96 WHIP AND SPUR. 



of the locality plastered all our chinks "to keep 

 the wind away." I have seen more pretentious 

 houses and more costly, but never one in which 

 three chosen spirits — I had, in a happy moment, 

 selected Voisin and the Hun for my staff — got 

 more that is worth the getting out of the sim- 

 ple and virtuous life of a cavalry headquarters. 

 We were at peace with all the world (Forrest 

 was in Mississippi), our pay was regular, our 

 rations were ample, — and Asboth had been 

 ordered to Pensacola. 



Old A. J., his successor, — every inch a sol- 

 dier, and a good fellow to the very core, — used 

 sometimes to roll up his camp mattress and run 

 down from Columbus for an inspection. Those 

 are marked days in our memories. He was a 

 lynx in the field, and wry buttoning roused him 

 to articulate wrath; but he unbuckled his sabre 

 at the door, and brought only geniality w r ithin, — 

 a mellow geniality that warmed to the influences 

 of our modest hospitality, and lasted far into 

 the night ; and then, when the simple and in- 

 offensive game was over, and its scores were set- 



