"MEN, we have had word of you in advance of your coming," continued the colonel.
"Yes, sir," replied Hal.
"Very good word, indeed. It seems that you took stirring part in assisting an Army officer last night."
"We obeyed Major Davis's orders, sir, if that is what you refer to," Hal assented, once more saluting.
"And did it in a manner that distinguishes you as good soldiers, eh, major?" went on the colonel, turning to Major Silsbee.
"Yes," replied Major Silsbee. "Major Davis's commendation is not earned except by merit."
"You are surprised, I take it," resumed Colonel North, bending a shrewd yet kindly glance on the recruits, "that we should already know of your conduct last night. Major Davis wired me concerning it from Salida last night. Men, this is a very good start, or, rather, a second one, for your record, as forwarded me from the recruit rendezvous, mentions that you havealready been commended in orders for aiding in preventing the escape of a prisoner. You start well, men, in the Thirty-fourth. Report to your respective first sergeants that, with the approval of your company commanders, you will not take up with duty until to-morrow. That will give you time to look about the post. If you wish, you have also permission to be off post this afternoon, for three hours beginning at two o'clock. That is all."
"Thank you, sir," acknowledged each recruit, saluting. Then they stepped forth.
"At the rate we're getting commended, we ought soon to be brigadier generals," smiled Hal.
"A second lieutenancy, even after four years, will suit me well enough," retorted Noll. "But what shall we do now?"
"Plainly enough our first duty is to report to our first sergeants, as ordered."
"Too bad we couldn't be bunkies, in the same company," murmured Noll.
"Yes; I would rather have had it that way. But I take it that one of the first lessons a fellow has to learn in the Army is that he can't have things his own way."
"At all events we can be together during a good deal of our leisure time," declared Noll.
"Nothing—not even being half the worldapart—could prevent our being chums, old fellow."
Reaching barracks each recruit inquired where to find his own first sergeant. Hal was soon facing Sergeant Gray, of B Company. The first sergeant of a company is a highly important man. He is the ranking non-commissioned officer of his company, and might aptly be termed the "foreman" of the company. He lives right with his company all the time, and knows each man thoroughly. The first sergeant is responsible to the company commander for the discipline and order of the company.
"Is your name Overton?" asked Sergeant Gray, holding out his hand. "Glad to have you with us, Overton. You'll bunk in Sergeant Hupner's squad room. Remember that, when there's anything you really need to know, the non-commissioned officers of the company are paid to instruct you. Don't be afraid to ask necessary questions."
"I won't, thank you, Sergeant."
"And don't be sensitive or foolish, Overton, about any little pranks some of the men are more or less bound to play upon you at first. The easiest way to keep out of trouble is to be good-natured all the time. But that doesn't mean that you have to submit to any abuse."
"Thank you, Sergeant."
"Now, I'll take you to Sergeant Hupner."
That was more easily said than done. Sergeant Gray took Hal to the squad room in which he was to live thereafter, but Hupner was out at the time.
"Just stay here a little while, and report to Sergeant Hupner when he comes in," directed the first sergeant. "He'll assign you to a bed and make you feel at home."
Hardly had Sergeant Gray closed the door when Hal thought he had taken the measure of the eight other privates present. They looked like a clean, capable and genial lot of young fellows. He was speedily to find that they were "genial" enough.
"So you want to be a regular, do you?" quizzed one of the soldiers, halting before Hal, and looking him over.
"Why, I am one already, am I not?" asked Hal, smiling.
"No, sir, you're not," retorted the questioner. "How did you start in? Made a grand stand play on the train last night, didn't you? Helped to shoot up a lot of train robbers, didn't you?"
"That was under orders of an Army officer," Hal replied good-naturedly. The other soldiers had crowded about the pair.
"You went and played the hero, didn't you?" persisted the questioner. "Probably you didn'tknow that a regular is never allowed to be a hero. Heroes serve only in the volunteers."
This is a well-known joke in the Army. In war time local pride in the volunteer regiments is always strong. Local newspapers always devote most of their war space to the "heroic" doings of the local volunteer regiment. The regulars do the bulk of the fighting, and the most dangerous, but their deeds of daring are rarely chronicled in the newspapers. All the praise goes to the volunteer regiments. Hence, in war time, a stock Army question is, "Are you a hero or a regular?"
"I guess you've made a mistake," remonstrated Hal, still good-naturedly. "My friend and I didn't do anything in the heroic line. We simply fired when told to, and stopped firing, when told to. We didn't make any charges, capture any forts, or do anything in the least heroic. We simply stood by and did what the major told us."
"Good," nodded one of the other men. "The kid is bound to be a regular, all right. He doesn't brag, and I don't believe he's looking for any write-up in the newspapers."
"How did you feel under fire last night?" continued the merciless questioner. "Brave as a lion?"
"Don't you believe it," laughed Hal.
"Were you cool under fire?"
"Yes; I was!" Hal's answer leaped forth. "Cool? Why, man, I was so cold that it took me an hour, afterwards, to get warm again."
"He's got you there, Hyman," laughed another soldier. "Oh, the kid's going to be one of us, all right. He's no bouquet chaser."
"I don't know about that," replied Private Hyman gravely. "So many heroes in disguise try to sneak in among the regulars that it pays us to keep our eyes open. What sort of a medal are you going to order from Congress, kid?"
"A leather one," smiled Hal, "though I'd really prefer a tin medal."
Good-natured laughter greeted this answer.
But Private Hyman persisted:
"In war time you'd chuck us, just to get a commission in the volunteers, wouldn't you?"
"Not even for a general's commission in the volunteers," retorted Hal.
"Are you good at athletics?"
"No."
"Know anything about gymnastics?"
"Only one or two things."
"Come down to the end of the room with me," ordered Private Hyman.
Hal good-naturedly followed. So did the others.
"Now, let's see if you can do this," Hymanproposed. "Take a good start and jump over the first cot, then over the second, and right on down the line, as far as you can do."
That didn't look difficult. Hal leaped over the first cot, then, with hardly a pause, jumped over the second. So on he went, down over the line of ten cots.
"Now, go back again, over the cots on the other side," ordered Private Hyman.
Hal did so without difficulty, though he was flushed and panting by the time that he finished this brisk exercise.
"Kid, you're no good," grunted Hyman.
"I didn't try to make you believe I was any good," Hal retorted calmly.
"No, sir! Any man who jumps as easily and naturally as you do would jump the regulars any time, and go with the high-toned volunteer crowd."
"Humph! A fellow who can jump like that would jump right out of the service at the first breath of trouble," broke in another soldier.
"He'd desert," agreed a third.
"Walk on your hands?" queried Hyman.
Hal proved that he could do so by throwing his heels up into the air and taking a dozen steps on his hands before he again came to an erect attitude.
"Brains are all in your heels," remarkedPrivate Hyman thoughtfully. "Can you pick that man up and carry him around on your back?"
The soldier indicated weighed at least a hundred and sixty pounds.
"I'll try," nodded Hal. Backing up to the soldier, he locked elbows, back to back, lifted the heavy one to his back and carried him twenty feet down the squad room.
"Any fellow with all that strength in his back would get his back up at trouble, and back out of any fight that came his way," declared Private Hyman. "But see here, can you place your head on one chair and your feet on another, stiffen your body and lie there without touching the floor in any way."
"Let's see," proposed Hal. Two chairs were quickly swung forward. Hal, who had good muscular control, took the attitude named, stiffened his body, and lay between the chairs for some moments.
"He lies well and easily," observed one of the onlookers.
"Yes," agreed Private Hyman. "He's easily the champion liar of the company."
At that Hal sprang to his feet again.
As he did so he accidentally pushed one of the chairs over backward. It was close to the door, which, at that instant, opened. The flyingchair struck the incomer across his shins, bringing an angry exclamation from the man.
"Don't you know anything, rook?" demanded the man, Private Bill Hooper. Hooper stood five feet ten in his socks. He was just under thirty, a man who was not popular in the company because of his unruly temper.
"I'm sorry," apologized Hal. "I didn't know you were there."
"You'll be sorrier, now," cried Hooper fiercely. Striding up to young Overton, Hooper landed a sound box on one of the boy's ears.
Hal flushed crimson in an instant.
"HOLD on, Hooper!"
"Don't act like a dog!"
"He's only a kid—can't you see?"
Then something happened like lightning.
Private Hal Overton had meant to take all his hazing good-humoredly. But a blow struck in anger, and without just cause, was more than he was prepared to brook.
"Sergeant Gray told me I was not expected to stand abuse," flashed through his mind.
So, instead of cringing away from a repetition of the blow, Hal took a sudden bound forward.
Whack!
"I have no use for a box on the ear," smiled Hal grimly. "So you can have it back!"
Private Bill Hooper let out a roar, then sprang for the boy, intending to pulverize the young rookie with his fists. But five or six of the men sprang between them, forming an effective human wall.
"Shame on you, Hooper!"
"That's no way for a man to act."
"Get off your blouse, kid," blustered PrivateHooper, as he unfastened his own blouse and tossed it over the end of a cot. "You need a trimming, and you're going to get it right now!"
"Here, kid, button your blouse up again," ordered Private Hyman. "You ain't called upon to fight that bully. Hooper, if you're spoiling for fight I'll do my best to be kind to you."
But Hal, the flush dying from his cheeks, coolly continued unbuttoning his blouse. Then he pulled it off, handing it to a soldier near by.
"Dress yourself, kid. You don't have to fight a man twice your size."
"Let some one else have the job, kid. There's some of us here will take it."
"The kid will stand up and take his own trimming," announced Hooper, with ugly emphasis.
"No, no, no!"
"Beat it, Hooper!"
"Mates," went on Hal, as soon as he could make himself heard, "I'm willing to stand for anything that's coming to a rook. But this is a case that calls for something different. I've got to satisfy this man that I can stand up before a pair of fists, or he'll never respect me enough to let me alone."
"Why, kid, a man of Hooper's size will reduce you to powder," objected Hyman seriously."It's all right to have sand, and I guess you've got it, but you've no call to be slaughtered."
"He'll thrash me," agreed Hal coolly, "but I'll get in enough on him to make him want to let me alone after this. I'm ready for the fellow."
Realizing that the rookie was in earnest the soldiers stepped away from between the pair.
"But you play fair, Hooper, or we'll kick you all over the squad room," warned another soldier.
Private Hooper clenched his fists, and stood flexing his arms, which, through his shirt-sleeves, appeared to be decidedly powerful.
"Step up, kid, and get your trimming," he invited, with a ferocious smile.
"I don't know much about fighting," admitted Hal, smiling pleasantly. "All I know my dancing teacher taught me."
That raised a laugh and angered Hooper. This was just what the rookie wanted to do, for he judged that Hooper could be prodded into a blind rage.
Hooper now jumped forward, aiming an ugly swing for Hal's head. But the rookie side-stepped swiftly out of the way. As he did so, one foot dragged in front of the advancing bully. Hooper tripped over that foot, and theforce of his swing carried him forward so that he fell flat on his face.
"Too bad! I hope you didn't hurt yourself," teased Hal sweetly, whirling about like a flash.
Hooper was up with an oath, wind-milling his big arms.
"Take that!" he roared, aiming a heavy blow straight at Hal's chest.
"Against the rules of my dancing master!" mimicked Hal, bounding to the left. As he did so he let his right fist drop on the point of Hooper's chin.
"Ugh!" grunted the bully.
"Spit it out, if it got in your mouth," advised Hal unconcernedly, as he again faced his antagonist.
From the way he dodged the next six or eight assaults it did look as though Hal had spoken the truth when he stated that he had learned his style of fighting from a dancing master. For the nimble rookie never did seem to be just where Bill Hooper looked for him when landing blows.
"Take your partners!" mocked Hal Overton, as he darted past again. This time, however, he landed a very hot and powerful blow right against Hooper's right eye.
Now cautious cries of approval went up from the other men crowding about. All of the menwere careful not to make much noise, through fear of bringing interference.
A minute later Hooper received such a stinging blow on the nose that it brought a little trickle of red.
"Woof!" panted Hal, in going by again.
"Woof!" echoed Hooper. "Wow—ow—ugh!"
Then he doubled up, winded, for Hal, after feinting for the big fellow's face had calmly but forcefully struck him just above the beltline. Hooper was out of it for the present, and he knew it.
"Now sail in and finish him, rook!" called four or five men at once.
"Not this time," replied Hal, going over to the soldier who held his blouse, taking the garment and putting it on. "I'll save the rest for the next dance whenever Hooper feels festive."
Grateful that he didn't have to stand and take punishment in his present condition, Hooper groped to a chair and sat down.
"Now, then, mates," announced Hal modestly, "when we were interrupted I was trying to show you that I don't ache to be a hero. Being a regular is good enough for me. I am ready to answer any further questions."
But just at that moment a bugle sounded the call to drill.
"You've answered enough questions for the present, rook," replied Private Hyman, patting Overton on the shoulder as he went by. Hooper struggled into his blouse, then went over to a sink and washed the red from his nose before hurrying out with the others. The big private didn't even look at Hal Overton as he went by.
Being excused from duty for the day, Hal went in search of Noll Terry. He found him waiting outside of barracks.
"Whew, but I've been through a mill," sighed Noll.
"I've been ground just a bit myself," laughed Hal.
"Did the fellows twit you about last night's work?" asked Noll curiously.
"Well, some," admitted Hal.
"If there's anything left that the fellows in the squad room can think of to do to me, I'm wondering what it is," grunted Private Terry.
"Oh, they'll think up enough things," Hal declared. "We needn't imagine that our mates will exhaust themselves in twenty minutes of fun. You didn't lose your temper, did you, Noll?"
"No; and I don't want to. But there's one fellow in our room that I am certain I'll have to fight before I get through."
"There's a fellow in our room that I don'tbelieve I will have to fight," chuckled Private Overton.
"Have you been in a fight already?" asked Noll, flashing a swift look at his chum.
"Oh, no," Hal answered. "A dancing lesson was as far as I got this morning. But come along, Noll. I want to get where we can get a look at the great mountains yonder. My, how they seem to tower above the fort and wall us in!"
Fort Clowdry was some fifty-two hundred feet above sea level. From there, however, high mountains were visible that extended some thousands of feet higher in the air. All about was a great view of rugged mountain scenery.
Over past the buildings at the west end of the post the two rookies wandered. Now they had a noble view of the mountains.
"Are you going off post this afternoon, as the colonel said we could?" asked Noll, by and by.
"Not unless you very much want to, Noll. Can't we put in the time better learning our way around the post?"
"Perhaps we can," assented Noll.
A soldier came along, driving a pair of mules to which a quarter master's wagon was hitched. As he drew near, with a heavy load aboard, he halted to rest the mules.
"Rooks, ain't ye?" questioned the soldier.
"Yes," admitted Hal.
"Taking a survey of the post?"
"Rather. We don't have to report for duty until to-morrow."
After a few moments the soldier climbed down from the seat of the wagon. He was wholly willing to tell the boys whatever they wanted to know about Fort Clowdry and to point out the features of interest in the surrounding lines of mountains.
"Ever go hunting?" asked the soldier, at last.
"Yes; after squirrels and partridges," laughed Hal.
"No real hunting, though?"
"None."
"Then, if you can keep out of discipline troubles, ye'll have some fun around here by and by."
"Soldiers don't have much time for hunting, do they?" Hal asked.
"Those that know how to hunt do," replied the older soldier. "That's part of the life here. Didn't ye ever hear about soldier hunting parties?"
"I certainly haven't," Hal admitted.
"Why, men of good conduct are often allowed to go off on hunting parties when the game's running right. Generally there's six or eight men to a party, and all have to be fair shots, forthe K. O. doesn't aim to have too much ammunition wasted," explained the old soldier. "One of the party is a non-com and he has charge of the party."
"What do the hunters get?" queried Hal.
"Well, for bigger game, bear and mountain antelope mostly. Then some parties go after birds; there's plenty of them, too, in the mountains, at the right seasons."
"Say!" exploded Noll, his eyes shining.
"Think ye'd like to go on a hunting party, do ye?" asked the soldier. "Get up yer record for marksmanship, then."
"What's done with the game?" asked Noll innocently.
"What——" the soldier started to repeat. Then he added, dryly:
"Oh, we send the game to the hospitals in Denver and Pueblo, of course!"
"Don't we get any of it to eat?" asked Noll, looking up.
"Say, don't ever go off with a party that doesn't bring back a big haul of game," advised the older soldier. "If ye do, the company cooks will lynch ye. Why, that's what we go hunting for—to vary the bill of fare here at the post. Sometimes, when we're all just aching for bear steaks, an officer and twenty or thirty men all hike off at once into the mountain trails. Thereare plenty of game dinners at Clowdry, at different times in the year."
Then the soldier climbed leisurely to the seat of his wagon and started on again.
"I wonder if he was fooling us about hunting parties," mused Hal.
Later on, however, the rookies discovered that the soldier had told them the truth. On some of the Western posts, hunting forms one of the diversions of the men.
Presently they met another soldier, this time afoot.
"How far can we go without getting off the reservation?" Hal inquired.
"The way you're headed now you can go another mile without getting off limits," the soldier replied.
"Reservation" is a term applied to the limits of an Army post. Wherever an Army post exists it includes land reserved by the United States from the jurisdiction of the individual state. Hence the name of reservation.
It was wilder country out here, away from the well-kept roads.
"Come on," urged Hal. "I'm going to take a good walk yet."
They had gone along, briskly, for at least another half mile when some flying missile went by Hal's head. Noll, who was just behind him,saw the missile, and watched it land on the ground beyond.
"Whoever is throwing rocks of that size—quit!" shouted Noll, wheeling to his left and glaring at an irregularly-shaped ledge some sixty yards away.
"Let's see who it is, anyway," cried Hal, darting toward the ledge.
By the time they reached the ledge they heard some lively scrambling among the rocks beyond, but neither rookie could see anyone. All was quiet for a few moments. Then a foot slipped on a stone, at a little distance. Hal raced straight in the direction of the sound. He was in time to see a crouching, running figure darting in and out among the rocks.
"Come on, Noll! We've got him!" yelled Hal.
In another minute they had overtaken the fugitive, who now stood panting at bay.
"Well, you're a nice one!" ejaculated Private Hal Overton.
"Tip Branders—out here in Colorado!" ejaculated Noll Terry.
"No; my name ain't Branders. Ye've got me mixed up with somebody else!" glowered the young man at bay.
"OH, no, your name isn't Tip Branders!" mocked Hal Overton.
"That's what I said," retorted the young man at bay.
"Then how do you know who we are?"
"I don't know who ye are, and what's more, I don't care," retorted the other.
"Tip, I guess you've forgotten to write home lately," broke in Noll. "What would you say if you should hear that your uncle in Australia had died and left your mother more than two million dollars?"
The young man's eyes opened very wide indeed. He gasped, and then his eyes flashed eagerly.
"Has the old lady all that money?" he demanded. "Noll Terry, what else do you know about it?"
The young man came briskly forward now, all trembling with eagerness.
"I don't know anything at all about it," retorted Noll coolly, "and I don't believe it either."
"But you said——"
"Oh, Tip, what an idiot you are to think you can deny your identity to us," jeered Noll, while Hal laughed merrily.
"Say, if you're trying to have sport with me," snarled Tip, "I'll——"
"Is it your idea of sport to shy rocks at us?" demanded Private Hal.
"I didn't shy anything at you," asserted Tip sullenly.
"Why, for that matter," Hal went on jeeringly, "I don't suppose you'll even admit that you're here, at all?"
"Don't get too festive, just because you've got the government's blue clothes on," Tip retorted sullenly. "A plain, ordinary soldier ain't such a much."
"Opinions may differ about that, of course," Hal admitted. "But being a soldier was too much of a job for you to get a chance at, wasn't it, Tip?"
"I'm just as well suited as it is," rejoined Tip, flushing a bit, none the less.
"You haven't told us what you're doing out in this country," Noll suggested.
"And I don't know that it's any of your business, either," Branders went on. "Ain't nothing to be ashamed of, though. You know I used to travel a bit with the political crowd at home."
"With the heelers of the city," Noll amended.
Tip scowled, but continued:
"Well, I got into a bit of a row, that's all. So I lit out until things could blow over a bit."
"And took some of your mother's cash before you left, I heard," nodded Private Noll Terry.
"She gave it to me," cried Tip fiercely. "Now, see here, don't you fellows say nothing about seeing me out in this part of the country. I'm out here trying to run down a good, new start in life. You just keep your tongues behind your teeth as far as my affairs are concerned."
"What kind of a new start can you make out in these hills?" queried Hal.
"That's what I'm here to find out. My cash has about run out, so I'm walking. I'm bound for a ranch about forty miles west of here, where I expect to land a job. So don't you go to talking too much about me, and trying to spoil me."
"Why did you try to knock me over with a small-sized boulder?" Hal insisted.
"Because I wanted to play a joke on you," retorted Tip, with a grin.
"That's a lie, but let it go at that," rejoined Hal Overton. "It would be too much, anyway, wouldn't it, Tip, to expect the truth from you?"
"You always were down on me," replied Branders half coaxingly. "If you'd only taken more trouble to understand me you'd have understood that I'm not a half bad fellow."
"No; only about nine-tenths bad," grimaced Noll derisively.
"Well, there's no use in my staying here to talk with you fellows," muttered Tip angrily. "You never were friends of mine. So I'll be on my way."
"Tramping it for forty miles, are you?" called Noll, as Tip turned away.
"'Bout that," Branders called back over his shoulder.
"Then, man alive, why don't you keep to the road, instead of scrambling over these rough boulders?"
Tip's only answer was a snort.
"Come back to the road," proposed Hal to his chum. So the two rookies clambered back over the ledge and down onto the excellent military road. But they caught no further glimpse of Tip Branders; plainly he preferred different paths.
"What do you make out of Tip?" asked Noll, a minute later.
"Nothing," Hal answered, "except that he was lying, as usual, of course. Tip never tells the truth; there's no sport in it."
"I'd like to know what he is doing out in this country."
"Oh, I reckon," suggested Hal, "that, as he couldn't be a soldier, he thought he'd take up cowboy life as the next best thing."
"He won't last long as a cowboy," laughed Noll. "Tip hates work, and the cowboy is about the hardest worked man in America."
"Well, we don't have to worry about Tip," muttered Hal. "We don't even have to talk about him. Noll, look at those noble old mountains!"
"Some day, when we have enough time off, we must walk to the mountains," urged Noll. "I wonder how many miles away they are—five, or six?"
"Hm!" laughed Hal. "I asked Sergeant Gray, and he said that range over there is about forty miles away."
"Forty!" Noll looked plainly unbelieving.
"You'll find out, Noll Terry, that the air in these glorious old Rocky Mountains is so mighty clear that you can't judge distances the way you did back East. I'd rather have Sergeant Gray's word than any evidence that my own eyes can supply me with."
"We won't get to that mountain range, then, until we have a week off," sighed Noll.
After wandering about for some time morethe young rookies strolled back to barracks. Hal had yet to find Sergeant Hupner and get assigned to a bed and a locker.
Hupner proved to be a rather short, but keen and very pleasant fellow. He was of German origin, but had no accent in his speech, having been educated in this country.
"You'll like the regiment, the battalion and B Company, Overton, when you get used to us," Sergeant Hupner informed the young rookie.
"I'm sure of it, Sergeant," Hal replied. "But it'll be far more to the point, won't it, if I make my comrades like me?"
"Oh, you'll get along all right," replied Hupner, who had had a report on the quiet of Hal's performance with big Bill Hooper that morning. "The main thing for a recruit, Overton, is not to act as if he knew it all until he really does. And no old soldier does claim to know too much. You'll have to fall in for dinner in about ten minutes. When the company assembles report to Sergeant Gray, who'll give you your place in the ranks."
When the two recruits marched into company mess, that noon, both Hal and Noll felt odd. The chums had not been used to being separated.
After dinner the two were together again, however. Guided by Hyman they went to therecreation hall, on the second floor of barracks building. This hall was fitted up for games and sports, and at one end was a stage with scenery.
"Who gives the shows?" asked Hal.
"Once in a great while the men chip in from company funds to hire a real company, or troupe," replied Private Hyman. "The officers always add something, then. But, more often, the men supply their own talent. We've got a lot of show talent of all sorts among nearly four hundred men."
Hyman was soon called away to a drill, though not before he had pointed out other places of interest. Hal and Noll went over to the library, the gym. and the Y. M. C. A. building. They wound up their afternoon of leisure by attending parade just before retreat. Retreat is always followed, immediately, by the firing of the sunset gun and the hauling down of the post Flag for the night.
When tattoo was sounded by the bugler that night both chums were glad enough to turn down their beds and get into them. Neither Hal nor Noll remained awake more than two minutes.
The windows were open, and a cool, delicious breeze, circulated through the squad room. Hal slept the sleep of the truly tired, hearing nothing of the martial snores of some of themen on adjoining cots. It was late in the night when Private Overton was awakened by the sound of a rifle shot.
"I must have been dreaming through the scenes of last night again," Hal muttered drowsily.
None of the other men in the room appeared to have heard the sound at all.
But now it came again. A shot was followed by a second, then by a third.
"Corporal of the guard—post number three!" yelled a lusty voice, though the distance was such that Hal Overton heard the sound only faintly.
Crack—crack!
Then a bugle pealed on the air, though still Hal's comrades in the squad room slumbered on.
Too curious to turn over and go to sleep again, Hal stole softly from his cot and reached an open window on the side that looked out over the parade.
There was no moon, but in the light of the stars Hal could see several uniformed men running swiftly across the parade ground to officers' row.
"It's no dream," muttered Overton, intensely interested, "for there goes the corporal with the guard. What on earth can it mean?"
There was something up—and something exciting, at that, for experienced sentries never fire except in case of need. Moreover, several sentries—no fewer than four—had just fired almost simultaneously.
Nor did the corporal and his squad return within the next few minutes.
Whatever it was that had resulted in turning out the guard, the need for the guard plainly still continued.
"There's no more shooting, anyway," Hal reflected. "I may as well go back to bed."
It was some minutes ere he could sleep. When he did fall off it seemed as though only a minute or two had passed when the bugle again pealed.
Hal was on his feet in a second. So were most of the other soldiers in the squad room this time.
"Why, it's daylight now," uttered Hal, looking astounded.
"Of course it is, rook," laughed the soldier whose bed was next to Hal's. "That bugler sounded first call to reveille. Don't you know what that is yet?"
In other words the soldier's alarm clock had "gone off." Though all of these men had slept through the call for the corporal of the guard, simply because it did not concern them,every man had turned out at the first or second note of "first call to reveille."
Every man dressed swiftly. As soon as he got his clothing on each soldier turned up his bedding according to the regulations.
There was some "policing" of the room done. That is, everything was made shipshape and tidy. Last of all, and within a very few minutes from the start, the men made their way briskly to the sinks, where soap and water, comb and brush, put on the finishing touches. A sergeant, two corporals and nearly a score of men were now as neat and clean as soldiers must ever be.
"What was that row in the night, Corporal? Do you know?" Hal asked.
"What row in the night?" asked Corporal Cotter.
"Why, there was a lot of shooting, and a call for the corporal of the guard to post number six."
"First I've heard of it," replied Corporal Cotter. "But we'll know before long. Now, step lively, rook, for you're on duty with the rest to-day."
By the time that Sergeant Gray's squad room emptied at the call of the bugle it was instantly plain outside that something unusual was going on.
A and D Companies, as they fell in, proved each to be twenty men short.
"There are extra guards out, and a picket down the road to town," muttered Private Hyman, who stood next to Hal in the ranks.
"What does it mean?" asked Hal Overton, but instantly his thoughts went back to the shots and the excitement of the night.
"Silence in the ranks," growled Corporal Cotter.
But at breakfast tongues were unloosed. Hal quickly told what little he had seen and heard in the night. Others passed the gossip that twenty men had been silently summoned from a squad room in A Company, and twenty more from a squad room in D Company.
"There's some mischief floating in the air—that's certain," muttered Private Hyman.
"How did you happen to be up to see and hear it all, Overton?" demanded Sergeant Gray.
Hal explained, frankly and briefly, but the sergeant's eyes were keenly questioning.
Before the meal was over the company commander, Captain Cortland, entered the room.
"Keep your seats, men. Go on with your breakfast. Sergeant Gray, I will speak with you for a moment."
The first sergeant hastily rose, going over to his captain and saluting. After the companycommander had gone, at the end of a brief, almost whispered conversation, Gray came back to his seat, looking wholly mysterious.
"B Company, rise," ordered the first sergeant, at the end of the meal. "Attention! The men of this company will have ten minutes for recreation, then be prepared to fall in at an extra inspection on the parade ground. After filing out of here no man will go indoors again before inspection."
"Is it to be inspection without arms, Sergeant Gray?" called Sergeant Hupner.
"Inspection just as you stand," replied Sergeant Gray, then gave the marching order.
"What on earth is up, Hal?" demanded Noll, when the two young rookies met outside of mess a few minutes later.
"I wish I knew," was Hal's puzzled reply.
IMMEDIATELY after the bugle call for assembly the four companies of the first battalion of the Thirty-fourth fell in by companies on the parade ground.
After roll-call had been read each company commander stepped before his own command.
"Was any man of B Company absent from his squad room at any time around two o'clock this morning?" called Captain Cortland, looking keenly over his command. Other company commanders were asking the same question. "If so, that man will fall out."
Not a man fell out of any of the four companies.
"Was any man in B Company up and moving about the squad room at or about two o'clock this morning?" was Captain Cortland's next question. "If so, fall out."
Private Hal Overton quickly left his place in the ranks.
"Advance, Private Overton," ordered Captain Cortland.
Hal stepped forward, halting six paces from his company commander and saluting.
"You were up and about in the squad room at that time, Private Overton?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did you leave the squad room?"
"No, sir."
"You are positive of that?"
"Positive, sir."
"You did not leave the squad room, even for a moment?"
"No, sir."
"What brought you out of your bed?"
"I heard shots, sir, and calls for the guard."
"What else did you see or hear, Private Overton?"
"I went to the window, and saw that there was some excitement up by the officers' quarters, sir."
"Then what did you do?"
"After listening and looking for some time, sir, I returned to my bed, wondering what it was all about."
Hal was the only soldier in the battalion who had fallen out of ranks.
"Follow me," ordered Captain Cortland. He led the young soldier back to where Adjutant Wright and the sergeant-major were standing by Major Silsbee.
"Lieutenant Wright," reported Captain Cortland, "Private Overton admits being up inthe squad room atthetime when the shots were fired in the dark hours this morning. He claims that he did not leave the squad room, and that it was the noise that woke him and made him curious."
"Go to my office, Private Overton, with Sergeant-major Beall," directed the adjutant briefly.
Hal and the sergeant-major saluted, then stepped away.
"Is it allowable, Sergeant, for a rookie to ask what this is all about?" asked Hal respectfully, as the two neared the adjutant's office at headquarters.
"You'd better not ask. I'm not going to tell you anything," replied Beall.
So Hal was silent, though he could hardly escape the feeling that he was being treated a good deal like a suspected criminal. Though he knew that he was innocent of any wrong-doing in connection with the excitement of the night before he could not help feeling undefined dread.
Lieutenant Wright speedily returned to his office, taking his seat at his desk. Hal was summoned and made to stand at attention before the adjutant.
"Now, Private Overton," began the adjutant, fixing a frigid gaze on the rookie, "you may aswell tell me all you know about last night's business."
Hal quickly told the little that he knew.
"Come, come, my man," retorted Lieutenant Wright, "that much won't do. Out with the rest of it."
"There isn't any 'rest of it' that I know of, sir," Private Hal answered respectfully.
"Now, my man——"
With that preliminary Lieutenant Wright proceeded to put the young recruit through a severe, grilling cross-examination. But Hal kept his head through it all, insisting that he had told all he knew.
"Overton," rapped in the adjutant, at last, "you are very new to the Army, and you don't appear to realize all the facilities we have for compelling men to speak. If you remain obtuse any longer, it may be necessary for me to order you to the guard-house under confinement."
"I am very sorry, Lieutenant," Hal replied, flushing, "that you will not believe me. On my word of honor as a soldier I have told you all that I know of the matter."
The adjutant bent forward, looking keenly into the rookie's eyes. Hal did not flinch, returning the gaze steadily, respectfully.
Then, in a somewhat less gruff tone, Lieutenant Wright continued:
"That is all for the present, Private Overton. Report to your company commander, at once."
The adjutant and sergeant-major left headquarters a moment later, going by a different path. As Hal glanced down the parade ground he saw the men out of ranks, though every man was still close to his place.
"Major," reported the adjutant, after the exchange of salutes between the officers, "Private Overton denies having left the squad room in the early hours this morning. For that matter, sir, if he had not been honest, he need not have reported that he was out of his bed, or that he heard the sentries' shots."
"It was well he did admit that much," replied the major, "for he let it out at company mess this morning."
"I went at the young recruit, sir, so severely that I was almost ashamed of myself," continued the adjutant. "I am under the impression, sir, that Private Overton told me the truth."
"So am I," admitted Major Silsbee thoughtfully. "His record, so far, is against the idea of his being mixed up in rascally business. I think it likely that Private Overton's extreme fault, if he is guilty of any, is that he is possibly shielding some other soldiers whom he sawsneak back into barracks after the excitement was over. Probably he isn't even guilty of that much."
"Are you going to search the squadrooms, sir?" inquired the adjutant.
"Yes, Wright, though it makes me feel almost sick to put such an affront upon hundreds of innocent and decent men."
"The decent ones, sir, will welcome the search."
"That is what Colonel North told me. Summon the company commanders, and direct them to go into each squad room of their companies with the sergeant in charge of the squad room."
Hal, in the meantime, had returned to B Company. He found many of his comrades regarding him suspiciously, and flushed in consequence. But Corporal Cotter, Private Hyman and others stepped over to him.
"What's it all about, rookie? Do you know?" asked the corporal.
"Not a blessed thing, Corporal," replied the young recruit.
"Look! Here come the company commanders back," called another soldier, in a low tone.
"Sergeant Gray and the other sergeants of B Company will follow me to barracks," called Captain Cortland.
Now the curious soldiers saw each companycommander, followed by his sergeants, step back to barracks.
For an hour the puzzled men of the battalion waited on the parade ground.
Then, in some mysterious manner, the news of what had really happened began to spread.
In the night unknown men had broken into Major Silsbee's house. This had not been a difficult thing to do as, on a military post, doors are rarely locked. Not one of the three entrances to Major Silsbee's quarters had been locked at the time.
Downstairs the thieves had gathered a few articles together, but had not taken them, as they had found better plunder upstairs. From a dressing-room adjoining Mrs. Silsbee's sleeping apartment the prowlers had taken a jewel case containing jewels worth some three thousand dollars. There had also been about two hundred dollars in money in the case.
As the thieves were leaving the house they were seen by a sentry some sixty yards away. The sentry had challenged, then fired. The thieves had fled, swiftly, running directly away from all light. But another sentry had also seen them, and had fired. Both sentries had agreed that there were four men, and that they wore the uniforms of soldiers.
The thieves made good their escape. Soonafter the alarm was given forty men from A and D companies had been silently turned out to aid in establishing a stronger guard, and the barracks building had been watched through the rest of the night.
Yet no soldier had been caught trying to get back into barracks, nor had any man been missing at roll-call unless well accounted for.
"Somewhere in this battalion, then," murmured Noll to a man in C Company, "there are four soldiers who are thieves."
"Yes," replied the soldier bluntly, "and it looks as though your bunkie at the recruit rendezvous might know something about it."
"Hal Overton doesn't know," flared Noll promptly, "or he'd have told!"