human
What're you doin' up, Pete? Lay down and go to sleep.
gpt
Say, Corpril, the Orderly said we wuz goin' to fight a whole passel of rebel cavalry, didn't he?
human
Um-hum!
gpt
Them's them awful kind o' rebels, ain't they--the John Morgan kind--that ride big horses that snort fire, and they have long swords, with which they chop men's heads off?
human
A lot o' yellin', gallopin' riff-raff, said Shorty, with the usual contempt of an infantryman for cavalry.
gpt
Ain't worth the fodder their bosses eat.
human
Ain't they terribler than any other kind o' rebels?
gpt
Naah, said Shorty, sharply.
human
Go to sleep, Pete, and don't bother me with no more questions. I'm writin' a letter.
gpt
I was gladder than I kin tell you to git yore letter. You do write the best letters of any woman in the whole world.
human
What do you do when one o' them wild rebels comes cavorting and tearing toward you, on a big hoss, with a long sword, and yelling like a catamount?
gpt
Paste him with a bullet and settle him,
human
But s'pose he comes on you when your gun ain't loaded, and his sword is, or you've missed him, as I did that hog?
gpt
Put on your bayonet and prod his hoss in the breast, and then give him 18 inches o' cold steel. That'll settle him. Go and lay down, Pete, I tell you. Don't disturb me. Don't you see I'm writing?
human
How I wish you wood rite offener. Ide like to get a letter from you every--
gpt
Say, Corpril, broke in little Pete,
human
Who says? said Shorty savagely.
gpt
You little open-mouthed squab, are you lettin' them lyin', gassin, galoots back there fill you up with roorbacks about them triflin', howlin', gallopin', rebel cavalry? Go back there, and tell 'em that if I ketch another man breathin' a word to you about the rebel cavalry I'll come and mash his head as flat as a pancake. Don't you be scared about rebel cavalry. You're in much more danger o' bein' struck by lightnin' than of bein' hit by a rebel on hossback. Go off and go to sleep, now, and don't ask me no more questions.
human
Can't I ask you just one?
gpt
Yes, just one.
human
If we form a holler square agin cavalry will I be in the holler, or up on the banks?