I want t' say that our Old Man, whatever his faults was,--an' I guess he had a-plenty,--he was game.

He was a fighter.

He said, 'Come ahead,' every time: he never said, 'Go ahead,' An' if all th' boys layin' out there on th' prairie in their graves c'd tell, I'm bettin' my six-shooter ag'in' what you all know about th' Rooshian langwidge that they'd say as how th' Old Man died with a sword in one hand an' a gun in th' other, a-lookin' right into th' sun.
"Well, we made a wide circle--a detower--an' come up ag'in 'way behind th' village, an' right there th' Old Man made his great mistake.

I ain't blamin' him none, but it sure shows how a big man c'n lose his head just by bein' crazy mad an' wantin' t' fight.

Even th' rookies, what had seen a lot o' service, knowed that he was makin' himself liable--an' him a general--t' be called up on a drumhead court-martial.
"There he was, a thousand miles from anywhere, dividin' his force in th' face of a superior enemy.