ment,
who had been detailed as a scout, and had been making a trip into the
rebel lines as a spy. I had made an ass of myself in the whole business,
and he would tell all the boys about it. I went back to my company
crushed.

CHAPTER XI.

I am Detailed to Build a Bridge-It Was a Good Bridge, but
Over the Wrong Stream--The General Appears--I am Crushed, in
Fact Pulverized!--I am Attacked with Rheumatism.

After the episode, related last week, in which I foolishly organized
a regular battle, to capture a supposed rebel, who turned out to be a
member of my own regiment, I expected to be the laughing stock of all
the soldiers, and that my commission as corporal would be taken away
from me, and that I would be reduced to the ranks, and when, the next
morning, the colonel sent for me to come to his tent, it was a stand-off
with me whether I would take to the woods and desert, in disgrace, and
never show up again, or go to the colonel, face the music, and admit
that I had made an ass of myself. Finally I decided to visit the
colonel. On the way to his tent I noticed that our force had been
augmented greatly. The road was full of wagons, the fields near us were
filled with infantry and artillery, and there were fifty wagons or more
loaded with pontoons, great boats, or the frame-work of boats, which
were to be covered with canvass, which was water-proof, and the boats
were to be used for bridges across streams. The colonel had not told me
anything about the expected arrival of more troops, and it worried me a
good deal. May be there was a big battle coming off, and I might blunder
into it unconscious of danger, and: get the liver blowed out of me by a
cannon. I felt that the colonel had not treated me right in keeping me
in ignorance of all this preparation. I went to the colonel's tent
and there was quite a crowd of officers, some with artillery uniforms,
several colonels, and one general with a star on his shoulder straps,
and a crooked sword with a silver scabbard, covered with gold trimmings.
I felt quite small with those big officers, but I tried to look brave,
and as though I was accustomed to attending councils of war. The colonel
smiled at me as I came in which braced me up a good deal.

General, this is the sergeant I spoke to you about, said the colonel,
as he turned from a map they had been looking at. I felt pale when the
colonel addressed me as sergeant, and was going to call his attention