"Bring more coffee!"
"Yes, captain."
And away started the person addressed as Nettleton.
It will be necessary to give a brief description of this personage, as he is to play a conspicuous part in the following events. He was in height, about six feet. His neck was very long, his hair nearly white—not from age, but naturally so; his brows and eyelashes of the same color, his eyes were of a light green, his mouth large and gaping, his teeth extending like a battering ram, his form very lank and lean, his legs immensely long and thin, and very knock-kneed, and his feet—oh! ye gods,—such feet. They were about the shape of his own knapsack, and almost as large, and his legs seemed to join the feet exactly in the middle, extending as far to the rear as front. And when he walked, one would almost fancy that at every step he would fall to pieces. In fact, he looked unlike man or animal, and at first sight he might have been taken for a deformed idiot. But whoever supposed him as such, on a very short acquaintance would discover their mistake. He had been detached from his company as the captain's servant, was very much attached to him, and delighted in being called the "captain's body guard."
In a moment his voice was heard exclaiming:
"Here, ye darn lazy skunks, you; what for did you let this fire go out? Captain wants some more coffee, and now it's all cold, darn ye."
A burst of laughter followed this, as the adjutant remarked:
"Captain, you have a jewel in that fellow."
"Yes, but a rough one."
"A decided character, I wish you would transfer him to me."