THE WOLF HUNTERS 



and get condemned, but, on learning that this com- 

 pany had been engaged in a skirmish with the 

 rebels in Missouri recently, I covered a consider- 

 able deficit on the returns as "lost in action," on 

 the affidavits of soldiers, and accounted for some 

 other stuff as legitimately "worn out or expended 

 in the public service/' 



By these and other methods usually resorted to 

 in the regular service to cover deficiencies I soon 

 had Lieutenant Lang's accountability reduced to 

 the property he actually had on hand; and, while 

 doing so, instructed his company clerk so that 

 thereafter he could easily keep the accounts in safe 

 shape. 



My work for Lang attracted considerable at- 

 tention from the other company commanders and 

 they soon got to dropping in to consult me in re- 

 gard to making out papers and all sorts of mili- 

 tary matters. 



At the expiration of my contract, Lieutenant 

 Lang cheerfully paid me the two hundred dollars 

 which I deposited with Weisselbaum to the credit 

 of the firm and expressed himself as glad to get 

 out of his recent dilemma so cheaply. 



While at this work I was often one of the busiest 

 men about the post. These officers, though inex- 

 perienced, were gentlemanly fellows, and not hav- 

 ing had that regular army legend ground into them 

 about the impassable gulf between the enlisted 

 man and the commissioned officer, though know- 



204 



