A NIGHT WITH THE FOURTH CORPS. 



85 



ARIILLERV OUTPOST — A QUIET GAME. 



enough 

 procure a 

 ood dinner 

 for us, which we had 

 cHscussed in the mess- 

 tent, pitched under the 

 shade of the trees on the edge of the field, with appetites 

 sharpened by the hard march and the long delay consequent 

 upon our meal having been brought up to us from the distant 

 rear; and now we sat or lounged on the soft grass, smoking 

 and sipping our after-dinner coffee, which, although destitute 

 of sweetening, and drunk out of all kinds of drinking-vessels, 

 from the tin mug of the private soldier to the regulation cof- 

 fee-cup, was as aromatic and soothing as if fresh from Mocha 

 itself. 



As the sun sank in the west, casting gigantic shadows of 

 the movinsf fio-ures of the men on the lawn-like surface of our 

 resting-place, the life of the bivouac quieted down, and the men, 

 some of them, their duties ended, and overcome by fatigue, were 

 sleeping anywhere on the ground, others were chatting together 



