"Git some commissary and pour into them gunboats!"
"Second relief's come, boys; we can all go home now."
"Grab a root!"
"Hep—hep—hep!"
"How'd ye leave Mary Ann?"
Si had never been under such a fire before. He stood it as long as he could, and 'then he stopped.
"Halt!" shouted a chorus of voices. "Shoulder—Arms!" "Order—Arms!"
By this time Si's wrath was at the boiling point. Casting around him a look of defiance, he exclaimed:
"You cowardly blaggards; I can jest lick any two of ye, an' I'll dare ye to come on. If the 200th Ind. was here we'd clean out the hull pack of ye quicker'n ye can say scat!"
This is where Si made a mistake. He ought to have kept right on and said nothing. But Si had to find out all these things by experience, as the rest of the boys did.