ld go out and kill a lot of rebels and not bury them. He said a man
that would do that was a regular pot-hunter, who killed game and left it
on the ground to spoil. They made lots of such uncharitable remarks, but
I did not pay much attention to to them. I had a tent-mate who took a
great interest in me, and he said no soldier's life was safe who did not
wear a breast-plate, and he asked me if I did not bring any breast-plate
with me. I told him I never heard of a breastplate, and asked him what
it was. He said it was a vest made of the finest spring steel, that
could be worn under the clothes, which was so strong that a bullet could
not penetrate it. He supposed of course I had one, when he heard of the
fight I had, and said none of the old boys would go into a fight without
one, as it covered the vital parts, and saved many a life. I bit like
a bass. If there was anything I wanted more than a discharge, it was a
breast-plate. If the chaplain should succeed in getting me a soft job,
where there was no danger, I could get along without my breast-plate,
but there was no sure thing about the chaplain, so I asked the soldier
where I could get a breastplate. He said the quartermaster used to issue
them, but he didn't have any on hand now, but he said he knew where
there was one that once belonged to a soldier who was killed, and he
thought he could get it for me. I asked him how it happened that the
soldier was killed, when he had a breast-plate, and he told me the
man was killed by eating green peaches. Of course I couldn't expect a
breastplate to save me from the effects of eating unripe fruit, and
I felt that if it would save me from bullets it would be worth all it
cost, so I told the soldier to get it for me. That evening he brought it
around, and he helped me put it on. I learned afterwards that it was an
old breast-plate that an officer had brought to the regiment when the
war broke out, and that it had been played on raw recruits for two
years. After I had got it on, the soldier suggested that we go out with
several other dare devils, and run the guard and go down town and play
billiards, and have a jolly time. I asked him if the guard would not
shoot at us, and he said the guards would be all right, and if they did
shoot they would shoot at the breast-plates, as all the boys had them
on. So about six of us sneaked through the guards, went to town and had
a big time, and came back along towards morning, each with a can