y that began
with an S, except only those things whose second letter stood farther
down in the alphabet than T. But the elements of knowledge kept dropping
in, at first on perfunctory calls, visitors that disappeared when you
turned to speak with them, but that later came to stay. The four young
men were like children with a "roll-the-seven-number-eight-shot-into-the
middle" puzzle. They could make a great rattling with the shot, and
control their tempers; that was about all. Later they were to form units
in the most efficient and intelligent large body of men that the world
ever saw, with the possible exception of the armies it was to be pitted
against; but those, it must be owned, were usually smaller, though, in
the ability of their commanders to form concentration, often of three
times the size. They learned that it is cheaper to let a company sleep
in tents upon hard ground of a rainy night than to lodge them in a
neighboring hotel at one's own expense, and that going the rounds in
pitch-darkness grows less thrilling in exact ratio to the number of
times you do it, and finally, even in sight of the enemy's lines,
becomes as boring as waltzing with a girl you don't like. They began to
learn that cleanliness is next to godliness only in times of peace, and
that food is the one god, and the stomach his only prophet. They learned
that the most difficult of all duties is to keep the face straight when
the horse of a brother officer who mounts for the first time is
surprised to vehemence by its first experience with a brass band.

Aladdin was absolutely equal to the occasion, and developed an
astonishing talent for play-acting, and, it is to be feared, strutted a
little, both in the bosom of his soul and on the parade-ground. It was
only when he looked at two of the "tall men on the right," Hamilton and
Hannibal St. John, who had chosen humble parts that they might serve
under their brother, that he felt properly small and resented himself.
Sometimes, too, he searched his past life and could find in it only
one brave deed, his swim down the river, and he wondered with an
awful wonder what he would do when the firing began. He need not have
troubled: he was of too curious and inquiring a disposition to be afraid
of most things. And he was yet to see proved on many Southern fields
that a coward is, if anything, a rarer bird than a white quail. Only
once in action did Aladdin see a man really show the white feather. The
man