an out house
to accommodate the wounded men and after that we slept, when we slept at
all, on the frozen ground with two thicknesses of blanket beneath us.
Under such circumstances it may easily be imagined that our periods of
sleep were of short duration. We would drop asleep and in an hour wake
up shivering. We would get up, cut off some beef and roast it before the
fires that were constantly kept burning, get warm and then lie down
again. I mention this, not because we were undergoing hardships more
trying than others, but to show how all, officers and men, fared. There
was no difference. One day a surgeon came to me and asked if I could
obtain some eggs for the wounded men, so I went to Van Bremer and got
half a dozen eggs and paid 50 cents each for them. He would not take
script but demanded and received the cash, nearly all I had. From that
time until our departure I spent a considerable portion of my time in
studying human villainy with the Van Bremers as a model. But I got even
with them--and then some. Before leaving I asked Gen. Ross for
permission to settle our hay bill in place of the Quartermaster, Mr.
Foudray. Capt. Adams and I then measured the hay used respectively by
the regulars and volunteers, and I feel safe in saying that those eggs
cost the Van Bremer Bros. $50 each.

Of course they raved and ranted, declaring that we were worse than the
Modocs, but when they saw the tents of the regulars and blankets of the
volunteers being pulled down and rolled up they came to me and asked
what it meant. I told them that we had been ordered to the mouth of Lost
River on Tule Lake to protect the Oregon settlers, and that the regulars
were going also, but that Gen. Wheaton was going to leave a detail at
the Fairchilds ranch and that if they did not feel safe with the Modocs
they could move up there. They lost no time in loading a few effects
into a wagon and started with us to the Fairchilds ranch. On the road
they mired down and every man, regular and volunteer, passing them had
something bitter and mean to say to them. The story of the eggs was
known to all, and if ever men paid for a scurvy, mean trick it was the
Van Bremers.

We moved around to Lost River and struck camp, where we remained about
ten days. As Gen. Wheaton felt competent to protect the settlements, and
as the term of enlistment of the volunteers had expired more than a
month before, we proceeded to Linkville and from there to Jacksonville
whe