fotches him--can't hurt nuffin wid dat.'

"'There's devilish little to fluster him now,' said the Captain, as he
tipped the barrel to fill the last canteen.

"The old man had stuck at the bottom of the steps. George fairly carried
him up, and he lay almost helpless on the floor.

"'That last toast,' said the Captain, as we left the room, 'will knock
any Rebel.'

"George held the horses, and I rather guess steadied our legs as we got
on, well loaded with apple juice inside and out. The Captain's spurs
sent the black mare off at a gallop, over rocks and bushes, and he left
me far behind in a jiffy. But I did in earnest act as an aid before we
got to camp. I found him near the place where we turn in, fast between
two scrub oaks, swearing like a trooper at the pickets, as he called the
bushes, for arresting him, and unable to get backward or forward. His
swearing saved him that clip, as it was dark, and I would have gone past
if I hadn't heard it."

"I move the adoption of the report, with the thanks of the meeting to
Major-General Franklin and his genuine Aid," said the Adjutant, after a
stiff drink all around.

"I move that it be referred back for report on the Commissary," said a
Lieutenant, after another equally stiff round.

The Adjutant would not withdraw his motion,--no chairman to preserve
order,--brandy good,--drinks frequent, and in the confusion that ensued
we close the chapter, remarking only that the Commissary was spared to
the old Rebel, through an order to march at four next morning, that came
to hand near midnight.

CHAPTER XII.

_The March to Warrenton--Secesh Sympathy and Quarter-Master's
Receipts--Middle-Borough--The Venerable Uncle Ned and his Story of the
Captain of the Tigers--The Adjutant on Strategy--Red-Tapism and
Mac-Napoleonism--Movement Stopped--Division Head-Quarters out of
Whiskey--Stragglers and Marauders--A Summary Proceeding--Persimmons and
Picket-Duty--A Rebellious Pig--McClellanism._

The order to march at four meant moving at six, as was not unfrequently
the case, the men being too often under arms by the hour shivering for
the step, while the Staff Officers who issued the orders were snoozing
in comfortable blankets. Be the cause what it might that morning, the
soldiers probably did not regret it, as it gave them opportunity to see
the lovely valley of the Shenandoah exposed to their view for the last
time, as the fog gradually lifted before the rays of the rising s