rch flared up
and lit the surroundings. It was pale, and if he was not a madman, I
never saw one. He fairly frothed at the mouth, as he said, addressing a
soldier who had fallen in the stream, during the afternoon, and who was
putting on his shirt, which he had dried by a fire:

"Where is the corporal, the star idiot, who built that bridge?"

I couldn't have been more surprised if he had killed me. This was a nice
way to inquire for a gentleman who had done as much for the country as
I had, in so short a time. I felt hurt, but, summoning to my aid all the
gall I possessed, I stepped forward, and, in as sarcastic a manner as I
could assume, I said:

"I am the sergeant, sir, who has wrought this work, made a highway in
twelve hours, across a torrent, and made is possible for your army to
cross."

"Well, what do you suppose my army wants to cross this confounded ditch
for? What business has the army got in that swamp over there? You have
gone off the main road, where I wanted a bridge built, and built one on
a private road to a plantation, where nobody wants to cross. This bridge
is of no more use to me than a bridge across the Mississippi river at
its source. You, sir, have just simply raised hell, that's what you have
done."

Talk about being crushed! I was pulverized. I felt like jumping into the
stream and drowning myself. For a moment I could not speak, because I
hadn't anything to say. Then I thought that it would be pretty tough to
go off and leave that bridge without the general's seeing what a good
job it was, so I said:

"Well, general, I am sorry you did not give me more explicit
instructions, but I wish you would get down and examine this bridge. It
is a daisy, and if it is not in the right place we can move it anywhere
you want it."

That seemed to give the general an idea, and he dismounted and examined
it. He said it was as good a job as he ever saw, and if it was a mile
down the road, across another bayou, where he wanted to cross, he would
give a fortune. I told him if he would give me men enough and wagons
enough, I would move it to where he wanted it, and have it ready by
daylight the next morning. He agreed, and that was the hardest nights
work I ever did. Every stick of timber in my pet bridge had to be taken
off separately, and moved over a mile, but it was done, and at daylight
the next morning I had the pleasure of calling the general and telling
him that the bridge was ready. I thought he