BACKING THE NEW SERGEANT
"CORPORAL OVERTON, B company, is hereby appointed a sergeant in the same
company, the appointment to take effect immediately. Sergeant Overton's
company commander will assign him to the charge of a squad room in B
company."
That was published with the orders the very next afternoon, at parade.
It came with startling suddenness to most of the men in B company. Noll
was the only one who had been warned in advance, and he had held his
peace.
Only one other man in the battalion had known it, and that was Grimes,
the grimly silent private who sold goods in the quartermaster's store.
Of Grimes, Hal had already purchased the necessary sergeant chevrons
that he might have them ready.
"On dismissal of the company Sergeant Overton will at once report to
me," announced Captain Cortland.
Hal, therefore, on falling out of ranks, went directly to his company
commander, saluting.
"You are to have charge of the squad room next to Sergeant Hupner's,"
began the captain, pleasantly.
"Very good, sir."
"And now, my lad, don't feel at all down cast over some circumstances
that have come up in barracks," continued the captain, resting a
friendly hand on the new young sergeant's shoulder. "Take firm charge of
your squad room from the outset. Force your men to respect as well as
obey you. You will have all the necessary countenance of your officers.
Do your duty as a soldier, as you have always done, and do not allow
yourself to entertain fears of any kind."
"Thank you, sir. I shall do as you direct."
"I know it, Sergeant Overton. I have confidence in you. Now, I am going
to step down to your new squad room with you."
If Hal Overton quaked just a bit as he rested his right hand on the door
of the room in which he was henceforth to rule, nothing in his bearing
betrayed the fact.
He threw open the door for Captain Cortland to pass in ahead of him, at
the same time calling clearly:
"Squad room, attention!"
Captain Cortland strode in among his men, who, halting where they were,
faced toward him and stood at attention.
"Men," called Captain Cortland, "this is your new sergeant. He will be
obeyed and respected accordingly."
Then Captain Cortland turned and left the room.
Corporal Hyman, who belonged in this room, came forward at once, holding
out his hand.
"Aren't you the lucky one, Sergeant!" cried Hyman. "But I'm glad you got
the step up. You've won it. Well, we're all here. Fall to and reorganize
us, Sergeant."
"There will have to be very little of that, I imagine, Corporal Hyman,"
replied the boyish young sergeant, smiling. "The room has been running
all right, hasn't it?"
"So-so," laughed Corporal Hyman. "But I believe that some of these buck
doughboys need a bit of jacking up."
Corporal Hyman turned, with a grinning face, toward the men. But none of
them were looking that way at the moment. Every other man in the room
appeared interested in some other subject than the new sergeant.
"Go for 'em," muttered Hyman grimly under his breath. "It's a shame for
you to have to stand for this sort of thing, kid! Pound 'em into shape.
Make 'em stand around for you."
"I will, in matters of discipline and routine, whenever necessary,"
Sergeant Hal answered, in an equally low voice. "But if the men don't
care for me personally that's another matter. I'll never persecute any
soldier just because he doesn't like me."
"It's all that cursed misunderstanding over 'Long Green,'" muttered
Corporal Hyman. "Of course you can't very well make a yell about it, but
I see several fights on my hands from right now on, until I've gotten
these buck doughboys licked into a proper appreciation of the new boss
of their squad room."
"Don't have any fights on my account, Hyman," urged Sergeant Hal.
"Well, I won't, then," came the dry retort. "I'll have a few good fights
on my own account, then, for it's a personal grievance when the men turn
down a man that I like."
The conversation was interrupted, at that moment, by the in-coming of
First Sergeant Gray.
"I'm glad over your rise, Overton," beamed the first sergeant. "And it
has come quickly. I'm here to warn you for guard duty. You'll report at
guard mount to-morrow morning as sergeant of the guard."
"That does come rather speedily, doesn't it?" laughed Hal. "Who is to be
officer of the day to-morrow?"
"Lieutenant Ferrers," responded Sergeant Gray gravely.
"What? The joke to be officer of the day?" exploded Corporal Hyman.
"Corporal," came the first sergeant's swift, serious rebuke, "whenever
you allude to your superior officers you'll do so with the utmost
respect."
"My flag's down," replied Corporal Hyman. "I surrender. But, Sergeant,
is there anything in the blue book of rules against my going away in a
corner for a quiet laugh."
"No," rejoined Sergeant Gray stiffly, and Hyman left them.
"Of course you understand, Sergeant Overton," went on Sergeant Gray,
"that a little more than the usual responsibility will devolve upon you
to-morrow. You know how new Lieutenant Ferrers is to the Army. You may
be able quietly to prevent him from doing something foolish--some little
hint that you can give him you know."
"I'll have my eyes open," Sergeant Hal promised.
Sergeant Gray warned two other men in the room to report for guard duty
in the morning, then went to Sergeant Hupner's room to warn others. Hal
turned out the squad at mess call. By this time the new young sergeant
had sewed on his new chevron, the outward sign of his promotion.
Through most of the evening Hal and Hyman sat apart by one of the
writing tables, chatting by themselves. Since the men had shown open
dislike of the new sergeant Hal did not force himself upon them.
Finally, however, the fun started by some of the men becoming altogether
too rough and noisy.
"Squad room attention!" shouted Sergeant Hal, leaping to his feet.
Corporal Hyman, too, jumped up.
All of the men came instantly to attention. Some of them looked merely
curious, but a few glared back at their new sergeant.
"Some of you men have been more noisy and rough than is warranted by a
proper sense of freedom in barracks," Hal said quietly but firmly. "Fun
may go on, but all real disorder will cease at once, and not be resumed.
That is all."
Hal turned to resume his seat at the table. But from three or four men
in the center of the room, as they turned away, came a muffled groan.
That sign of insubordination brought the young sergeant to his feet once
more in an instant. His under lip trembled slightly, but he strode in
among the men.
"Men, I've something to say to you," announced the new sergeant coolly.
"I intend to preserve discipline in this squad room, though I don't
expect to do it like a martinet. Some of you groaned, just now, when my
back was turned. Soldiers of the regular Army are men of courage. No
real man fights behind another man's back. Has any man here anything
that he wishes to say to my face?"
It was a tense moment. Three or four of the men looked as though tempted
to "say a lot."
Sergeant Hal, his hands tightly gripped, stood facing them, waiting.
Nearly a score of feet away Corporal Hyman stood negligently by. There
was nothing aggressive in his manner, but he was ready to go to the
support of his sergeant.
"Has any man here anything that he wishes to say to me?" Hal repeated.
Still silence was preserved.
"Then let us have no more child's play by those who are old enough to be
men twenty-four hours in a day," warned Overton crisply.
He hadn't said much, but his look, his tone and manner told the men that
he was in command in that room, and that he intended to keep the command
fully in his own hands.
There was no further trouble that night, though the young sergeant could
not escape the knowledge that he was generally disliked here.
When guard-mounting assembly sounded at nine the next morning Sergeant
Hal Overton marched the new guard on to the field.
Battalion Adjutant Wright was on hand, but Lieutenant Algy Ferrers, the
new officer of the day, was absent.
The adjutant turned, scanning the ground between there and officers'
row. There was no sign of Lieutenant Ferrers, and in the Army lack of
punctuality, even to the fraction of a minute, is a grave offense.
"Orderly," directed Adjutant Wright, turning to a man, "go to Lieutenant
Ferrers' quarters and direct him, with my compliments, to come here as
quickly as he possibly can."
The orderly departed on a run. But he soon came back, alone.
"Sir, Lieutenant Ferrers is not in his quarters?"
"Not in quarters? Did you look in at the officers' club, too?"
"Yes, sir. Lieutenant Ferrers' bed was not slept in last night, so his
striker told me."
Adjutant Wright fumed inwardly, though he turned to Hal to say:
"Sergeant, inspect the guard."
A little later Hal marched his new guard down to the guard house.
Lieutenant Ferrers had not yet been found, and there was a storm
brewing.