human
Boys, there's the shebang or palace of the big Injun who used to be king of all these mountains and valleys, said Si, stopping the squad to give them a much needed rest.
gpt
He run this whole country, and had Injuns to burn, though he generally preferred to burn them that didn't belong to his church.
human
Roasted his neighbors instid o' his friends in a heathen sort of a way,
gpt
What was his name?
human
John Ross.
gpt
Humph, not much of a name, said Monty in a disappointed tone, for he had been an assiduous reader of dime novels.
human
Deed he was, answered Si.
gpt
He and his fathers before him run' this whole neck o' woods accordin' to the big Injun taste, and give the Army o' the United States all they wanted to do. Used to knock all the other Injuns around here about like ten-pins. The Rosses were bosses from the word go.
human
Don't sound right, though, said Monty regretfully.
gpt
And such a shack as that don't look like the wigwam of a great chief. 'Tain't any different from the hired men's houses on the farms in Injianny.
human
Well, all the same, it's got to go for the scene of a cord o' dime novels, said Shorty.
gpt
We've brung in civilization and modern improvements and killed more men around here in a hour o' working time than the ignorant, screechin' Injuns killed since the flood.
human
Do them rijimints look like the 200th Injianny?
gpt
Them, snorted Shorty contemptuously.
human
Them's only recruits that ain't got licked into shape yet. When you see the 200th Injianny you'll see a rijimint, I tell you. Best one in the army. You ought to be mighty proud you got a chanst to git into sich a rijimint.
gpt
We are; we are, the boys assured him.
human
But we're awful anxious to see jest what it's like.
gpt
Well, you'll see in a little while the boss lot o' boys. Every one of 'em fightin' cocks, thoroughbred--not a dunghill feather or strain in the lot. Weeded 'em all out long ago. All straight-cut gentlemen. They'll welcome you like brothers and skin you out of every cent o' your bounty, if you play cards with 'em. They're a dandy crowd when it comes to fingerin' the pasteboards. They'll be regler fathers to you, but you don't want to play no cards with 'em.
human
I thought you said they wuz all gentlemen and would be regler brothers to us,
gpt
So they will--so they will. But your brother's the feller that you've got to watch clostest when he's settin' in front o' you with one little pair. He's the feller that's most likely to know all you know about the cards and what he knows besides. They've bin skinnin' one another so long that they'll be as anxious to git at your fresh young blood as a New Orleans skeeter is to sink into a man just from the North.
human
Didn't think they'd allow gambling in so good a regiment as the 200th Ind.,
gpt
Don't allow it. It's strictly prohibited.
human
But I thought that in the army you carried out orders, if you had to kill men.
gpt
Well, there's orders and orders, said Shorty, philosophically.
human
Most of 'em you obey to the last curl on the letter R, and do it with a jump. Some of 'em you obey only when you have to, and take your chances at improving the State o' Tennessee by buildin' roads and diggin' up stumps in the parade ground if you're ketched not mindin'. Of them kind is the orders agin gamblin'.
gpt
Shorty, stop talkin' to the boys about gamblin'. I won't have it, commanded Si.
human
Boys, you mustn't play cards on no account, especially with older men. It's strictly agin orders, besides which I'll break any o' your necks that I ketch at it. You must take care o' your money and send it home. Forward, march.