e good name of the
200th Ind. in general and Company Q in particular, I got caught outside
to night, and I want to get back into camp. Of course, you know me and
it's all right!"

"Certainly, sir!" said Si, as he stood leaning on his gun and allowed
the officer to pass the magic line. "Good night, Cap'n!"

"Good night, Corporal! By the way," said the Captain, retracing his
steps, "I notice that you do not carry your gun just right. Let me show
you how to handle it!"

Si didn't know what a flagrant offense it was for a soldier on guard to
let his gun go out of his hands; nor had he the faintest suspicion that
the Captain was playing it on him. So he promptly handed his picee to
the Captain, who immediately brought it down to a "charge," with the
bayonet at Si's breast.

"Suppose, now, I was a rebel in disguise," said the Captain, "what kind
of a fix would you be in?"

Light began to dawn upon Si, and he started back in terror at the
thought of the mistake he had made.

"Of course, I wouldn't let anybody else have it," he stammered; "but I
knew you, Cap'n!"

"That makes no difference to a man on duty. Corporal. You hang on to
your gun the rest of the night, and if anybody--I don't care if it's
Gen. Buell himself--insists on your giving it to him, let him have two
or three inches of the point of your bayonet. Don't let anybody pass
without the countersign, either! Come to my quarters when you are
relieved tomorrow."

All this illustrates the way the officers had of testing new soldiers
and teaching them a thing or two, when, as was frequently the case,
they were not yet up to the mark. A trick of extra duty for the hapless
novitiate was generally the penance for his simplicity.

The cold chills ran up and down Si's back as he took his gun and slowly
returned to the guard fire. He felt that he had utterly spoiled his good
record.

"Lieutenant," he said to the officer, "I wish you'd please detail a man
to kick me for about an hour."

The Lieutenant wanted to know what the matter was, and Si told him all
about it, ending with:

"So now I s'pose the Cap'n 'll yank the stripes off'n my blouse!"

The officer quieted his fears by assuring him that there was no cause
for alarm. The Captain knew that he was trying to do his duty, and what
he had done was for Si's own good.

Si sat down by the fire and was thinking it over when there was another
call, "Corporal of the guard!" He was soon at the point indicated and