H. Irving Hancock

“ Noll Terry stated gravely.
"In view of the reasons that lay behind your acts," replied Captain Cortland, with only the faintest twinkle of a smile, "I think we shall have to conclude that discipline has not suffered a serious affront this time."
"I am very sorry, indeed, sir, that I rode your fine animal to any injury," continued Corporal Hal, turning and saluting the cavalry captain.
"Pooh!" scoffed Captain Ellis, stepping to one side and surveying the cuts on his mount's flank. "Nothing but a few scratches, Corporal—and a whole horse is as nothing compared with human lives. ”

“ By the time he was out of sight of the cabin, around a turn of the road, the chuckles inside of Corporal Raynes got so close to the surface that they surged over.
"What's the smile, Corporal?" demanded the wagon boss.
"Oh, I'm pretty near choking over one of the lying yarns that old fellow told me about how he bagged twelve grizzlies single handed one day," lied the corporal.
"He must be a talented old liar," nodded the wagon boss.
"He is," agreed Corporal Raynes. "I never could understand, either, why anyone would take the trouble to lie unless he was paid for it." ”

“ How about you, men?"
"I know very well that I felt a lot bigger the day I first stepped into the uniform than I do now," laughed Soldier Hal.
"I always feel largest on pay-day," smiled Private Noll Terry. "And this is a long way from pay-day."
"I've got friends in this town. Friends of my own kind," broke in Jack Blick harshly. "Don't forget that."
"Why?" queried Lieutenant Dick Prescott.
"Because," snarled Blick, showing his teeth, "you've been marked by my friends already. You won't get out of town and back to camp alive!" ”

“ Three minutes later the ground about the captured sentry appeared to be covered with dimly defined figures of advancing men—soldiers in full field equipment.
It was C Company, advancing by column of twos, with Captain Freeman and Lieutenant Ray at the head, and Lieutenant Greg Holmes, alertly watchful of the line, at the rear.
Into the ravine C Company advanced, moving with barely a sound. It was Freeman's intention to reform his men once they were through the ravine and advance, yelling and firing, upon a surprised camp. ”

“ He held on. The runaways tried to forge ahead at renewed speed, but the determined doughboy soldier, holding still to the bridle of one of the animals, put a big check on the speed of the runaways.
A few yards further they dashed, then slowed. Now a score of artillerymen, regular and militia, sprang in and seized the animals just as Corporal Hal Overton, his uniform torn and dust-grimed, and he himself bleeding, fell in the dust. ”

“ If you don't go to sleep, Hal, I think we can prove ourselves equal to anything that that pair may try to do. But you don't want to forget that they are certainly plotting to do something to get you into trouble. Whatever gets you into trouble also puts a bad mark on your record as a soldier and threatens to interfere with your promotion."
"If Hooper and Dowley get busy along those lines," muttered Hal, his eyes blazing, "they'll find that they have a sure fight on their hands."
"That's the way to talk, old fellow," approved Noll Terry, his eyes shining eagerly. ”

“ Lieutenant Prescott snapped a pair of handcuffs over the fellow's wrists.
"Now, you'll keep without spoiling," predicted the young Army officer, leaping to his feet. "Pull him up, men."
Though his right wrist was swelling, Prescott employed that hand to thrust his revolver back into the holster over his hip.
Hal and Noll dragged Blick to his feet.
Like a flash the scoundrel darted away from them. No one had told the Army people that Jack Blick was an expert at throwing off shackles. ”

“ Down below the cell door clanged on two white-faced, angry young soldier boys. It was a serious thing, they knew, for ambitious soldiers to have a clash with the civil authorities.
"We'll lose our corporal's chevrons through this," Noll predicted.
"Yes," assented Corporal Hal Overton, his eyes flashing. "But I can't help it if we do. It's worth that price to be a man!" ”

“ 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. ”

“ I've been there, and I've had to live for weeks on bacon, hard tack and coffee. Sometimes we didn't have the coffee or the bacon, either."
"That's a dog's life," grumbled Dowley.
"No; it's a man's life, at need, but only a man can stand it in the field," returned the sergeant gravely.
After supper many of the men smoked, but Hal and Noll, as they did not indulge in the weed, strolled down toward the trail.
"Isn't this great?" breathed Hal Overton, staring off over the distant mountain tops. "The field duty, I mean." ”

“ He's a bigger liar than you are."
"What's that human calamity behind you howling about?" demanded Private Overton.
"He's intimating that the truth isn't in us because we claim to like field duty."
"Hyman always was a bake-house soldier," laughed Hal cheerily.
"What's that kid saying about me?" demanded Hyman.
"Overton says," reported Noll, not very accurately, "that he can't understand why you're in the Army at all. He says that one of your temperament could find a job in civil life that would suit you much better."
"What job is that?" asked Hyman.
"Nurse girl," grinned Terry. ”

“ Captain Cortland held out his hand almost impulsively, both to Hal and to Noll.
"My men," he said earnestly, "I must tell you that I believe you both did wisely in adopting the profession of arms. Obedience is the first requisite of the soldier. The records of both of you stand well in that respect. But scouting work, which comes under the head of the service of information and security, is of the utmost importance in a campaign, and you two show positive genius as scouts. This is all of a piece with your great work of last night, Overton. ”

“ Two days later, however, after being placed on a cot in the military [Pg 194] hospital at Fort Clowdry, Soldier Hal opened his eyes with a keener realization of the world about him.
"How do you feel, Overton?" asked one of the hospital corps men, bending over him.
"Like a fool," sighed Hal.
"Why?"
"A youngster like me has no business wasting time in hospital. Can I get out to-day?"
"I'm afraid not," smiled the hospital corps man.
"I'm not badly hurt, am I?"
"If the rainmaker knows his business, you've had a fight for your life, and youth and a good constitution have won out." ”

“ The better you know your trade, in war, the better chances you have to come out of the war alive. This field duty, which [Pg 36] so many of you dislike, is for the training of every officer and man in the very things he does in war time. The better every officer and man understands them the better is each fellow's chance of keeping alive in war time. Those of you who grumble ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Look around you at some of the older soldiers who've seen service, and you'll find they never kick."
"B Company fall in!" rang the order, this time from Captain Cortland. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Since this called for no reply, the two soldier boys merely continued to stand at attention.
"Now, I'm not going to commend you for the courage you displayed," went on B Company's captain. "It is a soldier's business to be brave, and he should never be commended for anything less than the most distinguished bravery. But what I am going to commend both of you for is in the way of qualities that not all soldiers show as successfully. The first is prompt obedience, and the second is good judgment under conditions of great danger and requiring the swiftest action. ”

“ Captain Freeman had allowed the same number of his men town leave.
Just before dark forty United States doughboys started down the trail, bent on pleasure and sight-seeing.
Being on leave, none of these men were allowed to carry their arms with them. Nothing, for that matter, could be much more awkward to a soldier than his rifle when on leave to visit town.
"Be careful, men, that none of you overstay your leave," Lieutenant Hampton called warningly, as the town party started down the trail.
"We won't, sir," came the chorused answer.
This is always the promise of men on leave. ”

“ Just remember that regulars and militiamen are both enlisted from the people at large. Put any militia regiment in the country through a regulation three-years' enlistment in the Army and under regular officers, and that militia regiment would then be the equal of any regular regiment in the line. Noll, the whole difference lies in officers, opportunity and training. Don't ever look down on national guardsmen unless you want to prove yourself less of a soldier than [Pg 217] I think you are. ”

“ You're a nice one, Overton, to be entrusted with government property!"
"Oh, come, now, Hyman," Hal laughed back. "That wasn't so bad as your case. You enlisted because the judge said you'd either have to go to jail for robbing the Salvation Army's Christmas boxes, or else turn soldier."
Half a dozen men in the long line were laughing now.
"I'll fix you for that when you're asleep to-night," [Pg 33] growled Hyman.
"Yes; I notice you never do anything to a fellow when he's awake," jeered Private Hal. ”

“ Reinforced now by the soldier drivers, who were also armed, this little party of trained men could put up a very ugly point at the first sign of need.
"And Prescott is just the sort of officer who'll always know how to lead men in a scrap," Hal thought admiringly.
"Shall we take our seats on one of the wagons, sir?" questioned Private Noll Terry.
"No; the wagons are too heavily laden as it is, and we've a rough road ahead. You'll march on foot. Take the road just ahead of the wagon train, but do not march under any restraint whatever. Walk just as much at ease as you can." ”

“ SCORES of brave, quick-witted men in uniform were leaping forward to use their sweeping arms to divert the runaways. But Corporal Hal's swift glance forward as he bent over the neck of the cavalry horse and urged it forward showed that these soldiers could not possibly save the woman and girl in the victoria. ”

“ Noll finished his last few bites of dessert, Hal his coffee. Then both young men rose, quietly crossing the dining room. The soldier boys, as they moved with erect carriage and easy motion, were full of a soldierly grace of appearance that they did not begin to suspect.
Nor did they imagine that strangers in the hotel dining room were paying any heed to them until they heard a man's voice say approvingly:
"Regulars."
"Yes; they're the real thing," agreed another male voice. "You'll know a regular wherever you see one. ”

“ Then he nodded to Noll, close behind him, and the bunkies proceeded.
It was not until they had made fifteen minutes more of the most stealthy progress that Hal and Noll began to feel really easy.
"Now, see here, bunkie," spoke Private Overton at last, "we're not as well 'out of the woods' as we might be fooled into imagining. I think it is even dangerous for us to go together just now. We might run into a scouting detachment, lurking among the rocks, or behind bushes, and get captured after all. Look hard through the darkness. ”

“ But the evidence of the police officer is evidently worth that of all the other witnesses combined, for the policeman has no personal prejudices in the matter. Prisoners at the bar, you appear to have forgotten that you were sworn into the Army and enrolled among the defenders and protectors of the country. It is no light thing to insult a young woman, even if she does happen to belong to the poorer classes of society. Prisoners, [Pg 234] such conduct as yours, under any circumstances, is a disgrace to the splendid uniform that you wear. ”

“ From still another wagon sounded the whines of the five cubs. These were to be taken back to Fort Clowdry, there to be fattened and served at the coming Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner of B Company's men. A few months later these cubs would be "a good size for killing."
"To the victors belong the spoils." The two older bears had been killed as already related, and the cubs found by B Company scouts within C Company's "territory."
Out were tumbled the Army cookstoves. Men of B Company cut up the meat. Soon the odor of baking and roasting meats was on the air. ”

“ Dowley, you're around thirty. Yet those two kids, Overton and Terry, are only eighteen, and they beat you at every point in soldierliness."
"Soldiering is a kid's game," growled Dowley.
"The best men we get in the Army are those we catch young," retorted Corporal Cotter. "Stop! Tighten that cord a whole lot more." "How does that suit you, Corp?" demanded Dowley when, at last, the sulky bunkies had again finished their task. ”

“ But a heavy, blue-coated figure darted in, scattering the combatants. Then a Denver policeman gripped both Hal and Noll by the collar.
"Stop it! Stop, I tell ye!" ordered the policeman gruffly.
"Ye've got good game there, Johnson," called out the fellow Bill. "They're a nasty pair of brass buttons. They insulted my girl, and then pitched into me and my friend."
"I'll run these soldier-loafers in, Bill," agreed the policeman. "We've got too many of these soldier-loafers in the country. It's time for some of 'em to learn something." ”