ACROSS COUNTRY WITH A CAVALRY COLUMN. 113 



ino- sreetinss, or foracrinQr around the mess tents in search of 

 a stray bone or other such luxury. The horses and mules, 

 refreshed by the night's rest, are neighing and stamping, 

 awaiting the coming meal, " stable call " having been sounded 

 immediately after reveille, and the men are attending to the 

 wants of their trusty four-footed friends. It does not take 

 us long to make our toilet and to pack our valises, ready for 

 our " strikers " to take away to the baggage - wagons. The 

 "Emperor" announces, " Sheneral, preakvast is retty, sir," and 

 each of us bringing whatever we can lay our hands on in 

 the way of a seat, from a camp-chair to a cracker-box, we are 

 soon assembled around the little table in the mess tent, which 

 is groaning under the weight of the bountiful breakfast the 

 "Emperor" has laid upon it. An antelope steak, some friz- 

 zled beef, trout (fresh caught), fried potatoes, coffee fit for the 

 gods, with condensed milk in lieu of cream— everything smok- 

 ing hot and in lavish profusion. When we look at the di- 

 minutive field -stove, from the oven of which the "Emperor" 

 has just taken out a pan full of the jolliest- looking biscuits, 

 smoking and smiling through the cracks of their brown faces, 

 just inviting one to eat them, we wonder how in the mis- 

 chief he does it all, and where he gets the good things to 

 eat out there in the wilderness, where there is not a human 

 being outside of our command for miles and miles, with the 

 exception, perhaps, of some ranging cowboys or prowling Ind- 

 ians. However, we look our approval — our mouths are too 

 full for utterance — and the " Emperor," who rarely smiles, sig- 

 nifies his appreciation of our enjoyment of his skill by bring- 

 ing us a fresh cup of fragrant coffee, with the remark that, 

 " Dot gup you got vas shtandin' so long he get gold, und 

 goffee iss not goot ven he issn't hot." 



Breakfast over, we make ready for the day's march. The 

 8 



