"Hi! hi!" said the Colonel, making his appearance upon the unpainted, warped, paralytic verandah of his dwelling. Through the low-cut window from which he issued could be seen a sloppy table, with bottles and glasses, and the laughing faces of two bold-browed, slatternly girls, the one seventeen, the other twenty. He had on an old dressing-gown, fastened around his waist with a sword-belt, and his trousers hung loose about the heels of a pair of dirty slippers. His face was flushed and his eyes bloodshot; he was winking, leering, and slightly unsteady. Colburne slunk behind a tree, humiliated for his sake, and ready to rave or weep as he thought of the young wife to whom this man's mere name was a comfort. "Hi! hi!" repeated Carter. "Where are all these fellows?" The aid advanced and saluted. "Do you want any one, Colonel?" "No, no. Don't want any one. What for? Celebrate it alone. Man enough for it." Presently catching the eye of another officer, he again chuckled, "Hi! hi!" The person thus addressed approached and saluted. "I say," observed the Colonel, "I got letters last night addressed General Carter--Brigadier-General John T. Carter. What do you think of that?" "I hope it means promotion," said the officer. "Colonel, do you think we shall go into quarters?" "No, no; no go into quarters; no go into quarters for us. Played out--quarters. In ole, ole times, after fought a big battle, used to stop--look out good quarters, and stop. But now nix cum rouse the stop." Back he reeled through the window, to sit down to his whiskey and water, amidst the laughter and rather scornful blandishments of the Secession lasses. Nevertheless I must see him, decided Colburne. "Ask Colonel Carter," he said to an orderly, "if he can receive Captain Colburne, who brings letters and messages from Mrs. Carter." In a minute the man returned, saluted and said, "The Colonel sends his compliments and asks you to walk in, sir." When Colburne entered Carter's presence he found him somewhat sobered in manner; and although the bottles and glasses were still on the table, the bold-faced girls had disappeared. "Captain, sit down. Take glass plain whiskey," were the Colonel's first words. "Good for your arm--good for every thing. Glad you got off without a--cut-off." He would have used the word amputation, only he knew that his tongue could not manage it. "Thank you, Colonel. Here are two letters, sir, from Mrs. Carter and the Doctor. Just as I was leaving, when it was too late to write, Mrs. Carter charged me to say to you that her father had decided to go at once to New Orleans, so that your letters must be directed to her there." "I understand," answered Carter slowly and with the solemnity of enforced sobriety. "Thank you." He broke open his wife's letter and glanced hurriedly through it. "Captain, I'm 'bliged to you," he said. "You've saved my wife from im-prisn--ment. She's 'bliged to you. You're noble fellah. I charge myself with your pro--mosh'n."