s for having two well-defined horns. His uniform was
becoming dangerous, but how give it up? He was determined to win Emily
Owen, and he had discovered that one of his strongest claims to the
favor of her pig-headed father lay in the wearing of that very uniform
and pretending to be a soldier. To give it up was to acknowledge that he
had no intention of joining the army, and perhaps to lose all. No--he
_must_ stick to those dangerous insignia of war, at least until he had
accomplished his grand purpose, and then--. But they made him
uncomfortable--very uncomfortable.

It was under such circumstances that Captain Robert Slivers, of the
Sickles Brigade, came under his notice that evening, and he was
horrified to see what wrecks war really made of men. One eye gone--a
face cut to pieces--crippled in one leg, one arm and one foot--good
heavens! For the moment the fright of such a spectacle almost overcame
every other consideration, and Emily Owen and all her material charms
became secondary to the thought of being placed beyond the danger of
becoming a thing like _that_!

To add to the Colonel's horror, Captain Slivers seemed to take a decided
fancy to him, and edged along his chair, the best he could do in his
crippled condition, until he had brought it into very close
juxtaposition to that of the Colonel; while the four ladies, conversing
together, formed a circle of their own a little in the background. It
may be said, here, that Frank Wallace, even through his one green
spectacle-glass, had seen and recognized the disgust and terror on the
face of the Colonel, and that he had determined to dose him thoroughly
with such flippant horrors as his fertile imagination could readily
manufacture for the occasion, but such as no battle-field on earth has
ever had much chance of witnessing.

Near as they had been brought together, and inviting as was the chance
for conversation between two members of the same profession, the gallant
Colonel did not seem disposed to enter upon it with so fearful an object
as the Captain. The latter was obliged to commence the attack, after
all.

"Very glad to meet a brother in arms," said the pseudo-Captain, in an
assumed bass, taking up his cane and giving a slight punch to the
Colonel, who seemed pre-occupied.

"Oh! ah! yes, very glad, to be sure," answered the Colonel, who scarcely
knew whether he was talking English or Choctaw at that moment. Then
partially recovering himself and remembe