and asking the men to follow me, and find out on
what grounds, this puss-in-boots outraged in this way men more
well-meaning and determined than himself in the suppression of this
rebellion. But it will all come right. They are not to be crowded clear
out of sight in a single day. One of my men told me that he was present
on duty when that wharf-rat of an Adjutant, that the exhorting Colonel
is trying to make an Adjutant-General of, came into the General's tent
with the Lieutenant-Colonel, and he said that the General asked the
Colonel whether he was still determined to disobey the lawful order of
his superior officer, the Commanding General of the Division?

"'The legality of the order is what I question,' said the Colonel. 'An
order to be lawful should at least be reasonable. That order is
unreasonable, unjust to the men, and I cannot conscientiously obey it.'

"'This money for the coats does not come out of your pocket,' said the
General, blandly. 'Why need you concern yourself about it?'

"'It comes out of the pockets of my men, General,' said the Colonel,
'and I consider it my duty to concern myself sufficiently to prevent
imposition upon them.'

"'Tut,' said the General. 'You wouldn't hear a Regular officer say
that.'

"'The greater shame for them,' said the Colonel. 'My men are my
neighbors and friends. They look to me to protect their interests. As a
general thing the Regulars are recruited from the purlieus of great
cities, and are men of no character.'

"'Colonel,' said the General, sternly, 'listen to this definition of
'Mutiny,' and then, as you are a lawyer, think of your present
position.'

"The Colonel heard it read and replied that 'it had nothing whatever to
do with the case, as there was no mutiny, nor even an approach to it.'
Considering the time of day, the General, so far, had been unusually
cool, but he could keep in no longer.

"'Colonel,' said he, in a loud, angry tone, as he advanced towards him,
'by G--d, sir, you are mutinous, sir!'

"'General,' replied the Colonel, coolly, and looking him full in the
eye, 'with all due deference to your superior rank, permit me to say,
that if you say I am guilty of mutiny you overstep the bounds of truth.'

"The Colonel's confident manner rather staggered the General, and he
turned to the Adjutant, who has been his runner throughout this matter,
and called upon him to substantiate his assertion; which he did.

"With the remark that he would not