s in a week. The black rascal! hideous! terrible to contemplate!
vile! outrageous! Well, words cannot express it. What do you suppose he
was doing? He was fast asleep. He had come thus far, and could go no
further, and fell asleep. There is where the captain and myself found
him at daylight the next morning. We left for Selma immediately after
breakfast, leaving the family in ignorance of the occurrence. The
captain and myself had several other adventures, but the captain always
had the advantage of me; he had the good clothes, and the good looks,
and got all the good presents from the pretty young ladies--well, you
might say, "cut me out" on all occasions. "That's what makes me 'spise
a furlough." But then furlough sounds big, you know.

CHAPTER XII

HUNDRED DAYS BATTLE

ROCKY FACE RIDGE

When I got back to Dalton, I found the Yankee army advancing; they were
at Rocky Face Ridge. Now, for old Joe's generalship. We have seen him
in camp, now we will see him in action. We are marched to meet the enemy;
we occupy Turner's Gap at Tunnel Hill. Now, come on, Mr. Yank--we are
keen for an engagement. It is like a picnic; the soldiers are ruddy and
fat, and strong; whoop! whoop! hurrah! come on, Mr. Yank. We form line
of battle on top of Rocky Face Ridge, and here we are face to face with
the enemy. Why don't you unbottle your thunderbolts and dash us to
pieces? Ha! here it comes; the boom of cannon and the bursting of a
shell in our midst. Ha! ha! give us another blizzard! Boom! boom!
That's all right, you ain't hurting nothing.

"Hold on, boys," says a sharpshooter, armed with a Whitworth gun, "I'll
stop that racket. Wait until I see her smoke again." Boom, boom! the
keen crack of the Whitworth rings upon the frosty morning air; the
cannoneers are seen to lie down; something is going on. "Yes, yonder is
a fellow being carried off on a litter." Bang! bang! goes the Whitworth,
and the battery is seen to limber to the rear. What next? a yell!
What does this yell mean? A charge right up the hill, and a little
sharp skirmish for a few moments. We can see the Yankee line. They are
resting on their arms. The valley below is full of blue coats, but a
little too far off to do any execution.

Old Joe walks along the line. He happens to see the blue coats in the
valley, in plain view. Company H is ordered to fire on them. We take
deliberate aim and fire a solid volley of minnie balls into th