hands and feet stuck out on all sides. The boys said he looked just like
a big terrapin. After he had got himself stowed away for the night, he
remembered that he hadn't cleaned his pistol, after he fell into the
creek.

"So he backed out from under his canvas shell and started to clean it
out. It was what was called a bulldog pistol, because it had a blunt,
short muzzle. Abe's forefinger was long enough to use as a ramrod for
it. But before he began operations he snapped the trigger and, to his
astonishment, the thing went off!

"Pretty soon an orderly came along in great haste, yellin', 'Who did
that?--Who fired that shot?' Some of the men tried to send the orderly
along about his business, making believe the report was heard further
on, but Lincoln he wouldn't stand for no such deception, spoken or
unspoken. 'I did it,' says he, beginning to explain how it happened.

"You see, his legs was so blamed long, and he must have landed on his
feet, in the creek, and got out of the water without his pistol getting
wet, 'way up there in his weskit!

"But he had to pay the penalty just the same, for they took his sword
away from him for several days. You see, he was a captain and ought to
'a' set a good example in military discipline."

HOW CAPTAIN LINCOLN SAVED AN INDIAN'S LIFE

One day an old "friendly Indian" came into camp with a "talking paper"
or pass from the "big white war chief." The men, with the pioneer idea
that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," were for stringing him up.
The poor old red man protested and held the general's letter before
their eyes.

"Me good Injun," he kept saying, "white war chief say me good Injun.
Look--talking paper--see!"

"Get out! It's a forgery! Shoot him! String him up!" shouted the
soldiers angrily.

This noise brought Captain Lincoln out of his tent. At a glance he saw
what they were about to do. He jumped in among them, shouting
indignantly:

"Stand back, all of you! For shame! I'll fight you all, one after the
other, just as you come. Take it out on me if you can, but you shan't
hurt this poor old Indian. When a man comes to me for help, he's going
to get it, if I have to lick all Sangamon County to give it to him."

The three months for which the men were enlisted soon expired, and
Lincoln's captaincy also ended. But he re-enlisted as a private, and
remained in the ranks until the end of the war, which found him in
Wisconsin, hundreds of miles from New Salem.