Ordered on again, our platoon was detached and sent across country to come upon the flank or rear of any cavalry that might be lurking for us. We sent out a squad and lost it; then the three remaining squads went on and on and on, and grumblings became louder and louder as the men began to suspect that the leader did not know where he was going, nor what he was trying to do. Good David, mindful of our pact, tried in vain to cheer the boys up; but no, they would grumble, and (as inexorably follows) made their work the harder. It was a long three miles over stiff country, with a fence, usually barb wire, every hundred yards--and bogs! "What made me sore," says Knudsen at my side at this moment, "was that first swamp we came to. It was perfectly visible, with a good dry meadow on either side to travel in--but Jones had to bring us through it." Fence, bog, fence, thicket, fence, small pasture with an inquisitive bull (we went across smartly!) fence, rough climb over rocks: such was the order of our going, till at last we heard the captain's distant whistle, and found the remainder of the company resting comfortably by the roadside waiting for us. But there was no soft place for the second platoon, for on we went at once, two miles more to camp, where the other companies had long since pitched their tents, had fed themselves, and now were streaming out toward town to fill in the chinks in their stomachs. The best ice cream, I am told, is at the millinery store. For the first time since Friday I was able today to get a swim--or rather a dip in an ice-cold stream, below a broken dam. Picturesque, so many men's naked bodies, undressing, bathing, dressing, with the rushing stream, the rocky bank, the overhanging trees. Then I cut my toe and had to have it dressed at the doctor's tent, where I had a glimpse at another side of camp life. I met one of our fellows coming away grumbling. "My blisters were dressed by an artilleryman who disgusted me with his profanity, and who put the plaster on the wrong spot." But I was tended, having a more important wound, by one of the doctors. And after my experience I can declare that all doctors are divided into three kinds. One was a volunteer, one of our own company, by the way, whose feet having given out was transferred to the medical corps, and keeps an especially kindly eye on all H company men. But he being busy, I fell into the hands of the regulars, and had a chance to judge of the opinion common among the rookies--"they treat you like a horse." Now regular officers must be short and sharp with their men, and the doctors among them are taught to be suspicious by the sojering they necessarily detect. It must be a struggle to keep sweet the milk of human kindness.