said the Captain, holding up the
caricature to the admiration of the crowded tent. "Our Division gets the
credit of it at any rate. Bully for our Division!"

"Not one word," breaks in the Poetical Lieutenant, "of Butterfield, with
his cool, Napoleonic look, as he rode along our line preparatory to the
charge; or of Fighting Old Joe, unwilling to give up the field; or of
our difficulty in clambering up the slope, getting by the artillery,
which made ranks confused, and so forth, but

'On we move, though to self-slaughter,
Regular as rolling water.'

Never mind criticizing, boys. It will sound well at home. We did our
duty, at any rate, if we did not do it exactly as represented in the
picture. The reporter was not there to see for himself, and he must take
somebody's word, and it is a feather in our cap that he has taken
Pigey's."

The conversation was at this stage interrupted by the sudden entry of
the Adjutant, with a loud call for the Sutler. That individual,
notwithstanding the unusual excitement of the night, had been singularly
quiet. Rising from his buffalo in the corner, he approached the
Adjutant with a countenance so full of apprehension and alarm as to
elicit the inquiry from the crowd of "What's the matter with the
Sutler?"

"He hasn't felt well since I told him a few hours ago," said a
Lieutenant, a lawyer by profession, "that Sutlers were liable to be
court-martialed."

"And he'll feel worse," adds the Adjutant, "when he hears this letter
read."

Amid urgent calls for the letter, the Adjutant mounted a box, and by the
light of a dip held by the Captain, proceeded to read a letter signed by
the Commanding General of the Division, and considerably blurred, which
ran somewhat in this wise:

"COLONEL:--

"Is your Sutler sagacious?

"Has he ordinary honesty?

"Has he the foresight common among business men? Is he likely to be
imposed upon?"

The letter was greeted with roars of laughter that were not diminished
by the dismay of the Sutler. The Adjutant was forthwith requested by one
of the crowd to suggest to the Colonel to reply--

"That our Sutler was a sagacious animal. That he had the honesty
ordinary among Sutlers. That if the General was disposed to deal with
him, he would find out that he had the foresight common among business
men, especially in the way of calculating his profits; and that as far
as making change was concerned, he was not