"I shouldn't want you stationed at my gun in action." "Why not ?" inquired Frank.
"Why, because you can't tell the difference between a mule and a secesh." Frank made no reply to this, for, although he was very much relieved to find that it was a mule, and not a man, that he had killed, he was a good deal mortified at first, for he expected to be made the laughing-stock of his companions.

But he consoled himself with the thought that he was not to blame.

The corporal had said that he had seen guerrillas in the woods, and he had, as in duty bound, done his best to drive them away; besides, he would not have fired his gun had he not been ordered to do so.
"It's no matter," said Simpson, who noticed that Frank looked a little crest-fallen; "It was the corporal's fault." "I know it," said Frank.

"But that's poor consolation.

I killed the mule, and shall probably be laughed at for it." "What's the odds ?" asked Simpson.