WETTSTEIN. 79 



Eager men, too, whose horses were out of trim, 

 had to be discarded, and the whole detail to be 

 thoroughly overhauled. But the jovial anticipa- 

 tion of seeing Batesville once more — a New 

 England village planted on a charming hillside 

 in Arkansas, where we had sojourned with Cur- 

 tis the summer before, and where we all had the 

 pleasant acquaintance that even an enemy makes 

 in a town from which the native men have long 

 been gone, and only the women remain — made 

 the work of preparation go smoothly, and long 

 before dawn Wettstein's bugle summoned the de- 

 tails from the several camps. There was a ring- 

 ing joyousness in his call, that spoke of the cosey, 

 roaring fire of a certain Batesville kitchen to 

 which his bright face and his well-filled haver- 

 sack had long ago made him welcome, and pro- 

 spective feasting gave an added trill to his blast. 

 The little detachments trotted gayly into line, 

 officers were assigned for special duty, temporary 

 divisions were told off, and a working^ organiza- 

 tion was soon completed. Before the sun was 

 up, such a Ra, t't'ta, t't'ta, t't'ta ! as South 



