CHAPTER I.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 5, 20 January 1905, Page 2

CHAPTER I.

En oh ot us inevitable,. Euch of us linjitless-Veaoh of us witli his or her right upon the earth, Each of us allowed tho eternal purports of tho .- . earth, .- ' .- ._. '-... Each ol us here W divinely as any is here. „ ' .-..--.— Wait Whitman. . The autumn batch of recruits for the old" regiment had just been uncarted. As usual, they were said to be the very ! worst draft that had ever come from the depot.: Mulvaney looked them over, grunted scornfully, and immediately reported himself very sick. ' ' "Is it the regular autumn |ever?" said the doctor, Who knew something of Terence's ways. "Your temperature's normal." • • " 'Tis a hundred and; thirty-seven rookies to the bad, sorr. I'm not N very : sick now; . but I will be dead if these boys are thrown at me in my rejuecd condition. Doctor, deaf, supppsin' you ' was in charge of three .-chblera camps cn r "A : -A "Go to the hospital, then, you old contriver," said the doctor, laughing. . Terence bundled himself into: a blue bedgown— Dinah "Sh add was away . At- • tending tb a major's lady who preferred Dinah without a - diploma to -" anybody else with a hundred — put a pipe in hio teeth, and paraded the hospital balcouy exhorting Ortheris to be a father to, the new recruits.. '"'- - A ' 'They're mostly y our ., own sort, littl e man^" he said, with a grin. "The topspit avd Wbitecliapel. I'll interogue, them when they 's. more like something they never will be, an' that's a good, ..honest soldier, like me." Ortheris yapped indignantly. He knew as well as Terence what the coming work meant, and he. thought Terence's conduct mean.* Then he strolled • off to look at the. new: v.cattle who, were staring at the uhfamiliaf "landscape ivith-large eyes, and asking if the kites ' .vere eagles and the parish dogs jackils. • "Well, you are a. holy set of beanxaced beggars, you aire," he. said, genially, to a knot in. the barrack square. Then 'running his eye over them — •'Fried -fish an' whelks is about your sort. Blimy if tliey haven't sent some pink-eyed. Jews, too. Ybu : chap with the greasy fed', which o' the Solomons was'-jrqur father-— Moses?" . A , ''My name .s Anderson," said a voice, sullenly. - . ; d\'Oh!..Samuelson. All right, Samuelson. rAka' how many o' the likes o' you iheenies ' are cbmih' to spoil B company?"'; Thef c is no scorn so complete Jas that of an old soldier for the new. It is iughtthatthisshbuld.be so. A recruit, nust learn 'first that he is. not a man, but a thing which in time and the merd3y of Heaven may: develop into a soldier : of v the qneen, if *it takes care and 'attends to. good advice. Ortheris' tunic was open, his cap lopped oyer one eye, and his hands were behind his back, as .he walked ground growing* more cOn- ,'-'■' a ■•'.. • ■ "A A] AyAr- y ■'

temptuous at each step. The recriiibi ; did .not dare to answer, Eord. hey wprhew boys in a. stVa,riget w^ho had called themselves soldiers at the depot;in conifortahle England.. "" ■.', "-Not a single dpair o' shouldersin the dwholelot!" I've seen some bad-drafts;' but this.'ere draft beats any draft I've ever known. Joelc, come an' look a ; -&ese; sqiii^,*ha-mr^anked beggars." iiearoyd was walking across the square. He arriyesd slowly, , circled round the knot as a whale circles round a shoal Of small -fry, said nothing and 'went away, whistling. A . "Yes, you .may well look sheepy," Ortheris squeaked to the boys. "It's the likes o' you breaks the 'carts of the likes of us. W©l v e got to lick you into shape, and never' a ha'penny extry j do we get for so doin', and you aint never grateful neither. Don't you go thinkin' it 's the . colonel, nor yet the company orf'cer that makes you. It's me, you . Johnny Raws Ay on Johnnie bloomin' Eav\'s!" A -'i "■."';- ; ' ■ ; ' A. company officer had come up unperceived behind Ortheris at the end of this oration. "You may *be right, Ortheris," he said, quietly, "but I shouldn't shout it:-"^ - The recruits grinned, as Ortheris saluted and collapsed. Some days afterwards I was privileged, to look over the -new batch, and they were everything that. Ortheris had said, and-more.. B . company had been I devastated by forty or fifty of them, and B company's drill on parade was a '■■ sight to shudder at. Ortheris asked them lovingly: "Whether they had not . been sentout "by mistake, and whether they ; had^iot better* s?ost themselves ; back to -■■ their friends." ;• Learoyd'thrashed' tliem methodically one by one, .without haste ■'. . but without slovenliness; and the older soldiers" took the remnants .from Lea.royd and went over them in their, own f ashion. ; Mulvaney stayed in hospital, and' grinned . from the balcony when • -.*■ Ortheris called him a shirker and other worse names. A --.::-'"• "By the grace ay God we'll brew men < ay them: yet;" .iTerence said one day. .-;'. '••; "Be . yartuous y and^parsavcre, me 's«-)ri. There's the malcin's of f^lr--' <•'■■ .'—''■' imob ii 1 "-' we only go v. A -R -.••:' '.. -Jl'*'. d: •.->.; ..„ >...,- .■-'-■■-.. . -J *^^~f*t ...--■* -■J'-'**- . I

'■'• '*' ' .'■'■'■'' , ''- - " :r---•y. : . .'.Wel". O'rtheris. replied, dancing with rage. "Iyjust like you and your vvc's. "Ere's B company drillin' like a 'drank militia reg'ihent— " | Ay "So I've been officially acquent," was the answer from on. high;. - !but l'm too sick this tide to make certain. "-.."'.' | y""An'-you, you fat H'lrishman,'Shiftin' an' shirkin' iip there among •■•■the. arrerroot an.the. the sago." • • y , "An' the port wine- You've forgot '; -the port wine,; Orth'ris. It's none so siobad." Terence smacked his lips proyokingfty. "An* we're wore off bur feet with these; 'ere— kangaroos. Come out o' that, an' earn your pay. Come on down outer, that an' do so'methin' 'stead o' grinnin' up there like a Jew monkey, you frowzy-headed Fenian." '"When I'm better ay my various complaints I'll have a little private talkin' wid you. In the meanwhile— duck!" Terence flung* an empty medLicine-bot- j tie at Ortheris' head and dropped into" a long* chair, and Ortheris came to tell mfc his opinion of Mulvaney three times over — each time entirely varying all the words. "There'll be a. smash-up one o' these days," he concluded J "Well, it's no fault o' mine, but it's 'ard on B company." y. It -was very hard on B company, for twenty seasoned men cannot push twice that number of fools into their places and keep* their own places at the same time. The recruits should have been more evenly distributed through the regiment, "but it seemed good to the colonel to mass them iv a company where there was a large proportion of ; old soldiers. He found his reward early one morning when the battalion, was advancing by companies in echelon from the right. The order was given •to form company squares, which are compact little bricks of men very un- . pleasant for .a line of charging* cavalry to deal with. B company was on the left flank, and had ample time l;o know what was going* on. For that reason, presumably,* it gathered itself, into a thing like a decayed : aloe-clump, the bayonets pointing anywhere in general and nowhere in particular; and in that clump, roundel or mob it stayed till the. dust^had gone -down and the colonel could see and speak. He did both, and the speaking was admitted by the regiment to be the best thing the "old man had ever risen to since one de,'iightful day at 'af sham-figiit, when a cavalry division ;iiad ; , occasion to wialk ' over his line' 'of ' skirmishers. 'He said, almost weeping, that he had given no order, for rallying groups, and. that he preferred to see a little dressing among the men occasionally. . He then, apologized for having" mistaken B company for men. He said that they were but little weak children, and since he could hot offer them each a perambulator ;and a nursemaid (this -may sound comic to read, but B company heard it by word of mouth and. -winced) perhaps the best thing for them to do would be tp gov dhack dto squad drill. -.To that end he proposed sending them, out of their turn, to garrison duty in Fort Amara, five miles away. (It may be. observed that; B company; were next for this detestable' duty and nearly cheered the colonel.) There he devoutly hoped that •their owh ; subalterns would drill them to death-,; as they were of no use in their present life. j y It was an exceedingly painful scene and I made haste to_ be near B company barracks when parade was dismissed and the men were free to talk. There was no talking at first, because each | old soldier tqd'k a new .draft and lacked him very severely. The non-commis-sioned officers y had; neither eyes nor ; ears for these accidents. They left the barracks* to themselves, and Ortheris improved the occasion by a speech. I did not hear that speech, but fragments ..of it* .we're quoted for weeks afterward. It covered the hirth, parentage and education of every. man in the company by name. It gave a complete account of Fort Amara from a sanitary and social point of view, and it wound . updw^ith an abstract of the whole duty of a soldier, each recruit, his use in life, .and the speaker's views on the -use and fate of the recruits of B company. : "You can't drill, you can't walk, yoti can't shoot— -you— you awful rookies! Wot's the good of you? You eats and you sleeps, and you eats, and you goes . toy the doctor for medicine .when your innards is" out of order, for all the world as if you was bloomin' generals. Ah , now, you've topped it all, you bat'seyed beggars, with getting us druv out to that :^tinkin' Fort Ammorer. • We'll fort you "when- we get out, there. "Yes, an' we'll 'ammer you, too. Don't you think you've come into the harmy to drink heno, an' clot ybu comp'ny, an' lie on your cots, ah' scratch dyour -,-i at hands. You can do that at home sellin' matches, which is all you're ;fit for, ybu keb-huntin', y penny-toy, 'bootlace .baggage-tout, 'orse-'oldin,' , sandwich-backed se-wers, you, (Ortheris j meant soors, which means pigs). I've spoke ybu as -fair/ as I know 'ow, and ybu giye ; good -eed, 'cause if Mulvaney stops skirmishing— gets out o' hospital when we're in the fort, I lay your lives ' wiLL be trouble' to you. " , v i AThat was Ortheris' peroration, and it • caused B company to be christened the | d"bbot-black brigade." With this disgrace" on their slack shoulders • they wentdtb garrison" duty at Fort Amara under three, officers who were-instructed i . .- to twist their little A tails. The army, unlike "every other profession, cannot be taught thrpughdshiJlihg books. First a man must s.uffer, .then.he must learn his work, a,nd the self -irespect, that that knowledge, brings. . The .learning A,£ hard in a land where oui- army is not a red thing that ..wallcs down the streei to be looked at, biit a living, tramping reality liable, to be deeded at the shortest notice, when there is no time to say: "Hadn't you better? And won't you, \ please?" • -. A ... A '.iRsRy-, ,d,The company officers ddiVjided;themselves into 'three. ■ When Brander, the ; captain, .was wearied,*he gave over; to Maydew,'and whehdMaydfewAviaS'hoarse . he ordered the junior sub'alt'ei^,'Ouiess, bucket the ten through squad and a ... drill: till Braider could .gas on again, j Out of j?::rade hours the old. .soldiers ■■■■!

'A. '.', ; . ■ ' ' y.. ';'.'■ ■ spoke to the recruits as old soldiers will, and between the four N f orces at work on them the 'new draft began to stand j on their ieet and feel that they belonger* jo a good and! honorable servL *:-lQ? : . d^his was proved :by their once or ■cwice resenting Ortheris' technical lectures. A f. ..."Drop it now,, lad," Sjiid.Learqvd, coming to -the rescue. VTh' raps are \ biting back. They're none sq rotten as we for." 'Ho! Yes! You think yourself soldiers now, 'cause you don't fall over each other on p'rade, don't you? think 'cause the dirt don't cake off you week's end: to week's *en d that you're clean men. You think: 'cause you can fire youi- rifle without more nor shuttinboth eyes, you're something to fight, don't you? You'll know later on-">-sa,id Ortheris to the barrack-room generally. "Not but that you're a little better than you was," lie added; with a gracious wave of his cutty. - ;■■'-.• __