About two o'clock
We 've got to stop her this time -- and I reckon we will . '' The girl stirred the soup , salted it , peppered it , lifted the pewter spoon and tasted it . Presently she called for the peas . About two o'clock that afternoon a row of half-famished Confederate cavalrymen sat devouring the best dinner they had eaten in months . There was potato soup , there was johnnycake , smoking hot coffee , crisp slices of fragrant bacon , an egg apiece , and a vegetable stew . Trooper after trooper licked fingers , spoon , and pannikin , loosening leather belts with gratified sighs ; the pickets came cantering in when the relief , stuffed to repletion , took their places , carbine on thigh . Flushed from the heat of the stove , arms still bared , the young hostess sat at table with the officer in command , and watched him in sympathy as he ate .