As the two friends and their conductor passed up-stairs, they noticed two officers in somewhat loud conversation, not far from the landing and near the door of a side-room, on the handle of the door of which one of them held his hand a portion of the time. Without any effort, some of the words of their conversation could easily be heard; and Smith and Brown, who had no more than the average of that creditable delicacy which hears nothing intended only for other ears, caught some words which will bear setting down here as affording an additional clue to the state of discipline. "That," said Woodruff, giving Smith a nudge as they came to the head of the stairs, speaking in a low tone, and pointing to the taller of the two men, who stood with his side-face presented at the moment,--"that is Colonel Crawford; and the other, the shorter man, is Captain Lowndes, who has been recruiting for the regiment at the Park. If I was in better odor with the Colonel, I would introduce you; but come on." Smith and Jones did _not_ "come on" at the instant, and what they caught from the two officers was the following: "Not _one_ in a week?" asked the Colonel, in a tone mingling surprise and anger. "Not one? D--n it!" "I am sorry to say, not one," was the reply of Captain Lowndes. "They nearly all sing the same tune, however." "Well, it won't do for _us_, you know!" said the Colonel. "Another review, and by some officer who was not a d--d lawyer blockhead, might be awkward!" Colonel Crawford either forgot, at that moment, that he had any connection with the legal profession, or he chose to ignore the fact; and it is not to be supposed that his subordinate reminded him of it. "We must have a paragraph in the to-morrow morning," he went on, naming an influential daily, "giving the regiment another 'blow.' If it does not get us any recruits, it will at least make the thing look better at Albany. Hum--where's Dalton?" "The Adjutant went to Boston yesterday," was the response of Lowndes. "Said he had business, though as he had a girl with him when he stepped on board the boat, I suspect his business was rather personal." "D--n him!" muttered the Colonel, between his teeth. Then louder, to Lowndes: "I thought I told you to request him, if you saw him, not to leave the city again without permission from _me_! It seems you _have_ seen him; and why were my orders not obeyed?" The Colonel spoke now with great dignity, and drew himself up so that the eagles on his shoulder-straps were at least half an inch higher than when he was squatted down into easy position. "Your orders _were_ obeyed," answered the Captain. "I _did_ tell him." "And what did he say?" asked the Colonel, lifting his eyebrows with some appearance of interest. "He said," replied the Captain, enunciating his words very clearly, as if he had no objection to their producing their full weight on his superior--"That Colonel Egbert Crawford might go to h-ll, and he would go to Boston."