THE CORPORAL WITH THE SHEEPISH GRIN
Captain Cortland heard the young scout's report without losing his
gravity, though he decided against trying a night attack on the enemy
beyond.
"Overton," he commented, "if you can do things like to-night's work
very often there will be no doubt whatever that you have in you the
making of a real genius for scouting. I commend you most heartily for
this work."
It was only when he went back to his tent to lie down that Captain
Cortland gave way to silent laughter.
At daybreak the camp was astir. The men who had been on guard duty and
scouting through the night came in, somewhat heavy-eyed, after a relief
had been marched out to take their places.
These returned soldiers, as soon as they had breakfasted, threw
themselves on the ground, under such shade as they could find, and took
an hour of solid sleep.
"The wagon train is approaching, sir," reported Sergeant Gray.
"Then pass the order for the men to report at the train and draw
rations to last until to-morrow night," directed Captain Cortland.
"After to-morrow night the two companies will be together again for the
balance of the field work."
Lieutenant Prescott was acting as commissary officer for B Company, and
he went immediately to the trail. Captain Cortland, stepping into his
tent, buckled on his sword and then sauntered down to the wagon train
to see that all went smoothly.
As he reached the spot where the soldiers of B Company were drawing
their rations, Captain Cortland caught sight of a corporal perched on
the seat beside the driver of one of the wagons.
"You here, Corporal Haynes?" demanded Captain Cortland, striving hard
to preserve his official gravity.
Grinning sheepishly, Corporal Haynes--in his stocking feet--sprang down
into the trail and saluted.
"Yes, sir," he admitted.
"Ill?"
"No, sir."
"Were you captured, then?"
"No, sir," answered Haynes, the sheepish look in his face increasing.
"But I'm a non-combatant, sir; ruled out of the manoeuvres and ordered
to stay with the wagon train, sir."
"How did that happen?" inquired the captain, though he was able to
make a very good guess.
"While I was on outpost during the night, sir, my shoes were taken from
me. I suspect, sir, that one of your scouts got 'em."
"But we have quartermaster's supplies along. Why didn't you draw a new
pair of shoes this morning?"
"No shoes of my size, sir, in the supplies," reported Raynes, once more
saluting. "So Captain Freeman told me that I certainly couldn't fight
in my stocking feet. Therefore, sir, he ordered me to join the wagon
train and respect all the obligations of a non-combatant."
"Too bad, too bad, Corporal, for you are a valuable man," went on
Captain Cortland.
"I don't feel like one this morning, sir, after having my shoes taken,"
grinned the C Company corporal in embarrassment.
"Well, since you've been ordered among the non-combatants," continued
Cortland, after turning slightly and espying the grinning face of
Private Hal Overton, "I think the scout who captured your shoes may as
well return them. But hold on. I see two other men of your company on
the wagons."
Again Corporal Raynes grinned sheepishly.
"Yes, sir! they had their rifles taken, and so are no longer combatants
in a military sense. My rifle is missing also, sir."
"My, my, my!" murmured Captain Cortland in a tone of mock
commiseration. "Then the scout who plundered you all may as well return
all the property. But of course, Corporal, you and the two other men
will continue to be non-combatants as long as the sham fighting lasts."
"Those are Captain Freeman's orders, sir."
Again Captain Cortland turned toward Hal Overton, nodding a signal.
Hal stepped away briskly, but came back bearing the pair of shoes, the
rifles and the canteens.
"Private Overton is the scout who entered your lines alone and brought
about the discomfiture of C Company," Captain Cortland announced,
smilingly.
The captain walked away while Corporal Raynes, sitting on the ground,
drew on his shoes and laced them, while a lot of B Company's men stood
about and grinned over his discomfiture.
"Corporal, you're sure good sleepers over in C Company," laughed
Private Hyman. "You fellows want to look out that, some night, you
don't get taken in by a lot of amateur hunters from New York."
"Great guns, what's going to happen to the regular Army, when it's
getting so that a whole company of infantry can't guard its own
property?" another B Company man wanted to know.
Corporal Raynes and his two comrades had to stand a lot of good-natured
joshing from the crowding men of B Company.
When he stood up, Raynes turned to Hal Overton.
"Rookie," he growled, "you want to look out hard in the future. I'll
pay you back for this in kind. Just remember, kid, that Corporal Raynes
wasn't born yesterday!"
Hal laughed good-humoredly. He didn't know, at that moment, that not
many hours would pass ere Corporal Raynes would find his opportunity.
Twenty minutes after the wagon train had pulled out, B Company started
cautiously through the country ahead. It was B Company's task to
advance through a supposedly hostile country; C Company's part in the
under-taking was either to annihilate B, or to capture the company.
It was ten o'clock that morning ere B and C came in touch. The point
and scouting squad ran into one platoon of C.
"Deploy your men and take cover," ordered Lieutenant Prescott, who
was in charge of the advance. "Each corporal regulate the firing of
his squad. Jam the fire in hard whenever you are sure you locate the
enemy."
Bang! Bang! Bang! As fast as the squads reached their places on the
line, each man some nine feet from his nearest fellows, the firing of
blank ammunition ripped out fast and hard. There was all the excitement
of actual warfare, except that no soldier was actually hit.
B Company's men would have been driven back had not Lieutenant Hampton
swiftly arrived on the scene with the entire first platoon of B Company.
"We'll advance by rushes, Mr. Prescott," announced Lieutenant Hampton
as soon as he reached the younger officer, who saluted.
Prescott hastened, crouching low, down along the left wing of the
little command.
Presently Hampton's voice rose, even over the firing as it ran low, and
called:
"Rise! Charge!"
Uttering their battle yell, the little force of infantry rushed forward
in its thin line, while the hidden men of C Company poured in a heavy
fire.
"Halt! Lie down!" shouted Lieutenant Hampton. "Ready, load, aim!"
There came a brief pause, followed by the order:
"Fire!"
A single volley crashed out, with such unanimity that it sounded as
though one big piece had been fired.
"Ready! Open magazines! Load magazines! At will, commence firing!"
Fifteen rounds had been fired ere the bugler sounded furiously the
order:
"Cease firing!"
The rush of feet sounded behind. Lieutenant Prescott rushed to the
rear, but soon waved his sword reassuringly. It was the balance of B
Company advancing on the run.
Captain Cortland now took command in person. He ordered another rush
forward toward C Company's position.
Three volleys were fired after the rush. The fire was not answered. A
cautious advance developed the fact that the force of C Company men had
retired, nor could the line of their flight be discovered. B Company
halted for a few moments, that the men might clean their sooty rifle
chambers.
"We didn't really see the enemy," Hal remarked, as he worked his
cleaning rod and a bit of waste through his gun barrel.
"In warfare nowadays you rarely do see the enemy," remarked Sergeant
Hupner. "Attacking an enemy's position, nowadays, is a good deal like
taking a gun and going into a dark room where some one is shooting
at you. You can't see the other fellow, but you have a mighty
uncomfortable notion that he sees you and is shooting straight at you."
"Pleasant, when the game is real war," laughed Noll.
"Deadly, of course," commented Hupner.
Once again, late in the afternoon, C Company endeavored to ambush B
Company. Captain Cortland's point and flankers, however, developed the
enemy's position by drawing their fire. B Company, after a brisk fight
of twenty minutes' duration, drove C Company back and continued to
advance.
Despite the fact that no one had been really killed or wounded, most
of the soldiers, who were serving their first enlistment, now found
the game a wholly exciting one. When B Company halted, after the
second engagement, the men fell into an eager discussion of the late
engagement, the sergeants and other older men adding many comments out
of their experiences in actual fighting.
"It leaves only real war to be desired," declared Hal, his cheeks
glowing and his eyes snapping.
"Huh! If this was real war there'd be a lot of kids of the talky kind
ducking to get away," growled Private Dowley as he slouched by.
"It isn't the kid soldiers who do the deserting in war time," returned
Sergeant Hupner quietly. "It's usually some of the older men, who have
such a grouch with life that one wouldn't think they'd care about
living much longer."
Dowley scowled, muttering something, but he did not venture to dispute
with a man of Hupner's military experience.
"I guess that ought to hold Dowley for five minutes," laughed Noll.
"That fellow gives me a sense of fatigue," remarked Sergeant Hupner
placidly. "He might turn out to be a good soldier under stress, but
all I've got to say is that I wouldn't want to have to defend a
position with only a squad or two of men of his type. I wonder how the
recruiting officer ever came to let him into the service?"
"Perhaps he got in under somebody else's name on a stolen set of
references," laughed Hal.
"Sergeant Hupner, I want two of your men to send back with a message,"
announced Captain Cortland, stepping up.
"Overton and Terry are in good condition, sir," reported Hupner, rising
and saluting as soon as he saw his commander.
"Very good; come with me, Overton and Terry."
Captain Cortland led the two young soldiers down the trail, drawing a
local map from one of his pockets and spreading it on a flat table of
rock.
"Study this map carefully, men, for I want you to be sure of the road
you're to take. You will have to go back about four miles--two of it
off this trail. You'll find a little telegraph station there. I want
you to deliver, for transmission, this message to Colonel North, at
Fort Clowdry."
"Yes, sir," Hal answered. "Shall we wait for the answer?"
"No; the answer will not be due until to-morrow. As soon as you have
turned over your message, retrace your way to this point. B Company
will have gone ahead. But a little way above here the trail broadens,
and you'll find a house now and then. You can inquire for news of which
way we've gone. You'll have to find us as best you can. And Overton!"
"Yes, sir."
"Remember that these are sham manoeuvres, and that C Company stands for
the enemy."
"Yes, sir."
"Either or both of you might be captured by a detachment from C
Company."
"We'll do our level best to prevent that, sir," Hal promised, and Noll
nodded with emphasis.
"Even worse than your own capture would be the capture of this
message," Captain Cortland added impressively. "This message, in
effect, is my attempt to communicate with my base of supplies,
represented by Fort Clowdry. If you fail to put the message through,
and C Company captures it, then Captain Freeman and his men have scored
heavily against us."
"Is it proper for me to ask, sir, whether Captain Freeman knows that
you are trying to send this message?"
"Captain Freeman does not know, to a certainty, but he may suspect, and
he may have men out to catch you."
"Thank you, sir. C Company's men won't get us if there's any way to
prevent it."
"Join the company as soon as you can locate us, men. Firing may guide
you, but, in that case, you'll have to avoid joining the wrong company."
Both young soldiers once more saluted. Then, with the message securely
tucked in Hal's haversack, the bunkies started down the trail. They had
not gone many yards ere they heard the orders for Cortland's company to
fall in for the advance.
A mile of the distance Hal and Noll had covered when they encountered
the slow-moving wagon train.
"Hello, rookies!" called Corporal Raynes banteringly. "Where are you
headed."
"Yes, it's surely a fine day, Corporal," nodded Hal, as the two bunkies
hurried on.
"That Overton kid is the one I must get hunk with before many days are
over," grunted Raynes. "I must make him look as cheap with his company
commander as he's made me look with mine."
When the wagon train had gone about two miles and a half further up the
trail Corporal Raynes shook with his own chuckles.
He had run across his chance, and was shrewd enough to recognize it.