H. Irving Hancock

“ Colonel North rose fiercely, looking as though he were threatened with an attack of apoplexy.
"Stop all your idiotic chatter, Mr. Ferrers, and listen to me with whatever little power of concentration you may possess. Your conduct, sir, has been wholly unfitting an officer and a gentleman. If I did my full duty I'd order you in arrest at once, and have you brought to trial before a general court-martial. You have visited upon yourself a disgrace that you can't wipe out in a year. ”

“ Prescott strode away to his company commander for advice.
"Perhaps you think, sir, I'm a good deal of a fool to take such a keen interest in this matter of Overton," suggested the lieutenant.
"On the contrary, an officer who isn't interested in the men serving under him has done wrongly in choosing the Army for his profession," replied Captain Cortland gravely. "I, too, am disturbed, for, like yourself, Mr. Prescott, I find it impossible to believe that such a clean, clear-cut young soldier as Corporal Overton has been guilty of dishonesty." ”

“ 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 officers [252] would 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. ”

“ A soldier can never know too much of military duties. I see no objection whatever to your having the flags, but as they are not a matter of ordinary issue, I think it better for me to seek Major Silsbee's authority for issuing them."
"Would it have been better if I had gone to the battalion commander in the first place, sir?" [9]
"No; whenever you wish anything in the Army it is usually better to go direct to the officer who has that thing in charge in his department, save when it is something that you are expected to draw through your company officers." ”

“ Then, with pretended severity, he demanded: "Do you think, Corporal Hyman, you have chosen a respectful enough manner in addressing other corporals who rank you by virtue of prior appointment to the grade?"
"Oh, nobody takes a corporal seriously except the corporal himself," drawled Hyman. "A corporal in the Army is only a small-fry boss. He's handy to lay the blame on for things, and he doesn't dare to 'sass' back. Neither does the corporal dare to 'take it out of' the private soldiers in his squad, for, if he did, the privates would report him and have him court-martialed. ”

“ But Sergeant Hal, after that first moment of joyous surprise, felt a thrill of astonishment.
The bullets that were whistling through camp had not the sound of Army missiles!
Yet the young sergeant had no time to speculate on this discovery, for now he heard a voice, [226] and a wholly strange one, shout, as the volley ceased:
"You men surrender, if you don't want to be riddled. If you start to make a move away from camp we'll drop every one of you before any man can reach cover. We mean business!" ”

“ At post number one the car was halted, apparently much to the surprise of the solitary passenger, who leaned indolently forward and exchanged some words with the sentry.
"Gracious!" gasped Noll. "He must be a person of some importance, after all. There's the sentry presenting arms."
"And there comes the corporal of the guard, making a rifle salute," added Hal. "It must be a new officer joining the regiment."
"That—an officer?" gasped Noll, in unfeigned disgust. "Don't libel the good old Army, Hal." ”

“ For one of the rifle-armed strangers had started briskly for the tent that concealed the boyish sergeant.
"Whatever happens, he isn't going to get me alive, if I can help it!" quivered young Overton. "I'd sooner be killed at once than disgrace my chevrons."
Two swift steps backward, and Sergeant Hal caught up his revolver.
With this in his right hand, and stepping panther-like, he returned to the fallen tent flap.
The approaching man with the rifle bent forward, sweeping the tent flap aside.
"Come out, Sarge!" he ordered. ”

“ 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 [91] 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?" ”

“ 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." ”

“ This was seeing the commissioned officer of Uncle Sam's Army in a somewhat different light, even to one as keen and observing as Hal Overton.
In garrison life it is very seldom that the enlisted man gets a real glimpse of the "man side" of the officer. The requirements of military discipline are such that officers and enlisted men do not often mingle on any terms of equality. This fact, as far as the American Army goes, is based on the military experience of ages that, when officers and men mingle on terms of too much equality, discipline suffers sadly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But Prescott's laughing advice was:
"Hold yourself in, Ferrers; your hoops are cracked."
"Bah!" stormed Lieutenant Algy. "An Army post is a crazy place for a fellow to go when looking for sympathy or reason."
In the meantime A Company's men had spread the joke through enlisted men's barracks.
"What's the use!" growled Private Hinkey to a group of private soldiers. "Ferrers is just a plumb fool, and all the colonels in the world can't ever make anything else of him. Ferrers is a born idiot!"
Sergeant Hal Overton paused just at the edge of the group. ”

“ Every man was either telling or listening to some anecdote about the new young officer, and roars of laughter rang on all sides, for Algy Ferrers, during the brief afternoon, had managed, in spite of Prescott, to make a whole lot of ridiculous breaks.
"That young shave-tail won't last two weeks in the service," predicted Corporal Hyman, who, though he now belonged in another squad room, was just now visiting with Sergeant Hupner's men.
"Oh, I don't know," Noll answered thoughtfully. "I've seen a lot of worse enlisted men [37] licked into shape and become good soldiers. ”

“ Most of the prisoners took their capture in an ugly mood. Their leader, however, affected, coolly, to regard it all as the fortunes of the game.
"Here don't handcuff any of the disabled men," directed Sergeant Hal. "Green, you stand as a guard over those wounded. It's bad enough to be hurt, without having one's hands fixed so that he can't aid himself any in his misery."
"You want Hinkey ironed, don't you?" inquired Noll.
"No."
"But he's an Army deserter."
"If he gets away from where he's sitting he'll be only the remains of one," returned Sergeant Overton dryly. ”

“ Haven't we been in camp all day, working like Chinamen just so you fellows can have something to eat when you get back from the day's stroll?"
"Well, I'm back," argued Noll.
"And you'll eat, Sarge, when the rest eat."
"What's in that oven?" queried Noll, pausing before an Army cookstove.
"Mince pie," remarked Kelly quietly.
"Oh, you fiend!" growled Sergeant Noll. "To torment a hungry man with lies like that!"
"Lies, eh?" roared the soldier. "A Kelly to stand by and have a sergeant boy tell him his mother raised a family of liars. ”

“ You were in the Army, wearing its uniform, and with every right to look upon yourself as a man. You could have gone on being trusted. You could have raised yourself. Instead, you have followed a naturally bad bent and made yourself a thousand times worse than you ever needed to be. Hinkey, do you wonder that I'm sorry for you, when I find that you have fallen outside of an honest man's estate? ”

“ Sergeant Hupner is an expert at wig-wagging, I understand."
"Yes, indeed," agreed Lieutenant Pope heartily. "Even in the Signal Corps of the Army there are few better signalmen than the sergeant."
"So I understand, sir. Corporal Terry and I are delighted at the idea of having the sergeant instruct us."
"But what do you want to do, especially, with flag signaling?" inquired the quartermaster.
"It is simply, sir, that we want to make ourselves better soldiers."
"It is rarely that we find better soldiers than Terry and yourself," replied the quartermaster, with a friendly smile. ”

“ Surely, the young rider would slow down, dismount, take the wheel on his shoulders and cross the slim bridge on foot.
But the crackling out of more shots behind him told the onlookers that the young dispatch rider in Uncle Sam's khaki uniform must make great haste.
Hal lay on harder than ever on his pedals. His speed carried to the onlookers the reality of a desperate race of life and death.
Close to the nearer edge of the gully stood a solitary figure, that of Corporal Noll Terry, who had had charge of the men laying the tree trunk across the gully. ”

“ CHAPTER XX THE EIGHTH MOCCASIN APPEARS
"GIVE it up?" queried the leader.
"I answered you before on that head," retorted Sergeant Overton.
"Don't be a fool, kid. We don't want to hurt you. All we want is that revolver."
"I don't want to give it up," rejoined Hal.
"You'd better!"
"It isn't mine to give, anyway. It belongs to the United States Government."
"Uncle Sam will never see that revolver again," declared the leader of the invaders, with profane emphasis. "And you'll never see your friends again if you don't hit it fast for the ground." ”

“ But I beg the lieutenant's pardon. I didn't intend to include him as one of the crowd, for the rest are all enlisted men."
"I want to be considered one of the crowd," replied the young officer simply.
"But you're not an enlisted man, sir."
"No; but I've cast my lot with the Army for life, and so, I trust, have most of you enlisted men. Therefore we all belong together, though not all can be officers. For that matter, I imagine there are a good many men in the [192] ranks of our battalion who wouldn't care to be officers. ”

“ Sergeant Hal moved over, making plenty of room on his blanket. Officer and non-com. stretched themselves out comfortably, each resting on one elbow.
"Nevertheless, Sergeant," continued Mr. Prescott, "you were thinking of something very particular when I came along."
"I was just thinking, sir, how jolly this life is, and for that matter, how jolly everything connected with the Army is. I was wondering why so many young fellows let their earlier manhood [191] slip by without finding out what an ideal place the Army is." ”

“ What was their excuse for wanting to live?" insisted Prescott.
"Prexy, old chap, I'm afraid you're an anarchist," gasped Algy, looking almost humanly distressed.
"No; you're the anarchist," laughed the other lieutenant, "for no anarchist ever wants to work. Come, now, Ferrers, buck up! Go over the drill manual with me." ”

“ As to experience in hunting, there are some highly experienced hunters in B company, and you could include them in your party."
"How much discipline is needed, sir, with a hunting party?"
"Not too much," replied Captain Cortland. "A soldier's hunting party is something of a picnic affair, and discipline is relaxed as much as possible. You want just enough discipline to keep order and make the men pull together. For, on one of these hunting parties, recollect that the men are actually expected to bag enough game, and to bring it back with them." ”

“ It was truly an Army afternoon. All such afternoons are, for the average American knows truly nothing about his own Army. When he sees it actually at work he becomes, for the time at least, an "Army crank."
There were many features in which only one, or a few men, figured importantly. One of these was now about to be offered. On the programme it bore the title, "the bicycle dispatch rider."
No name was set opposite this title, but the man who had been selected for the work was Sergeant Hal Overton. ”

“ Another volley, which Hal answered with another shot.
"What do you fellows want with guns if you can't shoot better!" hailed Overton derisively.
He didn't want them to shoot any better, but he was trying to anger them and thus make their shooting wilder.
"It won't take us more than half a minute more to get you," flung back the leader.
Now that fellow raised himself, exposing himself more, but getting a solid left-hand rest for his rifle.
Hal could see and feel that the rifle was pointed fairly at him.
On the instinct of the moment the young sergeant fired. ”