le regiment was upon the drill-sergeant. I expected a summons every
moment from the commanding officer. So sanguine was I myself, that I had
directed that all my "traps" might be put in moveable order; when, lo!
another sergeant was appointed sergeant-major, leaving poor me the butt
and jeer of the whole corps. I could not imagine what could possibly be
the cause of this strange appointment. I say strange, for two reasons:
first, that the situation had been promised to me; and, secondly, that
the sergeant who was appointed was, of all others, the most unfit for
it. I felt hurt beyond description, but my spirit was too proud to
permit me to ask why I had thus been passed over. I bore it as patiently
as I could, still trying to kill care by fagging at the drills; and no
doubt some of the poor fellows under me felt the weight of my
disappointed hopes, for I had them out late and early. I mentioned,
however, the circumstance to my captain, and told him I would resign
both my drill-sergeantship and also my three other stripes; but the
captain, having more prudence and temper than his sergeant, advised me
to put up with it, saying, that he had no doubt the colonel had
something better in store for me. This supposition appeased my troubled
mind, and I endeavoured to smother my grief by making myself a better
drill; and in a short time the storm had blown over, and the event was
nearly obliterated from my memory. After this affair I always avoided
the colonel, and whenever chance threw me in his way, I gave him the
customary salute due to his rank, but accompanied with a few dark looks,
as tokens of my gratitude.

Thus I went on, chewing the cud of disappointment, when one morning I
happened to be straying down a narrow lane, brooding over my
misfortunes, and trying to assign some reason why my commanding officer
had passed me over in promotion, when, in turning a corner, I almost
came in contact with the object of my meditations, who could soon have
put my mind at peace--the colonel himself. I tendered him a most formal
salute, almost as stiff as my feelings were towards him; this dumb
greeting being garnished with one of my blackest looks. I was passing
on, with one eye looking over my shoulder, and at last I turned my whole
body round to have a good stare at him; when, to my surprise, as if he
had anticipated my thoughts, I found that he also had countermarched. We
were now face to face, and retreat would have been unsoldier-