THE COUNTRY BOY 51 



of red and gold braid on the coat tails and 

 collars. The caps were high and leaned for- 

 ward, with a short straight stiff brim and a red 

 plume went in the front and top of the cap. 



.There wasn't much sleeping done after the 

 money order left town. The whole town sat 

 around the post-office stove and wondered 

 whether they would steal the money order or 

 not, but we kept it as much of a secret as pos- 

 sible the day the money left. 



There wasn't a man in town, or a drummer 

 that came to town that could figure accurately 

 how long we would have to wait. After the 

 order had been gone about a week, I hung out 

 at the depot and watched for the train that was 

 due at noon each day, but each day the express 

 messenger said he hadn't seen or heard any- 

 thing of them. Father finally came to me and 

 said that the whole town thought the reason I 

 hung around the depot was to get the first 

 dive into the uniforms when they came. Of 

 course he knew different. He knew it was be- 

 cause the musical strain ran so strong in our 

 family, but the town in general was about 

 ready to accuse me of crowding, so he said, 

 "You go now out in the hills and I'll let you 



