his duty, he
was going over the battlefield, he came upon the prisoner, whose
drunken yelling attracted his attention; that he had admonished him, and
received insults in reply.

"My way is to knock a man down, when he gives me any back talk,"
remarked the Major, sotto voce, taking a fresh chew of tobacco. "That's
better than court-martialing to promote discipline."

"Further admonitions," continued the Lieutenant, "had the same result,
and I was about to call a guard to put him under arrest, when I happened
to notice a pair of field-glasses that the prisoner had picked up, and
was evidently intending to appropriate to his own use, and not account
for them. This was confirmed by his approaching me in a menacing manner,
insolently demanding their return, and threatening me in a loud voice
if I did not give them up, which I properly refused to do, and ordered
a Sergeant who had come up to seize and buck-and-gag him. The Sergeant,
against whom I shall appear later, did not obey my orders, but seemed
to abet his companion's gross insubordination. The scene finally
culminated, in the presence of a number of enlisted men, in the
prisoner's wrenching the field-glasses away from me by main force, and
would have struck me had not the Sergeant prevented this. It was such an
act as in any other army in the world would have subjected the offender
to instant execution. It was only possible in--"

"Pardon me, Lieutenant--I should perhaps say Captain"--interrupted
Lieut. Bowersox, with much sweetness of manner, "but the most of us are
familiar with your views as to the inferiority of the discipline of the
Western Armies to that of the Army of the Potomac and European armies,
so that we need not take up the' time of the court with its reiteration.
What farther happened?"

"Nothing. The Provost Guard came up at that moment, and I directed a
Sergeant to place the two principal offenders in custody, and secure the
names of the witnesses."

"Is that all, Captain?"

"Yes, except that in closing my testimony I feel that it is my duty to
impress upon the court that so flagrant a case as this should be made
the opportunity for an example in the interests of discipline in the
whole army. I have known this prisoner for some time, and watched him.
This is not the first time that he and the Sergeant have insulted me.
They are leaders in that class of uneducated fellows who have entirely
too little respect for officers and gentlemen. They sh