yards in rear of the guard-house, which enabled him to see several
hundred yards back of the ridge, and yet not show himself prominently
to an approaching foe.

The volunteers at last marched away, and I made a casual examination
of the cabins. I noticed that the inner surface of the log walls had
been hewn smooth, and the names, company, and regiment of the former
occupants had been carved with knives or burned in with hot pokers
along the upper courses. Each had a wide, open, stone fireplace and
chimney set in one corner, after the Mexican fashion.

No uniform design had been observed in the construction of the cabins,
the occupants having followed their own ideas of what would prove
comfortable. Height, width, and depth were variable, but their fronts
were in perfect alignment.

The hut which had been occupied by the officers and which fell to the
boys and myself was at the right of the line, next the storehouse, a
little removed from the others. It was twenty by twenty feet,
partitioned on one side into two alcoves in which were rude bedsteads,
one of which was assigned to the boys and one to myself. A door opened
on the south side, and a window, the only glass one in camp, looked
out upon the parade. Floors in all the cabins were of earth, raised a
foot higher than the outside surface of the ground, smoothed with a
trowel and carpeted with blankets, until later, when skins of wild
animals took their place. Doors were made of puncheons, swung on
wooden hinges and fastened with wooden latches operated by
latch-strings.

Our first day in camp was principally spent in making ourselves