At About Midnight, A Sort Of Dewy Coolness Would Come Down From
The Sky, And We Could Then Sleep A
Little; but the sun rose
incredibly early in that southern country, and by the crack of
dawn sheeted figures were
To be seen darting back into the
quarters, to try for another nap. The nap rarely came to any of
us, for the heat of the houses never passed off, day or night, at
that season. After an early breakfast, the long day began again.
The question of what to eat came to be a serious one. We
experimented with all sorts of tinned foods, and tried to produce
some variety from them, but it was all rather tiresome. We almost
dreaded the visits of the Paymaster and the Inspector at that
season, as we never had anything in the house to give them.
One hot night, at about ten o'clock, we heard the rattle of
wheels, and an ambulance drew up at our door. Out jumped Colonel
Biddle, Inspector General, from Fort Whipple. "What shall I give
him to eat, poor hungry man?" I thought. I looked in the
wire-covered safe, which hung outside the kitchen, and discovered
half a beefsteak-pie. The gallant Colonel declared that if there
was one thing above all others that he liked, it was cold
beefsteak-pie. Lieutenant Thomas of the Fifth Cavalry echoed his
sentiments, and with a bottle of Cocomonga, which was always kept
cooling somewhere, they had a merry supper.
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