Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/358

WAR stopped his prancing and drew long breaths and snorted now and then, as if there was a battle near.

As we went on down the road, nearer and nearer to Excelsior, it seemed as if all the rebels of the earlier part of the war had disappeared and all were now Union. For the road became lined with people who wouldn't let us through till they had filled up our haversacks, canteens and bellies—with flowers in our buttonholes and hands. Why, they brought hot coffee in tubs! There were bushel baskets of fresh loaves! And, if you've never been a soldier you don't know what the smell of fresh bread and coffee is! Whisky was plenty, too, and cigars, and even clothes! Why, any man in a blue uniform had only to ask for what he wanted to get it. The sentiment was all for the Union now. Jon tried to keep them moving. But I begged to let 'em have one good time in their lives.

"If there's going to be a fight to-morrow, 342