ton thieves--mainly boys and girls--invaded the levee, with
bags conveniently slung over their shoulders. As there were practically
no policemen in the town, and as his beat was a large one, young Duncan
for a time had difficulty in dealing with these marauders. But after he
had arrested half a dozen of them only to find that there were no police
officers to whom he could turn them over, he adopted a new plan. He
secured a heavy stick from a bale of hay, and with that he clubbed every
cotton thief he could catch. As a soldier it was his habit to adapt
means to ends; so he hit hard at heads, and seized upon all the stolen
goods. It was not long before word was passed among the marauders that
there was "a devil of a fellow" in charge of that part of the levee, and
for the rest of the night the pilferers confined their operations to
spaces where a less alert watchfulness gave them better and safer
opportunities.

Thus passed Guilford Duncan's first night as a common soldier in the
great army of industry.

In the morning, at the hour appointed, he presented himself to Captain
Will Hallam, and was taken into that person's private office for an
interview.

VI

A CAPTAIN IN THE ARMY OF WORK

Captain Will Hallam Was a Man Of The Very Shrewdest sense,
fairly--though not liberally--educated, whose life, from boyhood onward,
had been devoted to the task of taking quick advantage of every
opportunity that the great river traffic of the fifties had offered to
men of enterprise and sound judgment.

Beginning as a barefoot boy--about 1850, or earlier, he never mentioned
the date--he had "run the river" in all sorts of capacities until, when
the war came, temporarily paralyzing the river trade, he had a
comfortable little sum of money to the good.

Unable to foresee what the course and outcome of the war might be, he
determined, as a measure of prudence, to indulge himself and his little
hoard in a period of safe waiting. He converted all his possessions into
gold and deposited the whole of it in a Canadian bank, where, while it
earned no interest, it was at any rate perfectly safe.

Then he sought and secured a clerkship in the commissary department of
the army, living upon the scant salary that the clerkship afforded, and
meanwhile acquainting himself in minute detail with the food resources
of every quarter of the country, the means and methods of transportation
and handling, and everything else that could in any w