I rose. "I must be going," said I, and walked off down the street. The act, under the circumstances, did not seem to me entirely natural, but it was the best I could do; these men, I hoped, would merely think me an oddity.
In the next street I stopped at the brightest fire that I saw.
"This is not the Seventh, is it?" I asked.
"No," said one; "the Seventh is over there," pointing.
"What regiment is this?"
"Our'n," said he.
"Oh, don't be giving me any of your tomfoolery," said I.
"This is the Thirty-third," said another.
I went back toward the Seventh, passed beyond it, and approached another group. A man of this group rose and sauntered away toward the left. I followed him. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Hello, Jim! where are you going?"
He turned and said, "Hello yourself, if you want anybody to hello; but my name's not Jim."