tire satisfaction. You
feel a little blue, my boy; but it is only because you are tired. You
will feel better in the morning."

"I am tired, but I am not blue. I am ready to do my duty, in victory or
defeat. There has been an awful roar of guns all day, and no one can tell
what the result of a battle will be."

"An awful roar of guns! 'Pon my word, I like that," laughed the captain.
"Why, at Magenta----"

"Magenta again!" sneered Somers, who was heartily sick of that word.

"Yes, at Magenta! If you could only have heard the guns there! Why, there
were seven thousand two hundred and forty-six pieces rattling away like
mad on our side alone; and I believe the Russians----"

"Russians at Magenta again! I don't believe you were at the battle of
Magenta any more than I was!" exclaimed Somers desperately.

"Do you mean to tell me that I lie?" asked the captain gravely.

"Go on with your story," said the lieutenant, fearing that he had said
too much.

"Answer my question, if you please. You gave me the lie; did you not?"

"No; I didn't use that word."

"You said you didn't believe I was at the battle of Magenta."

"To be perfectly candid with you, I don't believe it; but I am tired, and
want my supper," answered Somers, wishing to escape the issue which he
had provoked.

"Fair play, my boy. You charged me with lying--indirectly--but not the
less offensively on that account. Don't dodge the question."

"I haven't dodged it. I gave you my candid opinion that you were not
present at Magenta; and I don't think there is an officer in the regiment
who believes you were there."

"Isn't the word of an officer and a gentleman to be accepted?"

"Certainly, if he keeps within the bounds of reason; but when you talk
about the Russians at Magenta, and over seven thousand cannons in a
single army, we know that you are either 'drawing the long-bow,' or
laboring under some strange delusion. Supper is ready."

"We can eat and talk too." And they did. "May I be allowed to ask,
Lieutenant Somers, if you deem my statement inconsistent with reason?"

"To be sure I do. We have six guns to a battery; seventy-two hundred guns
would make twelve hundred batteries. We have about one hundred and fifty
men to a battery, which would make one hundred and eighty thousand men in
the artillery arm alone; which is positively ridiculous. You said
Russians----"

"Of course, that was a slip of the tongue. I meant Prussians," added the
captain