A couple years ago I visited Samuel Clemens home town of Hannibal, MO. Among other things my wife and I went on a "Mark Twain" tour. When the tour guide got to the part about Clemons leaving the Marion Rangers and heading west, I said, tongue in cheek: "That sounds a lot like deserting to me." The tour guide replied quickly and with a smile: "We prefer to call it skedaddling".