l put the
irons on you."

"No," to a third, "you can't go back to your boarding place for your
things, not even with a guard. I know you. You'd give the guard the slip
before you went 10 rods. Let your things go. Probably you stole 'em,
anyway."

Lieut.-Col. Billings's eye lighted on Shorty, with an expression of
having seen him somewhere.

"Where do you belong?" he asked crossly.

"Co. Q, 200th Injianny Volunteer Infantry," replied Shorty proudly.

"Yes. I remember you now," said the Provost-Marshal savagely. "You're
one o' them infernal nigger-thieves that brung disgrace on the regiment.
You're one o' them that made it so notorious that decent men who had a
respect for other people's property was glad to get out of it."

"You're a liar," said Shorty hotly. "You didn't git out o' the regiment
because it stole niggers. That's only a pretend. The rear is full o'
fellers like you who pretend to be sore on the nigger question, as an
excuse for not going to the front. You sneaked out o' every fight the
regiment went into. You got out of the regiment because it was too fond
of doin' its duty."

"Shut up, you scoundrel! Buck-and-gag him, men," roared Billings, rising
and shaking his fist at him.

"Stop that! You musn't talk that way," said the Sergeant, going over
to Shorty, and shaking him roughly, while he whispered, "Don't make a
blamed fool o' yourself. Keep quiet."

"I won't stop," said Shorty angrily; "I won't let no man talk that
way about the 200th Ind., no matter if he wears as many leaves on his
shoulders as there is on a beech tree. I'd tell the Major-General that
he lied if he slandered the regiment, if I died for it the next minute."

"I order you to take him out and buck-and-gag him," shouted the
Provost-Marshal.

The Sergeant caught Shorty by the shoulder, and pushed him out of the
room, with much apparent roughness, but really using no more force than
would make a show, while muttering his adjurations to cool down.

"I s'pose I've got to obey orders, and buck-and-gag you," said the
Sergeant ruefully, as they were alone together in the room. "It goes
against my grain, like the toothache. I'd rather you'd buck-and-gag me.
But you are to blame for it yourself. You ought to have more sense than
lay it into a Lieutenant-Colonel and Provost-Marshal that way. But you
did give it to him fine, the old blow-hard and whisky-sucker. He's no
more fit for shoulderstraps than a hog is for a paper-collar. Haven