nce of the lieutenant was no longer necessary for a time. He spoke
to his orderly sergeant, who was eating his dinner with the mules, and
started for the point, eating the contents of his haversack on the way.
On his arrival he found Butters engaged in selecting the men to send
over to the assistance of the cavalrymen.

"Gittin' wagons out of the mud ain't exactly the work for
sharpshooters," growled Butters as Deck approached him. "But I have
called for volunteers."

"It is the work of soldiers to do whatever is to be done," replied the
cavalry officer, who was not pleased with the growl, or the tone in
which it had been made.

"It is not exactly the work of sharpshooters to work in the mud,"
returned Butters, apparently unwilling to have his men ordered away
from his immediate command.

"You are volunteers; and if you object to obeying my orders, you may
march your men back to Millersville," replied Lieutenant Lyon with
dignity enough for a major-general.

"Do you mean to send us back?" demanded Butters angrily.

Deck saw that, from the first, the lieutenant in command of the
riflemen was afflicted with an attack of the "big head," and considered
himself as the practical superior of the young officer who was his
military superior by the order of the major commanding. The cavalry
officer was not "puffed up" by his position, but he felt the necessity
of maintaining his dignity as the chief of the entire force on the
ground.

"I do not send you back, but I give you permission to retire from the
field," added Deck.

"I should like to ask who has done all the work that has been done in
this place?" demanded Butters.

"I admit that your men have done the most of it," answered the
lieutenant, when the entire thirty riflemen had gathered near to hear
the dispute; "but if you are not willing to obey my orders, I can get
along better without you than with you. If you desire to retire from
the field, I have nothing more to say."

"No! no! no!" shouted half the men.

"You can do as you please, Lieutenant Butters," added Deck, when he
realized that a majority of the riflemen were with him.

They had seen Deck in the thickest of the fight at the hill, and heard
all about his conduct in other actions from the members of the company
with whom they had fraternized at the jail, and it is not stating it
too strongly to say, in figurative terms, that he was the idol of the
Riverlawn Cavalry.

"I was calling for voluntee