"Who's in command here?"
"General Bonham, of South Carolina."
"How many men, about?"
"Well, there's right smart on to a million, I reckon. They had to cut the trees down, yonder, to get room for 'em.".
The man's eyes twinkled as he gave this precise approximation; but Barney, who had brought the humorist in, whispered to the captain to let him have a moment's speech with the man before he was sent away. The captain nodded, and Barney said innocently:
"Had anything to eat to-day?"
"Not a mouthful. The trains were all taken up with soldiers coming from
Richmond."
"Have a bit of beef—and here's a cracker or two. You can have some coffee if the guards will let you make it."
"Old Longstreet himself would envy me now," the rebel cried, his mouth stuffed with the cold meat and hard-tack, almost as fresh and crisp as soda-crackers, for the contractors had not yet learned the trick of making them out of sawdust, white sand, and other inexpensive substitutes for flour.
"Longstreet?" Barney said, carelessly.