Jack, to whom the manual was a very sacred thing, broke into fierce ridicule of the commander, declaring that he was better fitted for sutler than colonel.  When the savage speech was reported to headquarters that young fellow’s prospects for the straps—­never the best—­were by no means improved.  The review brought bitter disappointment to the regiment.  The inspector-general, who was present, informed the colonel that no more than a thousand men could be accepted in one body; that five hundred of the Caribees would have to be divided among other troops in the State.  The order aroused wild excitement.  Half the men looked upon the edict as a scheme to give the politicians more places for their feudatories.  Indeed, though that was not the origin of the order, that was the use made of it.  Some of the junior officers, who disliked Oswald and distrusted his capacity to command, drew out very willingly, and of course carried many of their men with them.

But in the end the matter had to be decided by lot.  Now this chance threw Wesley Boone out, and there was great rejoicing in the Acredale group, who hoped that this stroke of luck would make place for their favorite, Jack Sprague.  But, to everybody’s astonishment, a day or two after the event, Wesley resumed his place in Company K, and gave out that it was by order of the Governor.  Jack was urged by the major of the regiment, who had gone with the five hundred, to cast his fortunes with the new body, promising a speedy lieutenancy.  But Jack would not desert the Caribees.  All of Company K, and many in the others, had enlisted on his word, and he could not in honor leave them.  The opposition journals had from the first denounced the division of the Caribees as a trick of the partisans, and, sure enough, the men were given to understand that there would be no move to Washington until after the election, then pending.  This was a municipal contest, and the Administration party made good use of the incipient soldiery to obtain a majority in the town.

Promotion was quite openly held out as a reward for those who could influence most votes for the Administration candidates.  At night the various companies were sent into the city to take part in the political propaganda; to march in processions or occupy conspicuous places at the party meetings.  The private soldiers were almost to a man Democrats, but the chance to escape the long and irksome evenings of the camp and join the frolic and adventure of the street made most of them willing enough to play the part of claque or figurantes.  Jack, of course, refused to take part in these scenic rallies, making known his sentiments in vehement disdain.  He detested Oswald, who had quit his party, not on a question of principle, but merely for place, and Jack did not spare him in his satirical allusions to the new uses invented for the military.