Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/132

104 The protection of the railroad was recalled by one veteran, who told the following story:—

"It was bitterly cold when our crowd got down there. We were in something of a hollow, and when it rained the water formed little pools around the tents and froze over in no time. We had a small tent, and six of us used to crowd in it and we were better off than some others who didn't have any tents at all.

"Rations were scarce for two days, and when the supply train came in, how we did crowd around to get what was coming to us! I had been helping the commissary sergeant, and the boys used to growl at me morning, noon, and night because I couldn't get them what they wanted to eat. I couldn't exactly blame them, but it was rather rough on me, for I didn't have any more than they did.

"Captain McKinley wasn't with us all the time,—he had some staff duty to perform,—but one night when the boys were on picket duty he came down and told four of the fellows to keep a sharp eye on a certain barn not far away. We wondered