troop that is doomed to ride
them cannot make so fine appearance on dress-parade as the others do,
and for the reason that the Brindles are the butt of all the jokes that
old soldiers can play upon one another. When we have said that we have
said a good deal, for if there is any mischief that a lot of veterans
will not think of when they have a leisure hour on their hands, we don't
know what it is.

When the horses were "colored" at Fort Lamoine the brindles fell to the
lot of Lieutenant Earle, as he was the lowest company commander, all the
others being captains. This was the troop to which Bob Owens belonged,
and, in common with its other members, he had suffered from the
practical jokes that had been played upon him by the more fortunate
troopers. But of late these jokes were not as frequent as they had
formerly been, for the "Brindles" had proved themselves to be the best
of soldiers. When their achievements were taken into consideration they
led every troop in the garrison. They had gallantly borne their part in
every duty they were called on to perform, their non-commissioned
officers had invariably been successful when sent out in pursuit of
deserters, and now one of them had done something for which the members
of his regiment were glad to honor him in the way we have described.
During the rest of Bob's life at Fort Lamoine but little was said about
the despised Brindles; but if any trooper _did_ forget himself and make
disparaging remarks concerning them or their "ringed, streaked and
striped" horses, some listening Brindle would promptly interrupt him
with--

"Look here, Bub, we didn't enlist to show ourselves off on dress-parade.
When you Blacks" (or Grays or Chestnuts, as the case might be, the
offending trooper being designated by the color of the horses on which
his company was mounted) "have followed an Indian trail across the
Staked Plains, and been burned up by an August sun, and had your mouths
and throats filled so full of sand that you couldn't tell the truth for
a whole month, and have surprised a party of hostiles in their camp,
and rescued two prisoners alive and unharmed,--when you have done all
that, you can talk; until then hold your yawp. That feat has never been
accomplished but once in the Department of Texas, and then it was
accomplished by _our_ boys, the Brindles of the ----th Cavalry."

Bob and his men were proud of that exploit, and, what was more, they did
not mean to be robbed of