ooted Coriolanus out of Rome,--broke out
with:--

"There goes one of them, now!"

"Yes," muttered another, almost in front of the officer. "D--n 'em all!
Much good those shiny uniforms are doing the country!"

The officer, who must have heard the words and known that they were
intended for his ears, paid no attention and was passing on--the part of
prudence and propriety, beyond a doubt. But one of the crowd was not
satisfied. He must make wrong of the right (a thing very common in all
causes) and the insult a personal one.

"See here!" and he laid his hand on the officer's arm, detaining him,
but not roughly. "Do you see what there is on that bulletin?"

"I see!" said the Captain.

"Yes, they are cutting our boys all to pieces down there!" went on the
aggrieved citizen.

"Well?" again said the officer, apparently neither angry nor frightened.

"Well!" spoke the other, repeating his word, but a little abashed by the
calmness of the officer, whose arm he had let go the moment he turned to
speak to him. "Well!--perhaps it is none of my business, you know--but
why the d--l don't you fellows who have such handsome uniforms, and
commissions, and all that sort of thing, go down and help?"

"Humph!" said the Captain, still with no symptom of being abashed or
angry. "Perhaps it _would_ be as well, for all of us who _could_."

"Oh, you can't go, eh?" said another member of the assemblage, in a
sneering tone.

"Not _yet_!" was the reply of the officer.

"I thought not!" said the man who had first addressed him.

"See here, boys!" said the Captain, "haven't you made a mistake in your
man? I hate a stay-at-home soldier, quite as much as you."

"Why don't you go, then?" one of the others again interrupted.

"I have _been_, and I am _going again_!" said the Captain, emphatically.
"I see what is the matter. I have just put on a new uniform, and you
think that looks suspicious. So it does, I suppose; but my old one has
been through six pitched battles and looks rough enough to suit you."

"The d--l it has!" said the man who had addressed him. "Really, Captain,
I beg your pardon!"

"Never mind that!" said the Captain. "You will probably hit the right
man next time, and the quicker you shame the make-believes into doing
something or pulling off their uniforms, the better. McClellan wants us
all--"

"McClellan's the boy!" broke out a voice.

"You are right--'Little Mac's' the boy!" said the Captain. "He wants us
al