"Corporal, here's the Cap'n, and he wants to get in! He hain't got the countersign; shall I pass him?" "Good evening. Corporal!" said the Captain, as Si came up, at the same time extending his hand. Si was thrown completely off his guard. Dropping the butt of his gun carelessly to the ground he replied cheerily, "Good evening, Cap'n," touching his hat by way of salute. Then he took the proffered hand, pleased at the Captain's mark of kindly recognition. He didn't understand the scheme then. "How are you getting on, Mr. Klegg?" "First rate!" said Si, with the air of one conscious that he had done his duty well. "I capchered a forager a little bit ago and took him to headquarters!" One of the 'non-com Mish.' 159 "Well done, Corporal I have no doubt you will honor the good name of the 200th Ind. in general and Company Q in particular, I got caught outside to night, and I want to get back into camp. Of course, you know me and it's all right!" "Certainly, sir!" said Si, as he stood leaning on his gun and allowed the officer to pass the magic line. "Good night, Cap'n!" "Good night, Corporal! By the way," said the Captain, retracing his steps, "I notice that you do not carry your gun just right. Let me show you how to handle it!" Si didn't know what a flagrant offense it was for a soldier on guard to let his gun go out of his hands; nor had he the faintest suspicion that the Captain was playing it on him. So he promptly handed his picee to the Captain, who immediately brought it down to a "charge," with the bayonet at Si's breast. "Suppose, now, I was a rebel in disguise," said the Captain, "what kind of a fix would you be in?" Light began to dawn upon Si, and he started back in terror at the thought of the mistake he had made. "Of course, I wouldn't let anybody else have it," he stammered; "but I knew you, Cap'n!" "That makes no difference to a man on duty. Corporal. You hang on to your gun the rest of the night, and if anybody—I don't care if it's Gen. Buell himself—insists on your giving it to him, let him have two or three inches of the point of your bayonet. Don't let anybody pass without the countersign, either! Come to my quarters when you are relieved tomorrow." All this illustrates the way the officers had of testing new soldiers and teaching them a thing or two, when, as was frequently the case, they were not yet up to the mark. A trick of extra duty for the hapless novitiate was generally the penance for his simplicity. The cold chills ran up and down Si's back as he took his gun and slowly returned to the guard fire. He felt that he had utterly spoiled his good record. "Lieutenant," he said to the officer, "I wish you'd please detail a man to kick me for about an hour." The Lieutenant wanted to know what the matter was, and Si told him all about it, ending with: "So now I s'pose the Cap'n 'll yank the stripes off'n my blouse!"