The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-08-03

camp kettles and other culinary uten-
sils were placed, and beside which the
cooks of the different companies were
moving in all the dignity of office. A
little apart from the men again, and
surrounding each cotoric It's own small
fire, sat many officers in parties of two,
three or four; whilst others were stroll
ING about with the careless step and
countcnanccs of men, who looked for
ward to danger as Il pastime, and con-
fidcntly ant C pated success. The
very summit OF the hill, again, was
empty, except that three pieces of can
non crowned it, the muzzles of which
were pointed toward the distant coun-
try: and a few sentinels walked their
solitary rounds beside them. Such
was the general appearance of our biv-
ouac, as it was first established on the
banks of the patuxcnt.
The Subaltern has informed you,
that officers employed upon active scr
vice lay aside all idea OF a general mess,
and live to - "" i; n tr of friend
ship, or Il s,-il-c ri III Ituii cuiy,'nicnce,
may dictate, Like your correspondent,
| too, had friend, anA one whom |
sincerely y,;;a'l, ! h is s.i:l in the
service, AMI has risen, as his merits de-
served that he should rise. to an ele
waited rank, yoa will excuse me, if in
stead of giving his real name, | call
him. for distinctions sake, Charlton.
He was, and is, as goe a soldier as
any in the army, and ut the period
to which | now allude, commanded
the company to which was attached
as lieutenant. Ny first inquiry on
reaching the corps was naturally for
him, nor did it require very minute
search in order to discover him.
found him sitting under a tree, on a
spot of ground considerably removed
from all neighbors. \ fire was burn
ing hard by, beside which his servant
and my Portuguese boy were resting
hot idly, but in the act of watching
potful of greens and potatoes, which
they had carried off from one of the
,,.ln A Of ot,nnSns
with some pork and hscui,, were
spread upon the grass, and horn
drinking cup stood beside them. This
was our dinner, which had been pre-
pared for some time, AMI was kept
waiting only for me. We had break
tasted at five in the nothing, and were
therefore quite ready for it, even thus
early; and we addressed ourselves to
it with the promptitude of men. whose
appetites were neither sickly y nor fas-
tidious.
Having performed this most nrccs-
sary of all duties. our next business
was to take a survey, as far as it mi !, ht
be practicable and sale so to do, of the
nature of the ground on which we were
posted and of the country beyond it..
With this view we ascended to the top
of the height. The view from that
height was extensive; but it introduced
to our notice little besides one immor:o
and apparently impervio US forest. IN
mediately beneath us, indeed, that is,
along the descent, and just where the
descent ended, the fields had been clear
ed. One solitary cottage, too. was WIS.,
lble, about musket shot from the base,
which was surrounded, as almost all
the houses in Virginia are surrounded
by an extensive orchard, but even it
stood in nook of the thicket, giant
trees in full foliage closing it in on
every side. There were two roads dis
cernible, one leading away from the
right of the position, the other run
ming close beside the left. The road
on the right was narrow anl brok en-;
it presented the appearance of nothing
more than by-path to some hamlet or
farm house near; that on the left was
of tolerable width, and, though deep
and sandy exhibited symptoms of great
care and labor having been bestowed
| upon it. Bat Of these, neither could
| be traced above a mile, because both
were lost at that distance in the wood.
We descended the hill, with the in
| tention of pursuing the tracks on the
right. after we should have examined
as prudence required us to examine
the cottage and its outbuildings. 1t
was occupied by a picket of our own
troops, and, as might be expected, was
already in a state of dilapidation. OF
a couple OF pigs, which had occupied a
sty on one side of the little domicile,
nothing remained now except the hind
legs of one, and the half of the other.
the rest having been long ago divided
among the mcsses OF the corps which
furnished the guard. The hen-roost
too, was plundered, at least a quantity
of feathers scattered here and there
gave proof that some of the fowl-klnd
! had suffered violent death not long
ago. In other respects the cottage was
J circumstanced as most cottages are
which have the bad fortune to fall in
with the line of an invading army's out
post that is to say, its shell stood un-
injured, but its interior was in ruins
Having satisfied our curiosity here,
| and asccrtained the direction in which
| -, Il 0,I