The National tribune., 1897-11-25

10 ascertain the cause, he discovered that the
tail of his overcoat and his shoes had become
deeply im5edded in the mud, and frozen
solidly there. Shorty was in the same fix.
Got t. shuck Yourself out o. your over
coat, and leave them guuboatS anchored where
they are" remarked Shorty, doing rs he said,
aud falling i'll for roll-caIl in his stocking
feet
After roll-call 81 got a Ratchet from one of
the boys and chopped his and Shorty's shoes
out. The Overcoats were left for subsequent
effort, for the first thing was to get some wood
| and water and cook breakfast.
The morning was bitter cold and the sky
overcast, but 81 felt that this was a thousand
times better than the cherries rain, which
seemed to soak his very life out of him.
He pounded most of the frozen mud off his
shoes, picked up the camp kettle and started
off for wood and water broke the ice on the
creek, took good wash, and presently came
back with load of dry pine and kettle full
of water
MY Joints feel like think our old wagon
does after it's gone about year without greas-
ing, - he remarked to Shorty, who had a good
fire going; but think that after get about
u quart % hot coffee inside of ME, with few
pounds o. pork and crackers. III be nearly as
good as new again. My, how good that grub
does smell /. and did you ever see such nice
fire 20
He chopped his and Shorty overcoats out
while Shorty was cooking breakfast, and
when at last he sat down on one end OF his
rail, and ate enough toasted hard bread and
crisp fried side-meat to feed small family
for Il week, and washed it down with some
thing near a qua OF black coffee sweetened
with coarse brown sugar, life began TO again
have some charms for him.
YOU'RE sure that dumbed battery's gone
that shot at us last night are you, Shorty, J"
he said, as he drained his cup, fastened 1T
again to the strap of his haversack, and
studied the top of the mill with critical eye.
''They say it is" said Shorty, between
bites while you was down at the crick a
man come over from the camp o. the Oshkosh
Terrors, and said two o. their companies'd
been onto the hill. and the rebels had gone.
g wish them Oshkosh fellers'd mind their
own business, said ST. irritably, as he picked
up MS gun and began rubbing the mud and
rust off. They're entirely too fresh for a
new regiment. That battery was none OF
theirs. 1t was ours, right in our front, and
if they'd let it alone till after breakfast we'd
gone up and taken it. 1t was ust the right
size for the 200th Ind, and we wanted a
chance at it. But now they've had to stick
in and run it off,"
Don't worry" said Shorty, fishing out
another cracker. at hasn't gone too far.
faint lost. You'll have a chance at it some
other time Mebbe to-day yet"
The army began to move out very promptly,
and soon the 200th Ind was called to take its
place in the long column that crawled over
the hills and across the valleys toward Muir
freesboro. like some gigantic blue serpent
moving toward his prey
Miles ahead of the booth Ind. s place in
the column the rebels were offering annoying
disputatiOn of farther progress. Lines as
brown as the dried leaves on the oak trees
would form on the hilltops batteries would
gallOp into position. and there would be sharp
bangs by the cannon and sputter of MUS
ketry-fre. Then the long, blue serpent would
wrigge out of the road into the fields, as if
coiling to strike. Union batteries would rush
ON to hilltops and fire across the valleys at
the rebel cannon. and a sputter of musketry
would answer that from the leaf brown ranks
ON the hilltops, which would dissolve and
march back to the next hilltop, where the
thing would be gone over again. The 200th
Ind. would occasionally see one of these per-
formances as it marched over and down one
of the hills.
AS the afternoon was wearing away the
200th Ind. kept nearing the front where this
was going on Finally, when the dull day
was shading into dusk, and the brigade ahead
of it was forming in the field at the foot of a
hill to open pickering fire against the dun
line at the top, the 2O0th Ind was taken off
the road and marched away over to the left,
where it was put into line in front of dense
grove of cedars.
Capt Rawson," commanded the Colonel
to the Captain of Co. @, advance your COM
pany as skirmishers to the edge of the cedars,
and send a Corporal and five men into the
thicket to see if there is anything there
Corporal Klegg, said the Captain, q" take
five men off the left of the company and 90
in and see what's in there"
ST was instantly fired with the importance
of the duty assigned him. He sent two of
his men to the left, two to the right, while he
and Shorty, a little distance apart, struck for
the heart of the thicket. They made their
way with difficulty through the dense chap
arral for some minutes, and then stopped, as
they heard voices and the crashing of branches
in front.
Sis heart thumped against his ribs. He
looked over to his left and saw Shorty stand
ing there peering earnestly into the brush,
with his gun cooked and ready to fire. He
ran over to him and whispered:
What do you see, Shortly"
Nothin' yit, but expect to every min
ute" replied Shorty, without turning his in
tent eyes. Sis gun was already cooked, and
he bent his head forward eagerly, to get q
better view. But he could see nothing, ex-
cept that the tops of the bushes were shaking
''Shall we skip back and report ? " 81 asked
i amt goin' till l see something" said
Shorty, stoutly.
Nor me, echoed 81, rather ashamed that
he had suggested it.
Steady, there; steady, on the right
s. !:z&A g.