. Lord, how nigh I come to losin' that $50 o' your father's."

CHAPTER IV. A SPY'S EXPERIENCES MR. ROSENBAUM TELLS THE BOYS MORE OF HIS

ADVENTURES.

MR. ROSENBAUM became a frequent visitor to the Hoosier's Rest, and

generally greatly interested Si and Shorty with his stories of

adventure.

"How did you happen to come into the Army of the Cumberland?" asked Si.

"I'd a-thought you'd staid where you knowed the country and the people."

"That was just the trouble," replied Rosenbaum. "I got to know them very

well, but they got to know me a confounded sight better. When I was in

the clothing pizniss in St. Louis I tried to have everybody know me. I

advertised. I wanted to be a great big sunflower that everybody noticed.

But when I got to be a spy I wanted to be a modest little violet that

hid under the leaves, unt nobody saw. Then every man what knew me become

a danger, unt it got so that I shuddered every time that I see a limb

running out from a tree, for I didn't know how soon I might be hung from

it. I had some awful narrow escapes, I tell you.

"But what decided me to leave the country unt skip over de Mississippi

River was something that happened down in the Boston Mountains just

before the battle of Pea Ridge. I was down there watching Van Dorn unt

Ben McCullough for General Curtis, unt54 was getting along all right. I

was still playing the old racket about buying up Mexican silver dollars

to buy ammunition. One night I was sitting at a campfire with two or

three others, when a crowd of Texans come up. They was just drunk enough

to be devilish, unt had a rope with a noose on the end, which I noticed

first thing. I had begun to keep a sharp lookout for such things. My

flesh creeped when I saw them. I tried to think what had stirred them up

all at once, but couldn't for my life recollect, for everything had been

going on all right for several days. The man with the rope—a big, ugly

brute, with red hair unt one eye—says:

"'You're a Jew, ain't you?'

"'Yes,' says I; 'I was born that way.'

"'Well,' says he, 'we're going to hang you right off.' Unt he put the

noose around my neck unt began trying to throw the other end over a

limb."

Close Call for Rosenbaum. 54

"'What for?' I yelled, trying to pull the rope off my neck. 'I ain't

done nothing.'

"'Hain't eh?' said the man with one eye. 'You hook-nosed Jews crucified

our Savior.'

"'Why, you red-headed fool,' said I, catching hold of the rope with both

hands, 'that happened more as 1,800 years ago. Let me go.'

"'I don't care if it did,' said the one-eyed man, getting the end of the

rope over the limb, 'we didn't hear about it till the Chaplain told us

this morning, unt then the boys said we'd kill every Jew we come across.

Catch hold of the end here, Bowers.'

"The other fellers around me laughed at the Texans so that they finally

agreed to let me go if I'd promise not to do it again, holler for Jeff

Davis, unt treat all around. It was a fool thing, but it scared me

worse'n anything else, unt I resolved to get out of there unt go where

the people read their Bibles unt the newspapers."

"How did you manage to keep Gen. Curtis posted as to the number of

rebels in front of him?" asked Si. "You couldn't always be running back

and forth from one army to the other."

"O, that was easy enough. You see. General56 Curtis was advancing, unt

the rebels falling back most of the time. There was cabins every little

ways along the road. All these have great big fireplaces, built of

smooth rocks, which they pick up out of the creek unt wherever they can

find them.

"I'd go into these houses unt talk with the people unt play with the

children. I'd sit by the fire unt pick up a dead coal unt mark on these

smooth rocks. Sometimes I'd draw horses unt wagons unt men to amuse the

children. Sometimes I'd talk to the old folks about how long they'd been

in the country, how many bears unt deers the man had killed, how far it

was to the next place, how the roads run, unt so on, unt I'd make marks

on the jam of the fireplace to help me understand.

"The next day our scouts would come in unt see the marks unt understand

them just as well as if I'd wrote them a letter. I fixed it all up with

them before I left camp. I kin draw very well with a piece of charcoal.

I'd make pictures of men what would make the children unt old folks open

their eyes. Our scouts would understand which one meant Ben McCullough,

which one Van Dorn, which one Pap Price, unt so on. Other marks would

show which way each one was going unt how many men he hat with him. The

rebels never dropt on to it, but they came so close to it once or twice

that my hair stood on end."

"That curly mop of yours'd have a time standing on end," ventured

Shorty. "I should think it'd twist your neck off tryin' to."

"Well, something gave me a queer feeling about the throat one day when I

saw a rebel Colonel stop57 unt look very hard at a long letter which I'd

wrote this way on a rock.

"'Who done that?' he asked.

"'This man here,' says the old woman, 'He done it while he was gassing

with the old man unt fooling with the children. Lot o' pesky nonsense,

marking up de walls dat a-way.'

"'Looks like very systematic nonsense,' said the Colonel very stern unt

sour. 'There may be something in it. Did you do this?' said he, turning

to me.

"'Yes, sir,' said I, 'I have a bad habit of marking when I'm talking. I

always done it, even when I was a child. My mother used to often slap me

for spoiling the walls, but she could never break me of it.'

"'Humph,' said he, not at all satisfied with my story, unt looking at

the scratches harder than ever. 'Who are you, unt what are you doing

here?'

"I told him my story about buying Mexican silver dollars, unt showed him

a lot of the dollars I'd bought.

"'Your story ain't reasonable,' said he. 'You haven't done bizniss

enough to pay you for all the time you've spent around the army. I'll

put you under guard till I can look into your case.'

"He called to the Sergeant of the Guard, unt ordered him to take charge

of me. The Sergeant was that same dirty loafer. Bob Smiles, that I had

the trouble with by Wilson's Creek. He kicked me unt pounded me, unt put

me on my horse, with my hands tied behind me, unt my feet tied under the

horse's belly. I was almost dead by night, when we reached Headquarters.

They gave me something to58 eat, unt I laid down on the floor of the

cabin, wishing I was Pontius Pilate, so that I could crucify every man

in the Southern Confedrisy, especially Bob Smiles. An hour or two later

I heard Bob Smiles swearing again."

The Spy in Custody. 58

"'Make out the names of all the prisoners I have,' he was saying, 'with

where they belong unt the charges against them. I can't. Do they take me

for a counter-jumping clerk? I didn't come into the army to be a white-

faced bookkeeper, I sprained59 my thumb the other day, unt I can't write

even a Httle bit. What am I to do?'

"That was all moonshine about his spraining his thumb. He vas ignorant

as a jackass. If he had 40 thumbs he couldn't write even his own name

so's anybody could read it.

"'I don't believe these's a man in a mile of here that can make out such

a list,' he went on. They're all a set of hominy-eating blockheads.

Perhaps that hook-nosed Jew might. He's the man. I'll make him do it, or

break his swindling head.'

"He come in, kicked me, unt made me get up, unt then took me out unt set

me down at a table, where he had paper, pen unt ink, unt ordered me to

take down the names of the prisoners as he brought them up. He'd look

over my shoulder as I wrote, as if he was reading what I set down, but I

knowed that he couldn't make out a letter. I was tempted to write all

sorts of things about him, but I didn't, for I was in enough trouble

already. When I come to my own name, he said:

"'Make de charge a spy, a thief, unt a Dutch traitor to the Southern

Confedrisy.'

"I just wrote: 'Levi Rosenbaum, Memphis, Tenn. Merchant. No charge.'

"He scowled very wisely at it, unt pretended to read it, unt said:

"'It's lucky for you that you wrote it just as I told you. I'd 'a' broke

every bone in your body if you hadn't.'

"I'd just got done when an officer come down from Headquarters for it.

He looked it over unt said:

"'Who made this out?'

"'Why, I made it out,' said Bob Smiles, bold as brass.

"'But who wrote it?" said de officer.

"'O, I sprained my thumb, so I couldn't write very well, unt I made a

Jew prisoner copy it,' said Bob Smiles.

"'It's the best writing I have seen,' said the officer. 'I want the man

what wrote it to go with me to Headquarters at once. I have some copying

there to be done at once, unt not one of them corn-crackers that I have

up there can write anything fit to read. Bring that man out here unt I

will take him with me."

"Bob Smiles hated to let me go, but he couldn't help himself, unt I went

with the officer. I was so tired I could hardly move a step, unt I felt

I could not write a word. But I seemed to see a chance at Headquarters,

unt I determined to make every effort to do something. They gave me a

stiff horn of whisky unt set me to work. They wanted me to make out unt

copy a consolidated report of the army.

"I almost forgot I was tired when I found out what they wanted, for I

saw a chance to get something of great value. They'd been trying to make

up a report from all sorts of scraps unt sheets of paper sent in from

the different Headquarters, unt they had spoiled a half-dozen big sheets

of paper after they'd got them partly done. If I do say it myself, I can

write better and faster and figure quicker than most any man you ever

saw. Those rebels thought they had got hold of a wonder—a61 lightning

calculator unt lightning penman together.

"As fast as I could copy one paper, unt it would prove to be all right,

I would fold it up unt stick it into a big yaller envelope. I also

folded up the spoiled reports, unt stuck them in the envelope, saying

that I wanted to get rid of them—put them where seeing them wouldn't

bother me. I carefully slipped the envelope under the edge of a pile of

papers near the edge of the table. I had another big yaller envelope

that looked just like it lying in the middle of the table, into which I

stuck papers that didn't amount to nothing. I was very slick about it,

unt didn't let them see that I had two envelopes.

"It was past midnight when I got the consolidated report made out, unt

the rebels was tickled to death with it. They'd never seen anything so

well done before. They wanted a copy made to keep, unt I said I'd make

one, though I was nearly dead for sleep. I really wasn't, for the

excitement made me forget all about being tired.

"I was determined, before I slept, to have that yellow envelope, with

all those papers, in General Curtis's hands, though he was 40 miles

away. How in the world I was going to do it I could not think, but I was

going to do it, if I died a trying. The first thing was to get that

envelope off the table into my clothes; the next, to get out of that

cabin, away from Bob Smiles unt his guards, through the rebel lines, unt

over the mountains to General Curtis's camp. It was a dark, windy night,

unt things were in confusion about the camp—just the kind of a time

when62 anybody might kill a Jew pedler, unt no questions would be asked.

"I had got the last copy finished, unt the officers was going over it.

They had their heads together, not 18 inches from me, across the table.

I had my fingers on the envelope, but I didn't dare slip it out, though

my fingers itched. I was in hopes that they'd turn around, or do

something that'd give me a chance.

"Suddenly Bob Smiles opened the door wide, unt walked in, with a

dispatch in his hand. The wind swept in, blew the candles out, unt sent

de papers flying about the room. Some went into the fire. The officers

yelled unt swore at him, unt he shut the door, but I had the envelope in

my breast-pocket.

"Then to get away. How in the name of Moses unt the ten commandments was

I to do that?

"One of the officers said to Bob Smiles: 'Take this man away unt take

good care of him until to-morrow. We'll want him again. Give him a good

bed, unt plenty to eat, unt treat him well. We'll need him to-morrow.'

"'Come on, you pork-hating Jew,' said Bob Smiles crabbedly. 'I'll give

you a mess of spare-ribs unt corn-dodgers for supper.'

"'You'll do nothing of the kind,' said the officer. 'I told you to treat

him well, unt if you don't treat him well, I'll see about it. Give him a

bed in that house where de orderlies stay.'

"Bob Smiles grumbled unt swore at me, unt we vent out, but there was

nothing to do but to obey orders. He give me a good place, unt some

coffee unt bread, unt I lay down pretending to go to sleep.63

"I snored away like a good feller, unt presently I heard some one come

in. I looked a little out the corner of my eye, unt see by the light of

the fire that Bob Smiles was sneaking back. He watched me for a minute,

unt then put his hand on me.

"I was scared as I never was, for I thought he vas after my precious

yaller envelope. But I thought of my bowie knife, which I always carried

out of sight in my bosom, unt resolved dat I vould stick it in his

heart, if he tried to take away my papers. But I never moved. He felt

over me until he come to de pocket where I had the silver dollars, unt

then slipped his fingers in, unt pulled them out one by one, just as

gently as if he vas smoothing the hair of a cat. I let him take them

all, without moving a muscle. I was glad to haf him take them. I knowed

that he was playing poker somewhere, unt had run out of cash, unt would

take my money unt go back to his game.

"As soon as I heard his footsteps disappear in the distance, I got up

unt sneaked down to where the Headquarters horses were tied. I must get

a fresh one, because my own vas played nearly out. He would never do to

carry me over the rough roads I must ride before morning. But when I got

there I saw a guard pacing up unt down in front of them. I had not

counted on this, unt for a minit my heart stood still. There were no

other horses anywheres around.

"I hesitated, looked up at Headquarters, unt saw de lights still

burning, unt made up my mind at once to risk everything on one desperate

chance. I remembered that I had put in my envelope some64 blank sheets

of paper, with Headquarters, Army of the Frontier,' unt a rebel flag on

dem. There was a big fire burning ofer to the right mit no one near. I

went up in de shadow of a tree, where I could see by the firelight, took

out one of the sheets of paper unt wrote on it an order to have a horse

saddled for me at once. Then I slipped back so that it would look as if

I was coming straight from Headquarters, unt walked up to the guard unt

handed him the order. He couldn't read a word, but he recognized the

heading on the paper, unt I told him the rest. He thought there was

nothing for him to do but obey.

"While he was getting the horse I wrote out, by the fire, a pass for

myself through the guards. I was in a hurry, you bet, unt it was all

done mighty quick, unt I was on the horse's back unt started. I had lost

all direction, but I knowed that I had to go generally to the northeast

to get to General Curtis. But I got confused again, unt found I was

riding around unt around the camp without getting out at all. I even

come up again near the big fire, just where I wrote out the pass.

"Just then what should I hear but Bob Smiles's voice. He had lost all

his money—all my money—at poker, unt was damning the fellers he had been

playing with as cheats. He was not in a temper to meet, unt I knowed he

would see me if I went by the big fire; but I was desperate, unt I stuck

the spurs into my horse unt he shot ahead. I heard Bob Smiles yell:

"'There is that Jew. Where is he going? Halt, there! Stop him!'65

"I knowed that if I stopped now I would be hung sure. The only safety

was to go as fast as I could. I dashed away, where, I didn't know.

Directly a guard halted me, but I showed him my pass, unt he let me go

on. While he was looking at it I strained my ears, unt could hear horses

galloping my way. I knowed it was Bob Smiles after me. My horse was a

good one, unt I determined to get on the main road unt go as fast as I

could. I could see by the campfires that I was now getting away from the

army, unt I began to hope that I was going north. I kept my horse

running.

"Pretty soon the pickets halted me, but I didn't stop to answer them. I

just bolted ahead. The chances of their shooting me wasn't as dreadful

as of Bob Smiles catching me. They fired at me, but I galloped right

through them, unt through a rain of bullets that they sent after me. I

felt better then, for I was confident I was out in the open country, but

I kept my horse on the run. It seemed to me that I went a hundred miles.

"Just as the day was breaking in the east, I heard a voice, with a

strong German accent call out the brush:

"'Halt! Who comes there?'

Rosenbaum Runs Into Sigel's Pickets. 66

"I was so glad that I almost fainted, for I knowed that I'd reached

General Sigel's pickets. I couldn't get my lips to answer.

"There came a lot of shots, unt one of them struck my horse in the head,

unt he fell in the road, throwing me over his head. The pickets run out

unt picked me up. The German language sounded the sweetest I ever heard

it.66

"As soon as I could make myself talk, I answered them in German, unt

told them who I was. Then they couldn't do enough for me. They helped me

back to where they could get an ambulance, in which they sent me to

Headquarters, for I was top weak to ride or walk a step. I handed my

yellow envelope to General Curtis, got a dram of whisky to keep me up

while I answered his questions, unt then went to67 sleep, unt slept

through the whole battle of Pea Ridge.

"After the battle, General Curtis wanted to know how much he ought to

pay me, but I told him that all I wanted was to serve the country, unt I

was already paid many times over, by helping him win a victory.

"But I concluded that there was too much Bob Smiles in that country for

me, unt I had better leave for some parts where I was not likely to meet

him. So I crossed the Mississippi River, unt joined General Rosecrans's

Headquarters."

CHAPTER V. THE BOYS GO SPYING ON AN EXPEDITION WITH ROSENBAUM THEY MAKE

A CAPTURE.

MR. ROSENBAUM'S stories of adventure were not such as to captivate the

boys with the career of a spy. But the long stay in camp was getting

very tedious, and they longed for something to break the monotony of

camp guard and work on the interminable fortifications. Therefore, when

Mr. Rosenbaum came over one morning with a proposition to take them out

on an expedition, he found them ready to go. He went to Regimental

Headquarters, secured a detail for them, and, returning to the Hoosier's

Rest, found the boys lugubriously pulling over a pile of homespun

garments they had picked up among the teamsters and campfollowers.

"I suppose we've got to wear 'em, Shorty," said Si, looking very

disdainfully at a butternut-colored coat and vest. "But I'd heap rather

wear a mustard plaster. I'd be a heap comfortabler."

"I ain't myself finicky about clothes," answered Shorty. "I ain't no

swell—never was. But somehow I've got a prejudice in favor of blue as a

color, and agin gray and brown. I only like gray and brown on a corpse.

They make purty grave clothes. I always like to bury a man what has

butternut clothes on."69

"What are you doing with them dirty rags, boys?" asked Rosenbaum, in

astonishment, as he surveyed the scene.

"Why, we've got to wear 'em, haven't we, if we go out with you?" asked

Si.

"You wear them when you go out with me—you disguise yourselves," said

Rosenbaum, with fine scorn. "You'd play the devil in disguise. You can't

disguise your tongues. That's the worst. Anybody'd catch on to that

Indianny lingo first thing. You've got to speak like an educated

man—speak like I do—to keep people from finding out where you're from. I

speak correct English always. Nobody can tell where I'm from."

The boys had hard work controlling their risibles over Mr. Rosenbaum's

self-complacency.

"What clothes are we to wear, then?" asked Si, much puzzled.

"Wear what you please; wear the clothes you have on, or anything else.

This is not to be a full-dress affair. Gentlemen can attend in their

working clothes if they want to."

"I don't understand," mumbled Si.

"Of course, you don't," said Rosenbaum gaily. "If you did, you would

know as much as I do, unt I wouldn't have no advantage."

"All right," said Shorty. "We've decided to go it blind. Go ahead. Fix

it up to suit yourself. We are your huckleberries for anything that you

kin turn up. It all goes in our $13 a month."

"O. K.," answered Rosenbaum. "That's the right way. Trust me, unt I will

bring you out all straight. Now, let me tell you something. When you70

captured me, after a hard struggle, as you remember (and he gave as much

of a wink as his prominent Jewish nose would admit), I was an officer on

General Roddey's staff. It was, unt still is, my business to keep up

express lines by which the rebels are supplied with quinine, medicines,

gun-caps, letters, giving information, unt other things. Unt I do it."

The boys opened their eyes wide, and could not restrain an exclamation

of surprise.

"Now, hold your horses; don't get excited," said Rosenbaum calmly. "You

don't know as much about war as I do—not by a hundred per cent. These

things are always done in every war, unt General Rosecrans understands

the tricks of war better as any man in the army. He beats them all when

it comes to getting information about the enemy. He knows that a dog

that fetches must carry, unt that the best way is to let a spy take a

little to the enemy, unt bring a good deal back.

"The trouble at the battle of Stone River was that the spies took more

to General Bragg than they brought to General Rosecrans. But General

Rosecrans was new to the work then. It won't be so in future. He knows a

great deal more about the rebels now than they know about him, thanks to

such men as me."

"I don't know as we ought to have anything to do with this, Shorty,"

said Si dubiously. "At least, we ought to inquire of the Colonel first."

"That's all right—that's all right," said Rosenbaum quickly. "I've got

the order from the Colonel which will satisfy you. Read it yourself."

He handed the order to Si, who looked carefully71 at the printed

heading, "Headquarters, 200th Ind., near Murfreesboro', Tenn.," and then

read the order aloud to Shorty: "Corporal Josiah Klegg and one private,

whom he may select, will report to Mr. Levi Rosenbaum for special duty,

and will obey such orders and instructions as he may give, and on return

report to these Headquarters. By order of the Colonel. Philip Blake,

Adjutant."

"That seems all straight. Shorty," said Si, folding up the order, and

putting it in his pocket.

"Straight as a string," assented Shorty. "I'm ready, anyway. Go ahead,

Mr. Cheap Clothing. I don't care much what it is, so long's it ain't

shovelin' and diggin' on the fortifications. I'll go down to Tullahoma

and pull old Bragg out of his tent rather than handle a pick and shovel

any longer."

"Well, as I was going to tell you, I have been back to Tullahoma several

times since you captured me, unt I have got the express lines between

here unt there running pretty well. I have to tell them all sorts of

stories how I got away from the Yankees. Luckily, I have a pretty good

imagination, unt can furnish them with first-class narratives.

"But there is one feller on the staff that I'm afraid of. His name is

Poke Bolivar, unt he is a terrible feller, I tell you. Always full of

fight, unt desperate when he gets into a fight. I've seen him bluff all

those other fellers. He is a red-hot Secessionist, unt wants to kill

every Yankee in the country. Of late he has seemed very suspicious of

me, unt has said lots of things that scared me. I want to settle him,

either kill him or take him prisoner, unt keep him away, so's I can feel

greater ease when I'm in72 General Bragg's camp. I can't do that so long

as I know he's around, for I feel that his eyes are on me, unt that he's

hunting some way to trip me up.

"I'm going out now to meet him, at a house about five miles from the

lines. I have my pockets unt the pockets on my saddles full of letters

unt things. Just outside the lines I will get some more. He will meet me

unt we will go back to Tullahoma together—that is, if he don't kill me

before we get there. I have brought a couple of revolvers, in addition

to your guns, for Poke Bolivar's a terrible feller to fight, unt I want

you to make sure of him. I'd take more'n two men out, but I'm afraid

he'd get on to so many.

"I guess we two kin handle him," said Shorty, slipping his belt into the

holster of the revolver and buckling it on. "Give us a fair show at him,

and we don't want no help. I wouldn't mind having it out with Mr.

Bolivar all by myself."

"Well, my plan is for you to go out by yourselves to that place where

you were on picket. Then take the right-hand road through the creek

bottom, as if you were going foraging. About two miles from the creek

you will see a big hewed-log house standing on the left of the road. You

will know it by its having brick outside chimneys, unt de doors painted

blue unt yaller. There's no other house in that country like it.

"You're to keep out of sight as much as you can. Directly you will see

me come riding out, follered by a nigger riding another horse. I will go

up to the house, jump off, tie my horse, go inside, unt presently come

out unt tie a white cloth to73 a post on the porch. That will be a

signal to Poke Bolivar, who will be watching from the hill a mile ahead.

You will see him come in, get off his horse, unt go into the house.

"By this time it will be dark, or nearly so. You slip up as quietly as

you can, right by the house, hiding yourselves behind the lilacs. If the

dogs run at you bayonet them. You can look through the windows, unt see

me unt Bolivar sitting by the fire talking, unt getting ready to start

for Tullahoma as soon as the nigger who is cooking our supper in the

kitchen outside gets it ready unt we eat it. You can wait till you see

us sit down to eat supper, unt then jump us. Better wait until we are

pretty near through supper, for I'll be very hungry, unt want all I can

get to keep me up for my long ride.

"You run in unt order us to surrender. I'll jump up unt blaze away with

my revolver, but you needn't pay much attention to me—only be careful

not to shoot me. While you are 'tending to Bolivar I'll get on my horse

unt skip out. You can kill Bolivar, or take him back to camp with you,

or do anything that you please, so long's you keep him away from

Tullahoma. You understand, now?"

"Perfectly," said Shorty. "I think we can manage it, and it looks like a

pretty good arrangement. You are to git away, and we're to git Mr.

Bolivar. Those two things are settled. Any change in the evening's

program will depend on Mr. Bolivar. If he wants a fight he kin git whole

gobs of it."

Going over the plan again, to make sure that the boys understood it, and

cautioning them once more as to the sanguinary character of Polk

Bolivar,74 Mr. Rosenbaum started for his horse. He had gone but a little

ways when he came back with his face full of concern.

"I like you boys better than I can tell you," he said, taking their

hands affectionately, "unt I never would forgive myself if you got hurt.

Do you think that two of you'll be able to manage Poke Bolivar? If

you're not sure I'll get another man to help you. I think that I had

better, anyway."

"O, go along with you," said Shorty scornfully. "Don't worry about us

and Mr. Bolivar. I'd stack Si Klegg up against any man that ever wore

gray, in any sort of a scrimmage he could put up, and I'm a better man

than Si. You just favor us with a meeting with Mr. Bolivar, and then git

out o' the way. If it wasn't for dividing up fair with my partner here

I'd go out by myself and tackle Mr. Bolivar. You carry out your share of

the plan, and don't worry about us."

Rosenbaum's countenance brightened, and he hastened to mount and away.

The boys shouldered their guns and started out for the long walk. They

followed Rosenbaum's directions carefully, and arrived in sight of the

house, which they recognized at once, and got into a position from which

they could watch its front. Presently they saw Rosenbaum come riding

along the road and stop in front of the house. He tied his horse to a

scraggy locust tree, went in, and then reappeared and fastened the

signal to a post supporting the roof of the porch.

Watching the House. 75

They had not long to wait for the answer. Soon a horseman was seen

descending from the distant hill. As he came near he was anxiously

scanned,75 and appeared a cavalier so redoubtable as to fully justify

Rosenbaum's apprehensions. He was a tall, strongly-built young man, who

sat on his spirited horse with easy and complete mastery of him. Even at

that distance it could be seen that he was heavily armed.

"Looks like a genuine fighter, and no mistake," said Si, examining the

caps on his revolver. "He'll be a stiff one to tackle."76

"We must be very careful not to let him get the drop on us," said

Shorty. "He looks quicker'n lightnin', and I've no doubt that he kin

shoot like Dan'l Boone. We might drop him from here with our guns," he

added suggestively.

"No," said Si, "that wouldn't be fair. And it wouldn't be the way

Rosenbaum wants it done. He's got his reasons for the other way.

Besides, I'd be a great deal better satisfied in my mind, if I could

have it out with him, hand-to-hand. It'd sound so much better in the

regiment."

"Guess that's so," assented Shorty. "Well, let's sneak up to the house."

When they got close to the house they saw that it had been deserted;

there were no dogs or other domestic animals about, and this allowed

them to get under the shade of the lilacs without discovery. The only

inmates were Rosenbaum and Bolivar, who were seated before a fire, which

Rosenbaum had built in the big fireplace in the main room. The negro was

busy cooking supper in the outbuilding which served as a kitchen. The

glass was broken out the window, and they could hear the conversation

between Rosenbaum and Bolivar.

It appeared that Rosenbaum had been making a report of his recent

doings, to which Bolivar listened with a touch of disdain mingled with

suspicion.

The negro brought in the supper, and the men ate it sitting by the fire.

077 (80K)

"I declare," said Bolivar, stopping with a piece of bread and meat in

one hand and a tin-cup of coffee in the other, "that for a man who is

devoted to the77 South you can mix up with these Yankees with less

danger to yourself and to them than any man I ever knew. You never get

hurt, and you never hurt any of them. That's a queer thing for a

soldier. War means hurting people, and getting hurt yourself. It means

taking every chance to hurt some of the enemy. I never miss any

opportunity of killing a Yankee, no matter what I may be doing, or what

the risk is to me. I can't help myself. Whenever I see a Yankee in range

I let him have it. I never go near their lines without killing at

least78 one."

Shorty's thumb played a little with his gunlock, but Si restrained him

with a look.

"Well," said Rosenbaum, "I hates the enemy as badly as any one can, but

I always have business more important at the time than killing men. I

want to get through with what I have to do, unt let other men do the

killing. There's enough gentlemen like you for that work."

"No, there's not enough," said Bolivar savagely. "It's treasonable for

you to say so. Our enemies outnumber us everywhere. It is the duty of

every true Southern man to kill them off at every chance, like he would

rattlesnakes and wolves. You are either not true to the South, or you

hain't the right kind of grit. Why, you have told me yourself that you

let two Yankees capture you, without firing a shot. Think of it; a

Confederate officer captured by two Yankee privates, without firing a

shot."

"They had the dead drop on me," murmured Rosenbaum. "If I had moved

they'd killed me sure."

"Dead drop on you!" repeated Bolivar scornfully. "Two men with muskets

have the dead drop on you! And you had a carbine and a revolver. Why, I

have ridden into a nest of 10 or 15 Yankees, who had me covered with

their guns. I killed three of them, wounded three others, and run the

rest away with my empty revolver. If I'd had another revolver, not one

would've got away alive. I always carry two revolvers now."

"I think our guns'll be in the way in that room," said Shorty, sotting

his down. His face bore a look of stern determination. "They're too

long. I'm itching to have it out with that feller hand-to-hand.79 We'll

rush in. You pretend to be goin' for Rosenbaum and leave me to have it

out with Mr. Bolivar. Don't you mix in at all. If I don't settle him he

ought to be allowed to go."

"No," said Si decisively. "I'm your superior officer, and it's my

privilege to have the first shy at him. I'll 'tend to him. I want a

chance singlehanded at a man that talks that way. You take care of

Rosenbaum."

"We mustn't dispute," said Shorty, stooping down and picking up a couple

of straws. "Here, pull. The feller that gits the longest 'tends to

Bolivar; the other to Rosenbaum."

Si drew and left the longer straw in Shorty's hand. They drew their

revolvers and rushed for the room, Shorty leading, Rosenbaum and Bolivar

sprang up in alarm at the sound of their feet on the steps, and drew

their revolvers.

"Surrender, you infernal rebels," shouted the boys, as they bolted

through the door.

With the quickness of a cat, Rosenbaum had sidled near the door through

which they had come. Suddenly he fired two shots into the ceiling, and

sprang through the door so quickly that Si had merely the chance to fire

a carefully-aimed shot through the top of his hat. Si jumped toward the

door again, and fired a shot in the air, for still further make-believe.

He would waste no more, but reserve the other four for Bolivar, if he

should need them.

Shorty confronted Bolivar with fierce eyes and leveled revolver, eagerly

watching every movement and expression. The rebel was holding his pistol

pointed upward, and his eyes looked savage. As his eyes met Shorty's the

latter was amazed to see him close the left with a most emphatic wink.

Seeing this was recognized, the rebel fired two shots into the ceiling,

and motioned with his left hand to Si to continue firing. Without quite

understanding. Si fired again. The rebel gave a terrific yell and fired

a couple of shots out the window.

"Do the same," he said to Shorty, who complied, as Si had done, in half-

comprehension. The rebel handed his revolver to Shorty, stepped to the

window and listened.

The Surprise 79

There came the sounds of two horses galloping away on the hard, rocky

road.

"He's gone, and taken the nigger with him," he said contentedly, turning

from the window, and giving another fierce yell. "Better fire the other

two shots out of that pistol, to hurry him along."

Shorty fired the remaining shots out of the rebel's revolver.

"What regiment do you belong to, boys?" asked Bolivar calmly.

"The 200th Ind.," answered Si, without being able to control his

surprise.

"A very good regiment," said the rebel. "What's your company?"

"Co. Q," answered Si.

"Who's your Colonel?"

"Col. Duckworth."

"Who's your Captain?"

"Capt. McGillicuddy."

"All right," said the rebel, with an air of satisfaction. "I asked those

questions to make sure you were genuine Yankees. One can't be too

careful in my business. I'm in the United States Secret Service, and

have to be constantly on the watch to keep it from being played on me by

men pretending to be Yankees when they are rebels, and rebels when they

are Yankees. I always make it the first point to ask them the names of

their officers. I know almost all the officers in command on both

sides."

"You in the Secret Service?" exploded the boys.82

They were on the point of adding "too," but something whispered to them

not to betray Rosenbaum.

"Yes," answered Bolivar. "I've just come from Tullahoma, where I've been

around Bragg's Headquarters. I wanted to get inside our lines, but I was

puzzled how to do it. That Jew you've just run off bothered me. I wish

to the Lord you'd killed him. I'm more afraid of him than any other man

in Bragg's army. He's smart as a briar, always nosing around where you

don't want him, and anxious to do something to commend him to

Headquarters, Jew like. I've thought he suspected me, for he'd been

paying special attention to me for some weeks. Two or three times I've

been on the point of tailing him into the woods somewhere and killing

him, and so get rid of him. It's all right now. He'll go back to

Tullahoma with a fearful story of the fight I made against you, and that

I am probably killed. I'll turn up there in a week or two with my own

story, and I'll give him fits for having skipped out and left me to

fight you two alone. Say, it's a good ways to camp. Let's start at once,

for I want to get to Headquarters as soon as possible."

"You've got another revolver there," said Si, who had prudently reloaded

his own weapon.

"That's so," said Bolivar, pulling it out. "You can take and carry it or

I'll take the cylinder out, if you are not convinced about me."

"You'd better let me carry it," said Shorty, shoving the revolver in his

own belt. "These are queer times, and one can't be too careful with

rebels who83 claim to be Yankees, and Yankees who claim to be rebels."

They trudged back to camp, taking turns riding the horse. When the rebel

rode, however, one of the boys walked alongside with the bridle in his

hand. All doubts as to Bolivar's story were dispelled by his instant

recognition by the Provost-Marshal, who happened to be at the picket-

post when they reached camp.

"The longer I live," remarked Shorty, as they made their way along to

the Hoosier's Rest, "and I seem to live a little longer every day, the

less I seem to understand about this war."

Shorty spoke as if he had had an extensive acquaintance with wars.

"The only thing that I've come to be certain about," assented Si, "is

that you sometimes most always can't generally tell."

And they proceeded to get themselves some supper, accompanying the work

of denunciations of the Commissary for the kind of rations he was

drawing for the regiment, and of the Orderly-Sergeant for his letting

the other Orderlies eucher him out of the company's fair share.

CHAPTER VI. LETTER FROM HOME THE DEACON'S TROUBLES IN GETTING HOME WITH

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

ONE MORNING the Orderly-Sergeant handed Si the following letter:

Deer Son: I got hoam safely a weke ago, thanks 2 all-protecting

Providens; likewise 2 about 175 pound of tuff & helthy Josiah Klegg.

Providens helpt rite along, but it tuk 50-year-old Injianny hickory &

whit-leather 2 pull through sum ov the tite plasis.

Abraham Lincoln is as strong as an ox, but I never thought that anything

that diddent wear horns or chew the cud could be so measly dumb. He kin

eat as much as Buck, our off-steer, & I declare I don't believe he knows

any more.

We had only bin on the train long enuff for Abe to finish up the whole

of the 3 days rations you provided us with 2 last us home, when I notist

that Blowhard Billings was on board. He was still dressed in full

uniform, & playin off officer yit, but I happened 2 recolleck that he

was no officer no more, & it wuz lucky that I done so. He wuz lookin at

me & Abe hard with them mean, fatfish ize ov hizn.

Jest as a matter ov precaushon. I make Abe change seats with me & taik

the inside. Billings85 caim up. You know what I thought ov him ov old, &

there's never bin any love lost betwixt us sence I stopped him cheatin

poor Eli Mitchell outen his plow-team. I told him then that the coppers

on a dead nigger's eyes wuzzent saif when he wuz around, & I woulddent

trust him ez fur ez I could sling a bull by the tale. He got mad at this

& never got over it. I never encouraged him to. I woulddent feel

satisfied with myself if he wuzzent mad at me. I coulddent change my

opinion, even when he tried to steal into respectability by goin into

the army. I knowed he'd do anything but fite, & woulddent've bin

supprized any day by hearing that him and the other mules in camp had

disappeared together.

Presently Billings he cum up very corjil like & says:

"Howdy, Deacon. I hope you air very well."

I told him I wuz tollable peart, and he says:

"I see a man in the third car forward that wuz inquiring for you, and

wanted to see you powerful bad."

"That so?" says I, unconcernedlike.

"Yes," says he. "He wuz awful anxious to see you, and I said I'd send

you to him if I cum acrost you."

Somehow, I dropped onto it in a minnit that he wuz schemin' to git me

away from Abraham Lincoln—

"Well," says I, "it's about ez fur for me forward to him as it is for

him back here to me. I don't know as I want to see him at all. If he

wants to see me so bad let him cum back here."86

"I think I'd go forward and see him," said Billings, sort ov impatient-

like. "You'll have no trouble finding him. He's in the third car from

here, up at the front end, right-hand side, next to the watercooler. He

inquired most partickerlerly for you."

"Probably he wants 2 borry money," says I, without stirrin'. "Men that

want particularly 2 see me always do. Well, I hain't got none 2

lend—hain't got no more'n 'll talk me hoam."

"You'd better go forward & see him," he said very bossy like, as if he

was orderin me.

"I'd better stay right here, & I'm goin' to stay," says I, so decided

that Billings see that it was no use.

His patience gave clean away.

"Look here, Klegg," said he, mad as a hornet, "I'm after that ere nigger

you're trying to steal away into Injianny, and by the holy poker I'm

goin' to have him! Come along here, you black ape," and he laid his hand

on Abe Lincoln's collar. Abe showed the white ov his eyes as big as

buckeyes, put his arm around the piece betwixt the winders, and held on

for deer life. I see by the grip he tuk that the only way 2 git him wuz

2 tear out the side of the car, and I thought I'd let them tussle it out

for a minnit or 2.

The others in the car who thought it grate fun to see a Lieutenant-

Kurnol wrastlin' with a nigger, laffed and yelled:

"Go it, nigger,"

"Go it, Kurnel,"

"Grab a root,"

"I'l bet on the nigger if the car is stout onuf,"87 and sich. Jest then

Groundhog cum runnin' up to help Billings, and reached over and ketched

Abe, but I hit him a good biff with the musket that changed his mind.

Billings turned on me, and called out to the others:

"Men, I order you to arrest this man and tie him up."

Sum ov them seemed a-mind to obey, but I sung out:

"Feller-citizens, he ain't no officer—no more'n I am. He ain't got no

right to wear shoulder-straps, and he knows it as well as I do."

At this they all turned agin him & began yellin at him 2 put his head in

a bag. He turned 2 me savage as a meat-ax, but I ketched him by the

throat, & bent him back over the seat. The Provo-Guard cum up, & I

explained it 2 them, & showed my passes for me & Abe. So they made us

all sit down & keep quiet.

Bimeby we got to Nashville. Abe Lincoln wuz hungry, & I stopped 2 git

him something to eat. My gracious, the lot ov ham & aigs at 50 cents a

plate & sandwiches at 25 cents a piece that contraband kin eat. He never

seemed 2 git full. He looked longingly at the pies, but I let him look.

I wuzzent runnin no Astor House in connexion with the Freedmen's buro.

We walked through the city, crost on the ferry, & wuz jest gittin in the

cars which wuz about ready 2 start, when up comes Billings agin, with 2

or 3 other men in citizen's cloze. One ov these claps his hand on my

shoulder & says:

"I'm a Constable, & I arrest you in the name ov88 the State ov Tennessee

for abductin a slave. Make no trubble, but come along with me."

I jest shook him off, & clumb onto the platform, pullin Abe after me.

The Constable & his men follered us, but I got Abe Lincoln inside the

door, shet it & made him put his shoulders agin it. The Constable & his

2 assistants wuz buttin away at it, & me grinnin at them when the train

pulled off, & they had 2 jump off. I begin 2 think there wuz something

good in Abe Lincoln, after all, & when we stopped at an eatin-plais,

about half-way 2 Louisville, & Abe looked at the grub as if he haddent

had a mouthful sence the war begun, I busted a $2-bill all 2 pieces

gittin' him a little supper. If I wuz goin into the bizniss ov freein

slaves I'd want 2 have a mule train haulin grub follering me at every

step.

Abe wuz awful hungry agin when we reached Louisville, but I found a

place where a dollar would buy him enuf pork & beans 2 probably last him

over the river.

But I begun 2 be efeard that sum nosin pryin Mike Medler might make

trubble in gitting Abe safely acrost the Ohio. I tuk him 2 a house, &

laid it down strong 2 him that he must stay inside all day, and 2 make

sure I bargained with the woman 2 keep him eating as much as she could.

I ruined a $5 bill, & even then Abe looked as if he could hold some

more. I've always made it a pint 2 lend 2 the Lord for the benefit ov

the heathen as much as my means would allow, but I begun 2 think that my

missionary contribushions this year would beat what I was layin out on

my family.89

After it got dark, me & Abe meandered down through the streets 2 the

ferry. There wuzzent many people out, except soljers, & I've got 2 feel

purty much at home with them. They seem more likely 2 think more nearly

my way than folks in every-day clothes.

There wuz quite a passel ov soljers on the wharf boat waitin' for the

ferry when we got there. They saw at wuns that I had probably bin down 2

the front 2 see my son, & sum ov them axed me 2 what rigiment he

belonged. When I told them the 200th Injianny Volunteer Infantry they

all made friends with me at wunst, for they said they knowed it wuz a

good rigiment.

Bimeby a big, important-lookin' man, with a club with a silver head for

a cane, cum elbowin through the crowd & scowling at everybody as if he

owned the wharf-boat & all on it. He stopped in frunt ov Abraham Lincoln

& says very sharp & cross:

"Boy, where did you come from?"

Abe diddent say nothin'. His ize got all white, he grinned sort ov

scared like, showed his white teeth, & looked sickly over at me. I spoke

up & says:

"I brung him along with me from Murfreesboro'."

"So I sposed," said he. "He's a slave you're tryin 2 steal from his

master. You can't do it. I'll jest take charge ov him myself. That's my

dooty here," & he ketched hold ov Abraham Lincoln's collar. Abe, in his

scare, put out his arms to ketch hold ov something, & throwed them

around the big important man, & lifted him clean offen his feet. I never

before realized how strong Abe wuz. The soljers gethered around, purty

mad, and then laffin and90 yellin when they see the man in Abe's arms.

Suddenly sum one hollered:

"Throw him overboard; throw him in the river." Abe was wuss scared than

ever when he found he had the man in his arms. He wuz afeared 2 hold on

& still more afeared 2 let go. He heard them hollerin, & thought he had

2 do jest as they said, & begun edgin toward the river.

The man got more scared than Abe. He began kickin & wrigglin & hollerin:

"Don't let him do it. Help me. I can't swim a lick."

At this the men hollered worsen ever:

"Throw him in the river! Duck him! Baptize him! Drown him!"

I'm a Baptist, but I don't believe in immersion onless the convert has

bin prepared for it, & is willin, which neither this man wuz. I stepped

forward 2 make Abe let him down, but before T could do anything Abe had

got 2 the edge of the wharfboat & let go, & plunk went the man into

about 10 foot ov water. Abe, scared now nearly 2 death, stood there with

his ize biggern sassers & whitern goose-eggs.

In a minnit the man cum up, sputterin & hollerin. A big Sergeant, with

his left arm in a sling, reached over & ketchod him by the collar & held

his head above water.

"If I pull you out will you promis 2 go out ov the niggor-kotchin

bizniss forever?" axed the Sergeant.

"Pull me out & then I'll talk 2 you," says the man grabbin for the

slippery sides ov the wharfboat.91

"No, I won't," said the Sergeant, sousin him under water agin.

"Yes, yes, I'll promise," says the man, when he come up agin.

"Will you swear it?" axed the Sergeant.

"Yes, I'll swear it before a Justice ov the Peace."

"Will you swear 2 support the Constitution ov the United States agin all

enemies & opposers whatsumever, & vote for Abraham Lincoln every time?"

axed the Sergeant.

"I'll take the oath ov allegiance," says the man, sputterin the water

out ov his mouth, "but I'll never vote for that Abolition ape as long as

I live."

"Then down you go," says the Sergeant, sousin him again.

"Yes, yes, I'll vote for Abe Lincoln, & anybody else, if you'll only

pull me out," said the man, in a tired tone of voice, when he cum up

agin. I begin 2 see that immersion had a great deal ov good in it, even

if a man isn't prepared & willin.

"Will you swear 2 always love a nigger as a man & a brother, until death

do you part, & aid & comfort all them who are tryin 2 git away from

slavery?" axed the Sergeant.

"Damned if I will," says the man. "No nigger kin ever be a brother 2 me.

I'll die first."

"Then you'll die right now," says the Sergeant, sendin him down as far

as his long arm would reach & holding him there until I wuz scared for

fear he wuz really goin 2 drown the man. When he brung him up the man

whimpered:

"Yes, only pull me out—save my life—& I'll do anything you want."92

By this time the ferryboat had cum up. We got aboard & crost over to

Injianny, & I felt so glad at bein on my nativ soil wuns more that I

took Abe up 2 the eatin stand, & blowed in a dollar filin up the vacant

plasis in his hide.

When we tried 2 git on the train there cum another trubble: The

conductor woulddent let him ride in the car with white folks—not even in

the smokin-car. He made him go into the baggage-car. Abe wuz so scared

about leavin me for a minnit in' that strange country that I tried 2 go

into the baggage-car with him, but the conductor woulddent let me. He

said it wuz agin the rules for passengers to ride in the baggage-cars,

but Abe could go in there, same as dogs, prize poultry, & household

pets. I tried 2 joke with him, tellin him that in sum plasis I wuz

considered a household pet, but he said Ide have 2 git another mug on me

before he could believe it.

One of Zeke Biltner's hogs ditched the train jest before we got home, &

turned the baggage-car over. Sum crates ov aigs wuz smashed over Abraham

Lincoln, & he wuz a sight to behold. He wuz awfully scared, though, &

begged me 2 let him go the rest ov the way on foot. He said he wuz a

thousand years older than when he left his ole massa, & I could

understand what he meant.

I found your mother & the girls bright & chipper & jest tickled 2 death

to see me safe back. They axed me so many questions about you & Shorty

that my head buzzed like a bee-hive. It is hard 2 git away from them 2

tend 2 my Spring work, but I've made an arrangement 2 giv em an hour

mornin93 & evenin 2 answerin questions. I think this will keep me purty

busy till the snow flise agin.

Wheat is lookin surprisinly well, though I found sum bare plasis in the

north field. I think we'll have a fair crop ov apples and peaches. Your

colt is growin up the purtiest thing that ever went on four legs, &

jumped an eight-rail fence. My hogs wintered in good shape, & pork is

risin. They have the measles over on the Crick, & school's broke up.

Bill Scripp's out agin for Sheriff, & I spose I'le have 2 turn 2 agin &

beat him. Singler, that he'll never know when he's got enuff.

If anything, Abraham Lincoln's appetite has bin improved by Wabash air.

I wuzzent goin 2 have the wimmen folks wear theirselves out cookin for

him. So I fix-ed up a place for him in the old log house, & took him

over some sides ov meat, a few bushel ov pertaters, a jug ov sorghum

molasses, & every time mother bakes she sends over some leaves ov bread.

I jest turned him loose there. He seems 2 be very happy, & we hear him

singin & yellin most all the time when he's by hisself. He's a good

worker when I stand right over him, & he'll lift & dig as patient as an

ox. But he hain't no more sense about goin ahead by hisself than a steer

has, & the moment my back's turned he stops work. Ime af eared I've got

a job on my hands makin a firstclass farmer out ov him. But if that's my

share ov the work that Providens has chalked out for me, there's nothin

left for me but 2 go ahead & do it in fear & tremblin.

No more from your affeckshionate father.

P. S. Give my best respects 2 Shorty.

CHAPTER VII. CORN PONE AND BUTTERMILK SI AND SHORTY GO FORAGING AND ARE

CAPTURED AND ROBBED

SI AND SHORTY got the common feeling of men of some months' service,

that they had fully mastered the art of war, and that there was little,

if anything, left for them to learn. It did not take some men even so

long as months to acquire this pleasant idea of themselves. Some entered

the army feeling quite capable of giving advice to the oldest General in

it, and they were not slow about offering their opinions.

Si and Shorty had had successes enough since their enlistment to develop

a self-confidence which might be pardoned if it expanded into self-

sufficiency and vanity.

The 200th Ind. had been sent out on a reconnoissance toward Shelbyville.

No sign of rebels in force developed in any direction, and Si and Shorty

got permission to go off on a little scout of their own.

"No use o' huntin' rebels with a brass band," said Si, who, since his

association with Mr. Rosenbaum, had gotten some idea that stealth and

cunning were efficient war powers. "We kin jest slip around out here

somewhere, and if there is any rebels, find 'em, and git more

information than the whole regiment kin."

"I'm not so thirsty for information and rebels95 as I am for some fresh

buttermilk," said Shorty. "Somehow, I've been hankering for buttermilk

and cornpone for days. I hain't had any for a coon's age, and it'd go

mighty good as a change from camp rations. Buttermilk and rebels

sometimes grow near together. You look for one, I'll look for the other.

Mebbe we kin git both."

"I wouldn't mind havin' some buttermilk an' cornpone myself," said Si.

"But I'd like much better to drop on some rebels somewhere, and bring

'em into camp, and show that we kin git more information than the whole

regiment kin."

"All right," assented Shorty; "ask the Captain to let us go. I'll be

bound we'll find something worth goin' for, if it's no more'n a chicken

for the Captain's supper. I'd like to take in one for him. He's been

mighty good to me and you in several ways, and I'd like to show him that

we appreciate it."

As the regiment had gone as far as ordered without discovering anything

that in the least threatened the peace in that portion of Tennessee, it

would start on its return, after the men had rested and had dinner. Si

and Shorty, consequently, had no difficulty in securing the desired

permission.