rters again. He said I was a regular Jonah, that brought bad
luck. I apologized the best I could, told him I would never bother
him again, and led my horse back to my regiment. The chaplain of my
regiment, who had not been to the funeral with us, and knew nothing
about the circus, met me, and, as usual, bantered me to trade horses. I
felt as though if I could saw that horse off on to the chaplain, and fix
him so he could engage in the circus business, life would yet have some
charms for me, so after some bantering we got down to business. The
chaplain asked me if I thought it would cause any remark if he should
ride a spotted horse, and I told him I did not know why it should, if
the chaplain behaved himself. He said he didn't know but the boys might
think that a spotted horse was too gay for a chaplain. I told him I
didn't know why a spotted horse couldn't be just as solemn as any horse.
He asked me if the horse had any tricks, and if he was sound. I told him
I had not had him long, but it seemed to me if the horse had any tricks
I should have found it out by this time, and I knew he was sound,
because I jumped a fence with him not an hour ago, and he took the fence
just as though he had jumped fences all his life. I asked ten dollars to
boot, and the chaplain said if I would warrant the horse not to have any
tricks he would take him. I told him I couldn't warrant the horse not to
have any tricks, but that the colonel commanding the brigade wanted my
horse, and he certainly would not want a horse that had tricks. What the
colonel wanted was a horse noted for its strict attention to business.
Then the chaplain said he would trade, and we changed saddles, and the
chaplain led the spotted horse away, and I was revenged for many things
the chaplain had done me. When the chaplain led the spotted horse to his
tent, and all the boys in the regiment saw that I had traded the brute
off, and they thought what a pic-nic they would have the first time the
chaplain rode the horse down town, there was a laugh all through the
regiment, but nobody squealed, or told the chaplain what a prize package
he had secured. I cannot account for it, how I could have coolly traded
that dastardly horse off on to the chaplain, but I was young then. Now,
after arriving at a ripe old age, I would not play such a trick on a
chaplain. The next day there was to be a review, and when the regiment
was notified, I got sick and could not go. I felt as though I