walking close behind and directing the course of the prisoner by
proper military commands.

They had thus traveled about two miles when a horseman was heard to
approach on a keen trot from the direction of their front. This
horseman was supposed to be a rebel cavalryman, but on coming closer he
was discovered to be a Yankee. The rebel leveled his gun on him and
commanded his surrender; but saying nothing, the Yankee threw the reins
loose on the horse's neck and approached to the rebel's gun as if to
give up, but seizing it thrust it to one side, when off it went,
hurting no one.

The rebel was now at their mercy, if they could catch him, for he took
leg-bail. Both the Yankees pursued and finally captured him. The
Orderly--for the last character was the Captain's Orderly--tried to
shoot the fugitive, but his pistol would not go off.

Having captured the rebel, the Captain loaded his gun and demanded back
all that had been taken from him. The Captain soon after found the
column, bringing his captive with him, rejoicing--the rebel fighting
mad.

SOLDIERS' LETTERS.

Letters are the soldier's tonic. They will strengthen and restore when
army grub and other restoratives, duly proportioned, wholly fail. The
blues and all kinds of contagious diseases to which mortals are heir,
caused by idleness and the lack of proper diversion of the mind, are
soon uprooted by a good interesting letter from a fellow's most
affectionate. Give soldiers full rations and regular mail, then there
can nowhere be found a more rational set of men than they. But letters
are sometimes like our crackers and pork, unfit for use. Such letters
do no good--they are no good. There is a sheet full of writing, to be
sure, but it is about something that neither interests nor concerns us.
Those letters that tell us about the little things of home; the farm,
the horses, the cattle, the dogs and cats, their quality and
disposition; also the parties and frolics, who is going to see who, and
what people say about it, are the very letters that do all this good I
have been telling about.

The soldiers will always crowd around the ones who get such letters,
make remarks and ludicrous suggestions which cause bursts of hearty
laughter and strains of highest merriment, thus passing the tedious
hours of camp life in a light and merry way.

No one cares for a letter which is wholly devoted to the praise and
admiration of one's patriotism and to the sacrednes