her have a good
shtick. Wid a shtick in me fist Oi'll take care of ony spalpeen fwhat'll
stand up in front av me. But wid a fool goon loike that Oi'd be kilt at
wance."

While Si and Shorty were still worrying about what to do for arms for
the remainder of their men, they heard what seemed to be about a company
marching toward them through the darkness.

"I suppose we had better stop here and stack our arms out of the way,"
they heard the officer say who seemed to be in command. "We've got an
all-night's job before us, fixing up that bridge, and getting those
wagons across. Stack arms, boys, and leave your belts and traps with
them. There's lots of work down there for us."

They could see dimly the men obeying the orders, and going down the
bank of the creek, where they started large fires to light them at their
work.

"They have got a job ahead of 'em," remarked Shorty, looking in the
direction of the fires.

"It'll take 'em all night and a large part o' tomorrow," said Si,
significantly, as a thought entered his mind.

"Indeed it will," accorded Shorty, as the same idea occurred to him.
"An' they won't need their guns. They're only pioneers, anyway."

"If they do," chimed in Si, "they kin pick up plenty more just as good
around somewhere, when daylight comes. That's what pioneers is for."

"Si, you ketch on like a he snappin' turtle," said Shorty joyfully.
"We'll jest help ourselves to them guns and cartridge-boxes, and then
move our camp over a little ways, and skeet out airly in the mornin' for
the front, and we'll be all right. Don't say nothin' to the Lieutenant
about it. He'll be all right, and approve of it, but he mustn't know
anything of it officially. You git the men up and I'll go over and give
the Lieutenant the wink and tell him that we've found a much better
bivouac about a mile further on."

While the pioneers were struggling with their task, and the air down by
the creek was filled with shouts and commands, Si and Shorty, with some
of the others, quietly appropriated enough stands of arms to complete
the equipment of their squad.

Shorty took much credit for his honesty and forbearance that he did not
touch a single one of the pioneers' belongings but their arms. A little
later the squad was in bivouac a mile away.

At the earliest dawn of Sept. 20 they were awake, and after a hasty
breakfast moving out the Rossville road for the battlefield. Only an
occasional shot from a nervous picket,