ttend
some great military function, and Shorty was left alone in charge of
Headquarters. There was nothing for him to do but hold a chair down, and
keep anybody from carrying off the Headquarters. This was a dangerous
condition, in his frame of mind. He began meditating how he could put
in the idle hours until the General should return in the evening. He
thought of hunting up Billngs, and giving him that promised thrashing,
but his recent experience did not promise hopefully that he could nag
that worthy into a fight that would be sufficiently interesting.

"I'd probably hit him a welt and he'd go off bawlin' like a calf," he
communed with himself. "No; Billings is too tame, now, until he finds
out whether we've got anything on him to send him to the penitentiary,
where he orter go."

Looking across the street he noticed Eph Click, whom he had known as a
camp-follower down in Tennessee, and was now running a "place" in the
unsavory part of the town. Shorty had the poorest opinion of Eph, but
the latter was a cunning rascal, who kept on the windy side of the
law, and had so far managed to escape the active notice of the
Provost-Marshal. He was now accompanied by a couple of men in brand-new
uniforms, so fresh that they still had the folds of the Quartermaster's
boxes.

"There goes that unhung rascal, Eph Glick," he said to himself, "that
orter be wearin' a striped suit, and breakin' stone in the penitentiary.
He's runnin' a reg'lar dead-fall down the street, there, and he's got a
couple o' green recruits in tow, steerin' them to where he kin rob 'em
of their pay and bounty. They won't have a cent left in two hours. I've
bin achin' to bust him up for a long time, but I've never bin able to
git the p'ints on him that'd satisfy the General or the Provo. I'll jest
go down and clean out his shebang and run him out o' town, and finish
the job up while the General and the Provo's over in Louisville. It'll
all be cleaned up before they git back, and they needn't know a word of
it. Eph's got no friends around here to complain. He's a yaller hound,
that nobody cares what's done to him. It'll be good riddance o' bad
rubbish."

He stalked out of the Headquarters, and beckoned imperiously to a squad
that he saw coming down the street under the command of a Sergeant.
Seeing him come out of Headquarters there was no question of his right
to order, and the Sergeant and squad followed.

They arrived in front of Eph's place about th