WE REACH FORT LARNED 



honest admiration *WelI, old pard, if I had your 

 cheek I'd never work another hck.' 'It^s all done 

 by a slight turn of the wrist, as the magician says/ 

 said Bob; 'anybody can do it that knows how. 

 Now, let me tell you how to get that letter of 

 yours. Just go over to the quarters an' wash your 

 face an' hands for a disguise, black your boots, but- 

 ton up your jacket, brace up, an' look brave; and 

 then go back to the store — by that time the old 

 man's forgot you ever asked for a letter — then ex- 

 ecute a flank movement on him, like I did; be 

 sure to salute an' call him kernel, an' you'll get a 

 letter if he has to write you one.' 



"An' by following Bob's advice Bill got his let- 

 ter; an' it tickled him so't he called us together, 

 an' we went down to old mother Bangs's, an' he 

 set up the drinks on it, 'cause he said that trick 

 that Bob learnt him was worth a whole lot, if not 

 more." 



121 



