While the women, as a rule, gave me the most trouble, there were a good many hard customers among the men, with whom it was not easy to have pleasant dealings. Merely obstreperous fellows, however, I could generally manage by letting them see that I was dead in earnest; but there were plenty of officers who were willing to violate orders, and then put the blame, in case there should be any trouble, on my shoulders, and who took it as a personal grievance that I would not let them travel without the proper papers. One malicious scoundrel, because I would not permit him to travel without a pass, trumped up a most scandalous false charge against me, to General Lucius M. Polk, who undertook to look into the matter himself.
Following the Path of Duty.
I did not know or suspect of anything being wrong; and had I been other than resolutely bent upon doing my whole duty, at all hazards, I should probably have fallen into the trap so cunningly laid for me on this occasion. I had seen enough of military life, however, to know that the only safe course for a soldier is to obey orders, no matter who suffers; and, as my orders were to pass no one unprovided with the right kind of papers, I was resolved to carry them out to the letter, under all circumstances, without regard to consequences.
General Polk, bent upon knowing how I was making out as military conductor, and whether I was entirely trustworthy, it having been reported to him, by the scamp referred to, that I was not, stepped aboard the train with a ten days' leave of absence in his pocket. He probably thought that I was as good as detected in neglecting my duty, but he found out his mistake before he got through; and if he had not taken the precaution to provide himself with the proper official documents before starting, the ending of the adventure would have been anything but a merry one for him, for I should certainly have arrested him.
A Game of Bluff.
On entering the car, I sang out, as usual, "Show your passes, gentlemen." The general turned his head, and commenced looking out of the window rather intently, as travellers not provided with passes were very much in the habit of doing. When I reached
