o of
course understood perfectly well what all the fuss was about, were
laughing and joking at the expense of the perplexed Sergeant, telling him
that it seemed to be as much enjoyment to him to count Yankee prisoners,
as it was for a miser to count his gold; asking all sorts of questions and
offering all sorts of suggestions to tease and annoy him.

As he would call upon us to fall in again for count, some one would say,
"well Sergeant what was the matter that time? Was there too many of us or
not enough? What kind of an arithmetic did you study when you went to
school? Let me figure that up for you. This is a new military rule you
adopt, turning out the guard every time the Sergeant comes in." Others
would say as they saw him coming up stairs again, "turn out the guard for
the commanding officer!" "Turn out the guard for the officer of the day!"
Others would attempt to beat the long roll on the floor, with sticks of
stove wood, or try to whistle, "Boots and Saddles," or the assembly. In
fact they all seemed to try to see how exasperating they could be.

The Sergeant, who by the way was a clever fellow, courteous and
gentlemanly in his demeanor towards us, took all of this chaffing, with as
good a grace as possible.

He tried hard to conceal his perplexity and the annoyance our joking
caused him, and with a determined look that seemed to say, "I'll unravel
this mystery if it takes all day," kept up the count until it came out as
he wanted it to, or as he seemed to know it ought to come out.

CHAPTER XXV.

BORROWING SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS OF A REB.

Along in January, 1865, I began to get short of money, and as the jewelry,
watches, etc., were about played out, I was in danger of being obliged to
suspend, for want of stock to sell from. Just at this time, the reb
Sergeant came in one day and inquired if any one had greenbacks, they
wished to exchange for Confederate money.

He came to our mess, as it was the one most likely to be able to
accommodate him, and said there was a gentleman outside who would give
seven hundred dollars in Confederate for one hundred in greenbacks, or, if
we had not the currency, a check on Riggs & Co.'s bank, of Washington,
D. C., would be accepted, provided we would write a letter and give it to
him, asking our friends at home to deposit the amount there, stating that
we had drawn a check for one hundred dollars on that bank, to subsist
ourselves while in prison.

I took seven