the officers, for you galoots, and all for nothin'?" said the
teamster. "You are blamed fools, that's all I've got to say."

"Look here, Groundhog," said Shorty, coming up close, with a portentious
doubled fist. "You know me, and you know Si. You know that either of
us can maul the head off you in a minute, whenever we've a mind to, and
we're likely any time to have a mind to. We're a durned sight nearer you
all the time than any o' the officers, and you can't git away from us,
though you may from them. They may buck and gag you, as they ought to,
'bout every day, but that won't be nothin' to the welting one of us
'll{261} give you. Now, you tell that story, jest as Si said, and stick
to it, or you won't have a whole bone in your carcass by the end o' the
week."

When they came up to the entrance there indeed stood the owner
of Abraham Lincoln, holding his horse, and by him stood the
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 200th Ind., a big, burly man, who had been a
drover and an influential politician before he got his commission, and
had a high reputation at home as a rough-and-tumble fighter. He had not
added to his bellicose fame since entering the field, because for some
mysterious reason he had been absent every time the regiment went into a
fight, or was likely to. Consequently he was all the more blustering and
domineering in camp, in spite of the frequent repressions he got from
the modest, quiet little Colonel.

"Old Blowhard Billings is there," said Si. "Now we'll have a gust o'
wind."

"Didn't know he was in camp," said Shorty. "I've a notion to bust a cap
and scare him back to Nashville agin. Don't let him bluff you, Si, even
if he is the Lieutenant-Colonel."

They rode up to the entrance looking as innocent and placid as if
bringing in a load from the fields on the Wabash.

"Corporal Klegg," said the Lieutenant-Colonel sternly, "bring out that
nigger from the wagon."

"We ain't got no nigger in the wagon, Colonel," said Si, with an
expression of surprise.

"Come, now, don't fool with me, sir, or I'll make you very sorry for
it. I'm no man to be trifled with, sir. If you ain't got a nigger in the
wagon, what 've you done with him."{262}

"We ain't done nothin' with him, Colonel," persisted Si. "I hain't had
nothin' to do with no nigger since we started out this mornin'; hain't
spoken to one. Sometimes niggers jump on our wagons, ride a little ways,
and then jump off agin. I can't keep track of 'em. I generall