t won't do," continued Carey. "He'll go up there
among those high-toned Grays or Blacks, and they will honey around those
boys of his and make much of them, and cut us Brindles completely out of
their good graces. They belong to us, and they ought to stay with us;
don't you say so?"

Bob replied that he did say so.

"Can't we bring them into our mess?" asked Carey.

"You can try. I'll take care of your horse if you want to make the
attempt."

Carey at once dismounted, and started back toward the upper end of the
camp, and Bob rode on to find the place where his troop had staked out
their horses. While he is looking for it we will explain what the words
"Grays," "Blacks" and "Brindles," as used by Private Carey, meant.

One of the first things to be done in a new regiment of cavalry, or in
an old one that has just been remounted, is to "color the horses." We
mean by this that the animals are divided into lots according to their
color, the blacks being placed in one lot, the grays in another, the
whites in another, and so on. After these divisions are made there are
always some "off" horses, such as roans and browns, which are put into a
lot by themselves and called the "brindles." The ranking captain then
makes his choice of the colors. For the sake of illustration, we will
suppose that he prefers to have his company mounted on black horses. He
first takes the finest animal in the lot for his own use, his first
lieutenant comes next, the second lieutenant next, the first sergeant
next, and so on down through all the sergeants and corporals, each one
selecting according to his rank. Then those of the privates who have
proved themselves to be the best soldiers are called up one by one, and
after they have made their selections the shirks and grumblers, like
Bristow and Gus Robbins, have to take those that are left.

The captain who is second in command makes the next choice of colors,
and his horses are distributed in the same way. The whites are generally
chosen next to the last, not because they are not as good or as handsome
as the others, but for the reason that it is harder work for the men to
keep them clean, and in action they present conspicuous marks for the
rifles of the enemy. "The brindles," the horses of all colors and of no
color at all to speak of, are the only ones left, and the lowest company
commander must take them because he has no choice. He does not like
them, and neither do his men, because the