a general shout of laughter.

"Well, my precious babies," cried one.

"Don't soil your new bibs, my tiddy-ikle duckies!" called another.

"There, don't tease them," said Freddy, the general peacemaker; "Come,
fellows, let's have dinner; ham's good, I tell you!" and down they sat
at table, in high, good humor.

Of course the cooking business was rather to amuse the boys than in
earnest, for the fried ham formed only a small part of the abundant
dinner set before the gallant Zouaves. There was lamb, and green peas,
new potatoes, fresh tomatoes, custard pudding, and raspberries, all of
which was pronounced "fine," although Jimmy declared there never was any
dish at Delmonico's to equal or surpass his fried ham, and the others
fully concurred in this opinion.

As soon as the dinner was fairly under way, Mr. Schermerhorn rose from
his place at the table, where he had been carving, and said, with a
pleased smile on his face, "Now, my brave soldiers, I must take my
leave. Have the goodness not to do double-quick over the flower beds,
leave a dish or so of cherries in the orchard, and, whatever you do,
don't tumble into the lake, and I shall be satisfied."

"Three cheers for Mr. Schermerhorn!" shouted Colonel Freddy. In an
instant every fellow was on his feet, every cap was in the air, and a
tremendous "Hurrah! hurrah! ti-ga-a-ah!" made the echoes around Camp
McClellan wake up in a hurry, and poke their heads out of the hills to
see where the cannonading was.

Of course, being boys, the regiment cleared the dishes in astonishing
style, and polished their plates so thoroughly that you would hardly
have thought they wanted the grand washing they had when dinner was
over.

After stowing all the things away neatly in the smokehouse, and
arranging their surplus luggage (which had been sent down the previous
Saturday), in the lockers, they all had a grand game at fox and geese,
which lasted until Freddy, perfectly worn out with laughing and
scampering about, exclaimed, "Come, fellows, do let's sit down and be
quiet; I'm as tired as if I had walked from here to China."

"Yes, let's be _solemn_ a little while," said Peter. "In these
_momentous_ times, we _army men_ ought to be thinking how to fix off the
old secessionists and that sort of thing. I move we all sit down in a
circle, and the first who laughs shall tell a story."

The boys thought this was a grand idea. So they found a nice place, just
beneath the sheltering bo