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Rh stomachs being empty, the spirits began to take hold of both belly and brains. I soon became very faint, but, as good luck would have it, my companion happened to have a part of a dried neat's tongue, which he had plundered somewhere in his travels. We fell to work upon that and soon demolished it, which refreshed us much and enabled us to reach camp without suffering shipwreck. There was nothing to be had at camp but a little rest and that was all we asked. In the morning it was necessary to have a pass from the commander of the regiment, to enable us to pass the guards on our return to our quarters in the country. My Captain gave me one, and then it must be countersigned by the Colonel. When I entered the Colonel's hut,—"Where have you been" (calling me by name) "this winter," said he, "why, you are as fat as a pig." I told him I had been foraging in the country. "I think," said he, "you have taken care of yourself; I believe we must keep you here and send another man in your stead, that he may recruit himself a little." I told him that I was sent to camp on particular business and with strict orders to return, and that no one else could do so well. Finally, he signed my pass, and I soon hunted up the other man when we left the camp in as great a hurry as though the plague had been there.

But the time at length came when we were obliged to go to camp for good and all, whether we chose it or not. An order from head-quarters required all stationed parties and guards to be relieved, that all who had not had the small pox might have an opportunity to have it before the warm weather came on. Accordingly, about the last of April we were relieved by a party of southern troops. The Commissary, who was a native of Connecticut, although at the commencement of the war he resided in Philadelphia, told us that he was sorry we were going away, for, said he, "I do not much like these men with one eye, (alluding to their practice of gouging,) I am acquainted with you, and if any men are wanted here I should prefer those from my own section of the country to entire strangers." Although we would have very willingly obliged him with our company, yet it could not be so, we must go to camp at all events. We accordingly marched off and arrived at camp the next day,