FOR more than an hour Midshipman Darrin and Sergeant Overton had been away from the rest of the party, seeking tracks or other signs of wild game.
"Sergeant," spoke Midshipman Darrin, at last, "I hope you won't be offended by the opinion I have formed of you."
"What is that, sir?" asked Hal Overton.
"I've been watching you a bit, and I've come to the conclusion that you're an uncommonly fine and keen soldier."
"Not much chance in that for offense, sir," laughed the boyish sergeant.
"But you're of the Army," said Mr. Darrin, "and I don't know whether you believe that a sailor is a judge of a soldier."
"Quite naturally, sir," laughed Hal, "I am wholly willing to believe in the value of your judgment. And I have another reason."
"What is that, Sergeant!"
"Why, sir, you're a very particular friend of Lieutenant Prescott's, and we men of B company are ready to believe in any one whom Lieutenant Prescott likes."
"You have another very fine fellow for an officer in your regiment," Mr. Darrin went on. "And that is Greg Holmes—pardon me, Lieutenant Holmes. He's as fine, in every way, as Mr. Prescott himself."
"Yes, sir. Lieutenant Holmes is as popular with the men as any officer in the regiment can be."
"You see," smiled Mr. Darrin reminiscently, "when Dalzell, Prescott, Holmes and myself were youngsters—or smaller youngsters than we are now—we were all chums together in the same High School."
Then, finding a ready and appreciative listener Midshipman Darrin plunged into the recounting of many of the former adventures of that famous group of schoolboys once known as Dick & Co., whose doings were fully set forth in the "High School Boys' Series."
Sergeant Hal heard, also, of Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, the two remaining members of Dick & Co., whose adventures, after leaving school, are now being set forth in the "Young Engineers' Series."
But Overton did not hear about the sweethearts of these former High School chums. Sweethearts were too sacred to be discussed with comparative strangers.
"Now, Prescott informs me that you twoyoung sergeants intend to work for commissions from the ranks," said Mr. Darrin, after a while.
"Yes, sir; that was our idea in entering the service."
"I hope, heartily, Sergeant Overton, that both you and your friend win out with your ambitions."
"Thank you, sir."
"I have a very particular reason for wishing you that luck," smiled Midshipman Darrin, "and you are at liberty, Sergeant, to ask me what it is."
"Very good, sir."
"I want to see both yourself and Sergeant Terry succeed because I don't believe the service can afford to be without two such unusually good officers as you and Sergeant Terry would make."
Hal flushed, tried to utter his thanks, and found himself confused, for Midshipman Darrin, who was taller, was gazing down at him with a very friendly look in his eyes.
"My hand has been itching for something all day," the young Naval officer went on. "Sergeant, I want to shake hands with you, if you don't mind."
Their hands met in hearty clasp.
"I shall have Prescott keep me posted regardingyou two young men," went on Dave Darrin. "And, when you two are officers, if you are ever near any craft on which I'm on duty I want you to promise me that you'll come to visit me."
"You know how much delight that would give both Sergeant Terry and myself, sir."
"Attention—to the job!" suddenly muttered Dave Darrin, in a low voice.
Their long tramp had taken them alongside a low ledge.
As Darrin spoke in that low voice he raised his hunting rifle quickly, bringing the butt to his shoulder with a jerk.
He fired—straight at a bear, not more than five feet over their heads and at a total distance of only about ten feet.
But in that same instant the big, brown brute moved, and the bullet intended for his heart merely clipped away a bit of hair at the bottom of the animal's belly.
Bruin's first move had been to get away from danger, but now, at the shot, he became very much angered.
A second, swift leap, and the big animal jumped downward, landing on Midshipman Darrin's chest and bearing him to the earth.
"Lie still, sir!" gasped Sergeant Hal.
"Lie Still, Sir!" Gasped Sergeant Hal."Lie Still, Sir!" Gasped Sergeant Hal.
There was but a single cartridge in Overton'srifle. He clicked the bolt, then aimed all in a flash.
In his agitation Hal succeeded only in grazing the top of the animal's back.
Butbruin, crouched on Darrin's body, raised his head and turned it snarlingly toward Hal.
Everything that was to be done must be done in a moment. Fortunately, the young sergeant wore his bayonet in scabbard at his belt.
Like a flash Sergeant Overton fixed that bayonet to the muzzle of his rifle, bruin regarding him with a hostile glitter in his eyes, while Midshipman Darrin, whose rifle had been hurled just out of his reach, had the presence of mind to lie utterly still.
"Now, we'll see what you'll do, bruin!" quivered Hal, making a swift lunge for the animal's side.
What bruin did was to leap away from the midshipman's prostrate body. Despite the bear's lumbering body and shambling gait he can be spry enough at need.
Hal's thrust, therefore, failed to land directly, but merely ripped along the animal's coat.
The momentum that followed the miss caused Sergeant Hal Overton to fall forward to his knees. And now the enraged bruin made straight for him.
There was time to do but one thing. SergeantHal made a lunge direct at the bear's eyes.
With that menace of cold steel before his eyes the bear dodged to one side, then rose to his hind feet.
Rising, Hal took his stand on the defensive, for now bruin was determined on a finish fight.
Straight at Bruin's heart lunged Hal, but it was a game at which two could play.
Bruin's massive left paw, backed by prodigious strength, swept the bayoneted rifle aside, fairly wrenching it from Overton's grasp.
So now the bear was ready, either for embrace or pursuit of this now helpless enemy.
Midshipman Dave Darrin, U. S. N., at the instant when he found the weight of the bulky animal removed from his body, had crawled noiselessly away for a few feet.
Now Darrin dropped to one knee, the rifle at ready. Aiming with the utmost coolness, the young Naval officer fired.
Straight and true went the bullet this time into Bruin's heart.
The big mass swayed, then fell. There was barely a gasp to signal the bear's end of life.
"Sergeant," remarked the midshipman coolly, "your conduct just now fully confirmed what I said about your being a valuable man for the Army."
"I probably wouldn't have been in the Army much longer, sir, if you hadn't got your rifle and fired just as you did," retorted the boyish sergeant.
"And I couldn't have reached my rifle if you hadn't shown the very unusual nerve to try to whip a bear in a bayonet charge."
"I know a good deal better, now, Mr. Darrin, how useless a bayonet attack is against a bear. Though Sergeant Terry and I once made a good haul of bear's meat with bayonets when at too close quarters with bears."
"You'll have to tell me about that as you go along," remarked the young Naval officer.
Noting the locality well, they left the bear where it had fallen, to be taken up a little later.
"Hello, sir. There are other shots from our party," cried Overton, as three rifle reports rang out not far away. "That seems to show, sir, that they're meeting with luck, too."
AFTER that, through the days to come, the luck seemed to boom.
At the end of four days young Sergeant Terry and his guard returned, having turned over all the prisoners to the sheriff of Blank County.
Noll had also wired the post at Fort Clowdry, and had received the post adjutant's answer that a guard would be sent to bring Private Hinkey back for trial on the charge of desertion.
"The sheriff knew all the prisoners at once, all except Hinkey," Sergeant Noll reported back to his chum and to Lieutenant Prescott. "The leader of the gang is a half-popular fellow with some classes here in the mountains. Despite the fact that he's a desperado, he is often surprisingly good-natured, and always game when he loses. His name is Griller—Butch Griller, he's called. His crew are called the Moccasin Gang, because Griller has always preferred that his men wear moccasins instead of shoes. Shoes may give out in the wilds, but moccasins can always be made whenever an antelope is killed."
"The Moccasin Gang?" repeated LieutenantPrescott. "Why, I've heard stories about that desperate crowd. But what were they doing around our camp?"
"Griller told me about that before we reached town," Sergeant Noll continued. "Griller and his men, it seems, were being pursued by the sheriff of the next county. He trailed them to a cabin where they had stopped and made such a complete surprise that Griller and his gang got away only by jumping through the windows without their arms. Then they traveled fast. When they found that there were soldiers here, the Moccasins hoped that they could get some of our arms and ammunition. Thus provided, they hadn't much doubt of being able to provide themselves with more fighting hardware. And they'd have gotten away, too, if it hadn't been that Butch Griller had promised Hinkey a chance for revenge on Sergeant Overton."
"But how did Hinkey come to be with them?" broke in Lieutenant Prescott.
"Griller told me about that, sir," Noll replied. "Griller said he was standing on the stoop of a house in Denver, near the ball grounds, at the time when Hinkey deserted and made his break to get away. Griller was in Denver, on the quiet, to get more men together. When he saw Hinkey running, he sized him up as a man just deserted, and felt that Hinkeywould be useful to him. So he called to Hinkey, shoved him inside the house, and then, when——"
"Say, but I remember that! And now I recall where I saw Griller before. He told me that Hinkey had rushed on and turned the next street corner below. That threw me off the track," muttered Sergeant Hal.
"Well, his new man Hinkey brought him no luck," laughed Lieutenant Prescott. "And the Moccasins won't do much more harm, unless they manage to break jail."
"I don't believe they'll get away from that sheriff, anyway, sir," remarked Sergeant Noll grimly.
Noll Terry and the members of his guard were in time to do some more hunting before the happy soldiers' holiday came to an end.
When the expedition set out on its return both of the big transport wagons carried all the wild game meat that could be packed into them, and officers' and enlisted men's messes at Fort Clowdry celebrated in joyous fashion.
Ex-Private Hinkey, the deserter, was soon tried by general court-martial, and sentenced to be dismissed from the service, to forfeit all pay and allowances and to serve two years at a military prison.
It was Lieutenant Prescott who gave one ofthe crowning sensations just toward the close of Hinkey's trial.
Just before the battalion had left Fort Clowdry to go to the military tournament at Denver, First Sergeant Gray had asked every soldier in B Company to turn in a slip on which was written the name and address of his nearest relative or friend.
As such data was already on file, the men had wondered not a little at the request, but they had complied. And now Lieutenant Prescott informed the members of the court that it had been a ruse of his.
These slips, together with the clumsily printed note that had accompanied the return of Private William Green's money, and also the envelope addressed to Green, which latter Hal had admitted as his writing—all, just before the start of the hunting trip, had been forwarded by Lieutenant Prescott to a famous writing expert in the east.
Word had finally come from the expert to the effect that the envelope had really been addressed by Sergeant Hal, as that young soldier admitted. The printed note to Green, however, had been fashioned, the expert stated positively, by the same man who had turned in the written name and address of the "nearest friend" of ex-Private Hinkey.
With this report the expert had sent a curiously drawn chart showing resemblances between Hinkey's admitted handwriting and the printed note to Green. There were also photographs, made with the aid of the microscope, showing pronounced similarities of little strokes and flourishes that were alike, both in Hinkey's admitted handwriting and in the turns given to some of the letters of the printed note.
Summing up all the evidence, the expert's report stated positively that Hinkey was the one who had fashioned the note to Green.
Finding that he could no longer deny his guilt, Hinkey was finally driven to confession before the court.
He had hated Sergeant (then Corporal) Overton with such an intensity, Hinkey confessed, that he had found himself willing to stop at nothing that would damage the young soldier in any way.
The envelope that Hal had addressed in his own handwriting, it now turned out, was one that he had so addressed at the request of Sergeant Gray to enclose an official communication that Gray had delivered to Private Green some weeks before.
On finding this envelope, and realizing how it would implicate Hal Overton, Hinkey had even gone to the extreme of returning Green'smoney, when he might safely have kept and spent it.
The reason why the money had not been found during the search that had immediately followed the discovery of the robbery in the squad room was equally simple. Hinkey, the afternoon before the robbery, had made the discovery of a secret hiding place under the floor beside his cot. That hiding place had been made, at great trouble, by some soldier formerly living in the squad room, and Hinkey's discovery of it had been accidental.
Now that he was in the mood for confessing, Hinkey also described how he had slipped the revolver lightly under Sergeant Hal's blanket in passing Overton's cot.
So the mystery was wholly cleared up at last, and when ex-Private Hinkey departed to begin his term of imprisonment the Army was well rid of one who was in no sense fit to be the comrade of any honest man wearing Uncle Sam's soldier uniform.
Late in the fall the Colorado courts sent Griller and his crew to the penitentiary for long terms.
Immediately after Hinkey's trial, Lieutenant Prescott, who had gone to all the trouble to secure the evidence, drew up a brief statement, setting forth Sergeant Hal Overton's completeinnocence of the squad-room robbery and declaring who the scoundrel was.
This statement was published, by direction of Colonel North, in the orders of the day.
Then, of course—human nature always works this way—even those of the soldiers who had most honestly believed in young Overton's guilt, now swarmed around him to assure him that they had never for an instant believed it possible that he could be otherwise than a most honest and wonderful soldier. Not they! Oh, no! Now that they knew who the real culprit was, these victims of human nature were ready to cross their hearts that they had known all along that Overton was absolutely guiltless; and they had even suspected, all along, who would turn out by and by to be the villain.
As has been said, this is human nature, and therefore not to be sneered at. In fact, nearly all of the men who protested so loudly to Hal Overton had the actual grace to believe themselves—as is always the case.
Private William Green, however, had been cured, ever since the return of most of his money, of the bad habit of carrying so much around with him. Seldom after that was he to be caught with more than a hundred dollars.
To Sergeant Hal it seemed impossible to thank Lieutenant Prescott sufficiently.
For, though the young soldier, even if he had not been vindicated so handsomely, would have lived down most of the suspicion in time, yet all of the stain would never have vanished had it not been for Lieutenant Prescott.
Soldiers, from the very fact of living in isolated little communities of their own, are somewhat prone to gossip over purely garrison and regimental affairs. So some of the story would always have clung about Sergeant Overton's reputation among his own kind.
"But you've stopped all of that forever, Lieutenant," protested Hal gratefully when calling, by permission, at Mr. Prescott's quarters.
"I am glad I have then, my lad," smiled back the young lieutenant. "I'm glad for your sake, Sergeant, and, if you wish, you may consider that I took much of the trouble on your account personally. But I had also a still greater motive in doing what I did."
"What was that, sir, if I may ask?"
"My own love of the service," replied Lieutenant Dick Prescott impressively. "What would the service ever amount to, Sergeant, if we allowed our best, brightest and most loyal men to be downed by suspicions against them that clearly had no base? What honest man would care to enter or to stay in the ranks of the Army if he did not feel sure that his officerswould work to see him righted and enjoying his proper place in the esteem of his comrades. So, Sergeant, don't try too hard to thank me. Whatever I did for you personally, I did it ten times more for the good of the tried, old, true-blue United States Army."
Then, after a pause, Mr. Prescott went on:
"I've had my attention attracted to you more than ever, both yourself and Sergeant Terry. I see even new possibilities in you as soldiers. Do you know why?"
"No, sir."
Lieutenant Prescott laughed lightly, though there was a slight mist in his eyes as he answered:
"It may be news to you, Sergeant, but my good old schoolboy friend, now Mr. Darrin, of the Navy, has taken almost as much of a liking to you two youngsters as though you were pet younger brothers of his. Darrin watched you both often while he was here, after we returned from the hunting trip. He spoke of you frequently, and seemed to have noticed so many excellencies in both yourself and Sergeant Terry that I grew ashamed of my own slight powers of observation. Of course, you don't know anything of the old days when Mr. Darrin, Mr. Dalzell, Mr. Holmes and myself were all devoted chums."
"I think I do, sir," Sergeant Hal rejoined.
"You do? How?"
"Mr. Darrin told me a lot that day he and I spent some hours hunting together. He told me a lot about your old schoolboy days."
"That's only another proof of how much Darrin likes you, then," pursued the young lieutenant warmly. "Darrin isn't usually very talkative with new acquaintances. But what I was going to say was that, back in our schooldays, I often made a great reputation for wisdom just because I accepted Darrin's wise estimates of human nature and people. So now Darrin's praises of you two young sergeants have made me feel that I have missed a lot of what I should have observed about you both."
"Both Terry and myself will feel highly honored over such good opinions of us, sir," Hal replied.
"I wouldn't talk quite so freely if I didn't know that you're both so level-headed that a little praise will make better, instead of worse soldiers of you, Sergeant Overton. Of course, as one of your officers, I understand that both of you young sergeants are working onward and forward with the hope of one day winning commissions in the line of the Army. I wish you every kind of good luck, Overton. Here's my hand on it. And some day I hope to be ableto offer you my hand again—when, wearing the shoulder straps, you come into an officers' mess, somewhere, as a fellow-member of that mess."
"Mr. Darrin made both Terry and myself promise, sir, that if we ever win commissions, we'll visit him on his ship as soon after as possible."
"Mr. Darrin and Mr. Dalzell are on their way to China by this time," continued Lieutenant Prescott. "From the China station their next detail will undoubtedly be the Philippine station. And that's where, after a while, this regiment will be due to go."
And that is just where the Thirty-fourth Regiment did go, as will be discovered in the next volume in this series, which is published under the title: "Uncle Sam's Boys in the Philippines; Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros."
Not only did our two young sergeant friends taste all the joys of life and residence in these romantic tropical possessions of the United States, but they were destined also to see and take part in a lot of spirited fighting against brown enemies of the United States.
But these adventures must be reserved for the next volume.
Footnote[A]It would be an excellent idea to reproduce the wig-wag alphabet, with full directions for its use, in this volume of Mr. Hancock's, were it not for the fact that alphabet and directions have just been published in "The Battleship Boys' First Step Upward," which is the second volume in Frank Gee Patchin's Battleship Boys' Series. Readers, therefore, who would like to pick up this fascinating art of signaling messages from distant points will do well to consult Mr. Patchin's volume for simple and explicit directions.—Editor.
[A]It would be an excellent idea to reproduce the wig-wag alphabet, with full directions for its use, in this volume of Mr. Hancock's, were it not for the fact that alphabet and directions have just been published in "The Battleship Boys' First Step Upward," which is the second volume in Frank Gee Patchin's Battleship Boys' Series. Readers, therefore, who would like to pick up this fascinating art of signaling messages from distant points will do well to consult Mr. Patchin's volume for simple and explicit directions.—Editor.
[A]It would be an excellent idea to reproduce the wig-wag alphabet, with full directions for its use, in this volume of Mr. Hancock's, were it not for the fact that alphabet and directions have just been published in "The Battleship Boys' First Step Upward," which is the second volume in Frank Gee Patchin's Battleship Boys' Series. Readers, therefore, who would like to pick up this fascinating art of signaling messages from distant points will do well to consult Mr. Patchin's volume for simple and explicit directions.—Editor.
The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series.
1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island.
2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir.
3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed.
4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.
5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.
6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.
7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.
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These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge drab Dreadnaughts.
1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy.
2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS' FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.
3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas.
4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.
6 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE WARDROOM; Or, Winning their Commissions as Line Officers.
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2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine.
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1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.
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4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.
5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or, The Young Kings of the Deep.
6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.
7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.
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4 GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.
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7 GRACE HARLOWE'S GOLDEN SUMMER.
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1 DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.
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The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of all the traditions of Dick & Co.
1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.
2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand.
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1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army.
2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.
3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real Commands.
4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros.
6 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS LIEUTENANTS; Or, Serving Old Glory as Line Officers.
7 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS WITH PERSHING; Or, Dick Prescott at Grips with the Boche.
8 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE GREAT MARNE DRIVE; Or, Putting Old Glory in the Forefront in France.
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6 DAVE DARRIN AFTER THE MINE LAYERS; Or, Hitting the Enemy a Hard Naval Blow.
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4 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS.
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6 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS.
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Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating volumes.
1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports.
2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.
3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.
4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.
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This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy.
1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving.
2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports.
3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.
4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure.
Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c.
"Give us more Dick Prescott books!"
This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers, making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these splendid narratives.
1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.
2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.
3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness.
4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails."
Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c.
Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely interesting and exciting life.