t, "Carry them as you please." So mine is looped in the strap that
supports my belt, and the pack is slung. And while everyone else is
adjusting his pack, or dropping the sides of the tent near his cot, or
loosening the tent guy-ropes, I scratch this.--Now the bugle, and the
whistle, and the last hasty running and calls, and in a moment we shall
be assembled, each with ten blank cartridges in his belt (the first time
we have had them) and shall be off in the drizzle.

Evening. In my OVERCOAT!

But it was not many minutes before our ponchos were on, for the day was
"open and shut," and sometimes it opened pretty wide. In our full
equipment, ponchos over everything, we turned off the main road, went by
new and strange ways, and found ourselves for the first time on the
range, where we lined up at the 600 yards mark. As we looked toward the
butts the scene was very picturesque.

The field was level, rising at the further end to a low ridge, below
which stood the targets. These, seen through the drizzle, were but great
squares of pale tan color, only slightly relieved against the wet sand
bank. In the middle of each of them I could just see a black dot. Between
us and them, three hundred yards away, was extended a dark line of men,
with here and there a smoking fire around which groups warmed themselves.
From the thin line came irregularly spurts of smoke, and the spattering
of rifle shots. It reminded me of an old picture of the field of
Antietam, spiritless in itself, but here made alive by the movement, the
noise, the drifting smoke, and the gray monotone. I watched it while the
captain explained tomorrow's work; then, glad that today had not fallen
to our lot, we marched on, taking up our route step in the soft sand of
an old railroad bed.

We were glad of our ponchos when the rain increased. As it poured down
heavily we were a disreputable lot, all streaked with the wet, our hats
slouched, our ponchos bunched in every direction with elbows, packs, and
rifles. The rubber turned the cold wind and shed most of the rain; but as
before, where our knees touched the ponchos the water came through, and
wet us finely. Then the rain stopped and the clouds became thinner, but
the wind remained cold; and when the captain slowly led us along the
specimen trenches, explaining as he went, we all got pretty well chilled
for lack of motion. I looked at David and saw that he was turning