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 



