ent, himself the first man in camp who was
ready for service. Presently a messenger came with information as to the
cause of the alarm, and we were dismissed.

At two o'clock in the morning there was another alarm. Again the
body-guard bugles sounded and the drums rolled. Again soldiers sprang to
their arms, and officers rushed to report to the General,--the first man
finding him, as before, leaning upon his sword in front of his tent. But,
alas for the reputation of our mess, not one of its number appeared. In
complete unconsciousness of danger or duty, we slept on. Colonel S. said
he heard "the music, but thought it was a continuation of the evening's
serenade," and went to sleep again. It was not long before we discovered
that the General knew that four members of his staff did not report to him
when the long roll was sounded.

There are several encampments on the hill-sides north of us which are in
full view from our quarters, and it is not the least of our amusements to
watch the regiments going through the afternoon drill. In the soft light
of these golden days we see the long blue lines, silver-tipped, wheel and
turn, scatter and form, upon the brown hill-sides. Now the slopes are
dotted with skirmishers, and puffs of gray smoke rise over the kneeling
figures; again a solid wall of bayonets gleams along the crest of the
hill, and peals of musketry echo through the woods in the ravines.

Colonel Myscall Johnson, a Methodist exhorter and formidable Rebel
marauder, is said to be forty miles south of us with a small force, and
some of the Union farmers came into camp to-day asking for protection.
Zagonyi, the commander of the body-guard, is anxious to descend upon
Johnson and scatter his thieving crew; but it is not probable he will
obtain permission. The Union men of Missouri are quite willing to have you
fight for them, but their patriotism does not go farther than this. These
people represent that three-fourths of the inhabitants of Miller County
are loyal. The General probably thinks, if this be true, they ought to be
able to take care of Johnson's men. But a suggestion that they should
defend their own homes and families astonishes our Missouri friends.
General Lyon established Home-Guards throughout the State, and armed them
with several thousand Springfield muskets taken from the arsenal at St.
Louis. Most of these muskets are now in Price's army, and are the most
formidable weapons he has. In some instances