all is not gold that glitters. I have shown him that
however spotted a man may be, if he rides a spotted circus horse, he
will get there. I will leave it to the chaplain, now, if I was not
justified in trading him that horse, after what he had done to me, and
will ask him if he was not served perfectly right, and if in trading me
that mule he did not do to others as he would have others do to him, and
if so, if he does not think the others did it to him in great shape. I
am done. I leave my life in your hands."

When I quit they were all laughing except the chaplain, and there was
a quiet smile around his mouth, as he thought of his experience on the
spotted horse. The colonel asked the chaplain, if he had anything to
say, and he said he had just been thinking that he could go over to a
New Jersey regiment and trade that spotted horse to the chaplain of that
regiment, and if he could, he would be willing to drop the case. He
said that chaplain played a mean trick on him once, and he wanted to
get even. The court martial acquitted me, and while we were all taking
a drink with the colonel, the chaplain went out, and pretty soon we saw
his servant leading the spotted horse over towards the camp of the New
Jersey regiment, and later the chaplain sauntered off in that direction
on foot, as though there was some weighty subject on his mind. The
weighty subject was the spotted circus-horse.

I do not suppose any incident ever caused so much talk as did the
chaplain's circus. The boys were talking and laughing about it in every
company all that afternoon, and when it was found that I had not been
punished, for trading the horse to him, the boys were wild. They wanted
to show their appreciation of the fun I had given them, so a lot of them
got together to give me a sort of reception. They sent for me to come
over to Co. D., and when I got over there they grabbed me and carried me
off on their shoulders. I felt proud to see them so joyous and friendly,
until they put me in a blanket and tossed me up into the trees, and
caught me in the blanket as I came down. Of all the sensations I ever
experienced, that of being tossed up in a blanket was the worst. I tried
to laugh, at first, but it became serious, as I went into the air
twenty feet, let loose of the air and came down, expecting to be crushed
maimed, killed. My breath forsook me, I was dizzy, but I struck the
blanket easy, and after being sent up a dozen times they let me go,