introduction to "one who sticketh closer than a brother."
"hello si; goin' for a soljer, ain't ye?"
"you bet!"
"wall, you'd better b'lieve its great fun; it's jest a picnic all the time! but, say, si, let's see yer finger-nails!"
"i'd like ter know what finger-nails 's got to do with soljerin'!" said si. "the 'cruitin' ossifer 'n' the man 't keeps the doctor shop made me shuck myself, 'n' then they 'xamined my teeth, 'n' thumped me in the ribs, 'n' rubbed down my legs, 'n' looked at my hoofs, same 's if 'i'd bin a hoss they wuz buyin', but they didn't say nothin' 'bout my finger-nails."
"you jest do 's i tell ye; let 'em grow, 'n' keep 'em right sharp. ye'll find plenty o' use fer 'em arter a while, 'n' 'twont be long, nuther. i know what i'm talkin' 'bout; i've been thar!"
this conversation took place a day or two before si bade farewell to his mother and sister marier and pretty annabel and left the peaceful precincts of posey county to march away with the 200th ind. for that awful place vaguely designated as "the front!" he had promptly responded to the call, and his name was near the top of the list of company q.
'let yer nails grow; ye'll need 'em' 097
si already had his blue clothes on. by enlisting early he had a good pick of the various garments, and so got a suit that fitted his form—which was plump as an apple-dumpling tolerably well. it was left for the tail-enders of the company to draw trousers that were six inches too long or too short, and blouses that either wouldn't reach around, and left yawning chasms in front, or were so large that they looked as if they were hung on bean-poles.
of course, si couldn't be expected to do any more plodding farm work, now that he had "jined" the army. while the company was filling up he spent most of his time on dress parade in the village near by, eliciting admiring smiles from all the girls, and an object of the profoundest awe and wonder to tha small boys.
one day si was sitting on the sugar-barrel in the corner grocery, gnawing a "blind robin," and telling how he thought the war wouldn't last long after the 200th ind. got down there and took a hand and got fairly interested in the game; they would wind it up in short meter. such ardent emotions always seethed and bubbled in the swelling breasts of the new troops when they came down to show the veterans just how to do it.
one of the town boys who had been a year in the service, had got a bullet through his arm in a skirmish, and was at home on furlough, came into the store, and then took place the dialog between him and si that opens this chapter.
si wondered a good deal what the veteran meant about the finger-nails. he did not even know that there existed in any nature a certain active and industrious insect which, before he had been in the army a great while, would cause his heart to overflow with gratitude to a beneficent providence for providing him with nails on his fingers.
when the 200th left indiana all the boys had, of course, brand-new outfits right from uncle sam's great one-price clothing house. their garments were nice and clean, their faces well washed, and their hair yet showed marks of the comb. at louisville they stuck up their noses, with a lofty consciousness of superiority, at the sight of buell's tanned and ragged tramps, who had just come up on the gallop from tennessee and northern alabama.
'say, cap, what kind o' bug is this?' 099
if the new hoosier regiment had been quartered for a while in long-used barracks, or had pitched its tents in an old camp, si would very soon have learned, in the school of experience, the delightful uses of finger-nails. but the 200th stayed only a single night in louisville and then joined the procession that started on the chase after the rebel army. it generally camped on new ground, and under these circumstances the insect to which allusion has been made did not begin its work of devastation with that suddenness that usually marked its attack upon soldiers entering the field. but he never failed to "git there" sooner or later, and it was more frequently sooner than later.
one afternoon, when a few days out on this march, a regiment of wisconsin veterans bivouacked next to the 200th ind. the strange antics as they threw off their accouterments attracted si's attention.
"look a' thar," he said to shorty. "what 'n name of all the prophets 's them fellers up to?"
"seems like they was scratchin' theirselves!"
"i s'pose that's on account of the dust 'n' sweat," said si.
"it's a mighty sight worse 'n that!" replied shorty, who knew more about these things than si did. "i reckon we'll all be doin' like they are 'fore long."
si whistled softly to himself as he watched the wisconsin boys. they were hitching and twisting their shoulders about, evidently enjoying the friction of the clothing upon their skins. there was a general employment of fingers, and often one would be seen getting come other fellow to scratch his back around where he couldn't reach himself. if everybody was too busy to do this for him he would back up to a tree and rub up and down against the bark.
life has few pleasures that can equal the sensations of delightful enjoyment produced in those days, when graybacks were plenty, by rubbing against a tree that nicely fitted the hollow of the back, after throwing off one's "traps" at the end of a day's march.
directly the wisconsin chaps began to scatter into the woods. si watched them as they got behind the trees and threw off their blouses and shirts. he thought at first that perhaps they were going in swimming, but there was no stream of water at hand large enough to justify this theory in explanation of their nudity. as each man set down, spread his nether garment over his knees and appeared to be intently engaged, with eyes and fingers. si's curiosity was very much excited.
"looks 's if they wuz all mendin' up their shirts and sewin' on buttons," said si, "guess it's part o' their regular drill, ain't it, shorty?"
shorty laughed at si's ignorant simplicity. he knew what those veterans were doing, and he knew that si would have to come to it, but he didn't want to shock his tender sensibilities by telling him of it.
"them fellers ain't sewin' on no buttons. si," he replied; "they're skirmishin'."
"skirmishin'!" exclaimed si, opening his eyes very wide. "i haint seen any signs o' rebs 'round here, 'n' there aint any shootin' goin' on, 'nless i've lost my hearin'. durned if 't aint the funniest skirmishin' i ever hearn tell of!"
"now, don't ax me nuthin' more 'bout it, si," said shorty. "all i'm goin' to tell ye is that the longer ye live the more ye'll find things out. let's flax 'round 'n' git supper!"
a little while after, as si was squatting on the ground holding the frying-pan over the fire, he saw a strange insect vaguely wandering about on the sleeve of his blouse. it seemed to be looking for something, and si became interested as he watched it traveling up and down his arm. he had never seen one like it before, and he thought he would like to know what it was. he would have asked shorty, but his comrade had gone to the spring for water. casting his eye around he saw the captain, who chanced to be sauntering through the camp.
the captain of co. q had been the principal of a seminary in posey county, and was looked upon with awe by the simple folk as a man who knew about all that was worth knowing. si thought he might be able to tell him all about the harmless's-looking little stranger.
so he put down his frying-pan and stepped up to the captain, holding out his arm and keeping his eye on the insect so that he shouldn't get away.
"good evenin', cap.," said si, touching his hat, and addressing him with that familiar disregard of official dignity that characterised the average volunteer, who generally felt that he was just as good as anybody who wore shoulder straps.
"good evening, klegg," said the captain, returning the salute.
"say, cap, you've been ter collidge 'n' got filled up with book-larnin'; p'raps ye kin tell me what kind o' bug this is. i'm jest a little bit curious to know."
and si pointed to the object of his inquiry that was leisurely creeping toward a hole in the elbow of his outer garment.
"well, josiah," said the captain, after a brief inspection, "i presume i don't know quite as much as some people think i do; but i guess i can tell you something about that insect. i never had any of them myself, but i've read of them."
"never had 'em himself," thought si. "what 'n the world does ha mean?" and si's big eyes opened with wonder and fear at the thought that whatever it was he had "got 'em."
"i suppose," continued the captain, "you would like to know the scientific name?"
"i reck'n that'll do 's well 's any."
"well, sir, that is a pediculus. that's a latin word, but it's his name."
"purty big name fer such a leetle bug, ain't it, perfessor?" observed si. "name's big enough for an el'fant er a 'potamus."
'skirmishing' 103
"it may seem so, klegg; but when you get intimately acquainted with him i think you will find that his name isn't any too large for him. there is a good deal more of him than you think."
the young soldier's eyes opened still wider.
"i was going on to tell you," continued the captain, "that there are several kinds of pediculi—we don't say pediculuses. there is the pediculus capitis—latin again—but it means the kind that lives on the head. i presume when you were a little shaver your mother now and then harrowed your head with a fine-tooth comb?"
"ya-as" said si; "she almost took the hide off sometimes, an' made me yell like an injun."
"now, klegg, i don't wish to cause you unnecessary alarm, but i will say that the head insect isn't a circumstance to this one on your arm. as you would express it, perhaps, he can't hold a candle to him. this fellow is the pediculus corporis!"
"i s'pose that means they eats up corporals!" said si.
"i do not think the pediculus corporis confines himself exclusively to corporals, as his name might indicate," said the captain, laughing at si's literal translation and his personal application of the word. "he no doubt likes a juicy and succulent corporal, but i don't believe he is any respecter of persons. that's my opinion, from what i've heard about him. it is likely that i 'will be able to speak more definitely, from experience, after a while. corporis means that he is the kind that pastures on the human body. but there's one thing more about this fellow, some call him pediculus vestimenti; that is because he lives around in the clothing."
"but we don't wear no vests," said si, taking a practical view of this new word; "nothin' but blouses, 'n' pants, 'n' shirts."
"you are too literal, klegg. that word means any kind of clothes. but i guess i've told you as much about him as you care to know at present. if you want any more information, after two or three weeks, come and see me again. i think by that time you will not find it necessary to ask any more questions."
si went back to his cooking, with the pediculus still on his arm. he wanted to show it to shorty. the captain's profound explanation, with its large words, was a little too much for si. he did not yet clearly comprehend the matter, and as he walked thoughtfully to where shorty was "bilin'" the coffee he was trying to get through his head what it all meant.
"hello, si," said shorty; "whar ye bin? what d'ye mean, goin' off 'n' leavin' yer sowbelly half done?"
"sh-h!" replied si. "ye needn't git yer back up about it. bin talkin' to the cap'n. shorty, look at that 'ere bug!"
and si pointed to the object of the captain's lecture on natural history that was still creeping on his arm. shorty slapped his thigh and burst into a loud laugh.
"was that what ye went to see the cap'n 'bout?" he asked as soon as he could speak.
"why—ya-as," replied si, somewhat surprised at shorty's unseemly levity. "i saw that thing crawlin' round, 'n' i was a-wonderin' what it was, fer i never seen one afore. i knowed cap was a scolard, 'n' a perfesser, 'n' all that 'n' i 'lowed he c'd tell me all about it. so i went 'n' axed him."
"what'd he tell ye?"
"he told me lots o' big, heathenish words, 'n' said this bug was a ridiculous, or suthin' like that."
"'diculus be blowed!" said shorty, "the ole man was a'stuffin' ye. i'll tell ye what that is, si," he added solemnly, "that's a grayback!"
"a grayback!" said si. "i've hearn 'em call the johnnies graybacks, but i didn't know 's there was any other kind."
"i reck'n 'twont be long, now, till yer catches on ter the meanin' ol what a grayback is. ye'll know all 'bout it purty sudden. this ain't the first one i ever seen."
si was impressed, as he had often been before, by shorty's superior wisdom and experience.
"see here. si," shorty continued, as his eye suddenly lighted up with a brilliant thought, "i guess i kin make ye understand what a grayback is. what d'ye call that coat ye've got on?"
"why, that's a fool question; it's a blouse, of course!"
"jesso!" said shorty. "now, knock off the fust letter o' that word, 'n' see what ye got left!"
si looked at shorty as if he thought his conundrums were an indication of approaching idiocy. then he said, half to himself:
"let's see! blouse—blouse—take off the 'b' 'n' she spells l-o-u-s-e, louse! great scott, shorty, is that a louse?"
"that's jest the size of it. si. ye'll have millions of 'em 'fore the war's over 'f they don't hurry up the cakes."
si looked as if he would like to dig a hole in the ground, get into it, and have shorty cover him up.
"why didn't the cap'n tell me it was that? he said suthin' about ridiculus corporalis, and i thought he was makin' fun o' me. he said these bugs liked to eat fat corporals.'
"i reck'n that's so," replied shorty; "but they likes other people jest as well—even a skinny feller like me. they lunches off'n privits, 'n' corp'rils, 'n' kurnals, 'n' gin'rals, all the same. they ain't satisfied with three square meals a day, nuther; they jest eats right along all the time 'tween regular meals. they allus gits hungry in the night, too, and chaws a feller up while he sleeps. they don't give ye no show at all. i rayther think the graybacks likes the ossifers best if they could have their ch'ice, 'cause they's fatter 'n the privits; they gits better grub."
si fairly turned pale as he contemplated the picture so graphically portrayed by shorty. the latter's explanation was far more effectual in letting the light in upon si's mind than the scientific disquisition of the "perfesser." he had now a pretty clear idea of what a "grayback" was. whatever he lacked to make his knowledge complete was soon supplied in the regular way. but si was deeply grieved and shocked at what shorty had told him. it was some minutes before he said anything more.
"shorty," he said, with a sadness in his tone that would almost have moved a mule to tears, "who'd a-thought rd ever git as low down 's this, to have them all-fired graybacks, 's ye call 'em, crawlin' over me. how'd mother feel if she knew about 'em. she wouldn't sleep a wink fer a month!"
"ye'll have to come to it. si. all the soljers does, from the major-gin'rals down to the tail-end of the mule-whackers. ye mind them 'sconsin chaps we was lookin' at a little bit ago?"
"yes," said si.
"well, graybacks was what ailed 'em. the fellers with their shirts on their knees was killin' 'em off. that's what they calls 'skirmishin'. there's other kinds o' skirmishing besides fitin' rebels! ye'd better git rid of that one on yer arm, if he hasn't got inside already; then there'll be one less of 'em."
si found him after a short search, and proposed to get a chip, carry him to the fire and throw him in.
"naw!" said shorty in disgust, "that's no way. lemme show yer how!"
'naw! lemme show ye how!' 107
shorty placed one thumb-nail on each side of the insect. there was a quick pressure, a snap like the crack of a percussion cap, and all was over.
si shuddered, and wondered if he could ever engage in such a work of slaughter.
"d'ye s'pose," he said to shorty, "that there's any more of 'em on me?" and he began to hitch his shoulders about, and to feel a desire to put his fingers to active use.
"shouldn't wonder," replied shorty. "mebbe i've got 'em, to. let's go out'n do a little skirmishin' ourselves."
"we'd better go off a good ways," said si, "so's the boys won't see us."
"you're too nice and pertickler for a soljer. si. they'll all be doin' it, even the cap'n himself, by termorrer or nex' day."
they went out back of the camp, where si insisted on getting behind the largest tree he could find. then they sat down and engaged in that exciting chase of the pediculus up and down the seams of their garments, so familiar to all who wore either the blue or the gray. thousands of nice young men who are now preachers and doctors and lawyers and statesmen, felt just as bad about it at first as si did.
"shorty," said si, as they slowly walked back to eat their supper, which had been neglected in the excitement of the hour, "before co. q left posey county to jine the rigiment a feller 't was home on furlow told me ter let my finger-nails grow long 'n' sharp. he said i'd need 'em. i didn't know what he meant then, but i b'lieve i do now."
