drive the animal.
That looked feasible, and taking a horse-hair picket rope off my saddle,
with a slip noose in the end, I tossed it over the horns of the ram,
tied the rope to the saddle, and started. The ram went along all right
till we got out to the road, when he held back a little. Mac jabbed
the ram in the rear with his saber, and he came along all right, only
a little too sudden. That was one of the mistakes of the war, Mac's
pricking that ram, and it has been the source of much study on my part,
for twenty-two years, as to whether the Irishman did it on purpose,
knowing the ram would charge on my horse, and butt my steed in the hind
legs. If that was the plan of the Irishman, it worked well, for the
first thing I knew my horse jumped about eighteen feet, and started down
the road towards camp, on a run, dragging the ram, which was bellowing
for all that was out. I tried to hold the horse in a little, but every
time he slackened up the ram would gather himself and run his head full
tilt against the horse, and away he would go again. Sometimes the ram
was flying through the air, at the end of the rope, then it would be
dragged in the sand, and again it would strike on its feet, and all
the time the ram was blatting, and the confounded Irishman was yelling
and laughing.

[Illustration: We went into the camp that way 131]

We went into the camp that way, and the whole regiment, hearing the
noise, turned out to see us come in. As my horse stopped, and the
ram was caught by a colored man, who tied its legs, I realized the
ridiculousness of the scene, and would have gone off somewhere alone and
hated myself, or killed the Irishman, but just then I saw the captain,
and I said, "Captain, I have to report that the perilous expedition was
a success. There's your sheep," and I rode away, resolved that that was
the last time I should ever volunteer for perilous duty. The Irishman
was telling a crowd of boys the particulars, and they were having a
great laugh, when I said:

"McCarty, you are a villain. I believe you set that ram on to me on
purpose. Henceforth we are strangers."

"Be gob," said the Irishman, as he held his sides with laughter, "yez
towld me to drive the shape, and didn't I obey?"

CHAPTER IX.

Bacon and Hard-tack--In Danger of Ague--In Search of Whisky
and Quinine--I Am Appointed Corporal--I Make a Speech--I Am
the Leader of Ten Picked Men--I Am Willing to Resign.

The next day