by John McElroy
CHAPTER IX. SI TAKES HIS BOYS FOR A LITTLE MARCH INTO THE COUNTRY.
"SI," said the Orderly-Sergeant, "here's a chance to give them pin-featherroosters o' yours a little taste of active service, that'll be goodseasoning for 'em, and help develop their hackles and spurs."
"Good idee. What is it?" responded Si with alacrity.
"An order's come down from Headquarters to detail a Sergeant and eightmen from the company to go out about eight or 10 miles in the country,and take a turn guarding a little mill they're running out there,grinding meal. There's a gang of bushwhackers around there, thatoccasionally pester the men at work and they've tried once to burn themill. I don't think you'll have much trouble, but you've got to keepyour eye peeled, and not let any of your boys go to sleep on post."
"I'll look out for that."
"I know you will. You'll take Shorty along, and your seven kids,which'll make up the number. You'll draw three days' rations, at the endof which time you'll be relieved."
"Now, boys," said Si, returning to his squad, "we won't drill today, butare going out on some real soldierin'. The Kurnel has given us a veryimportant detail."
The boys swelled up visibly at the news.
"I want you to all act like soldiers, now," continued Si, "and bea credit to the company and the rijiment. We're goin' to be all byourselves, and everybody's eyes 'll be on us."
"Yes," echoed Shorty, "we'll be the only part o' the rijiment at thefront, and we want to git a good stiff brace on ourselves, because if wedon't some o' these other rijiments may git the grand laugh on us."
Shorty's tone was that this was a calamity to which death waspreferable, and the boys were correspondingly impressed. They wererapidly learning the lesson that the regiment and its reputation werethe most important things in the whole world.
"Come along, and le's draw our rations," said Si. "And you boys wantto keep in mind that this's all you'll git for three days, and governyourselves accordingly. The 'Leventh Commandment is to take all that youkin git, and take mighty good care of it after you git it--"
"For sich is the Kingdom of Heaven," interjected Shorty, imitating theChaplain's tone.
"No," said Si, who was irritated by his partner's irreverence: "but it'sthe way a good soldier does. His first dooty's to take care o' his grub,because that's takin' care o' himself, and keepin' himself in goodshape to do the dooty the Government expects o' him. 'Tain't servin'the Government right for him to be careless about himself. Now here's 27rations o' bread, meat, coffee, sugar, salt and beans--three apiecefor each of us. Harry Joslyn, you and Gid Mack divide them up into nineequal piles."
Si and Shorty turned to give directions about packing up theshelter-tents and blankets for carrying.
"Now, Gid Mackall," said Harry, "play fair, if you ever did in yourlife. I won't have none o' your shenanniging."
"Don't talk to me about shenanniging, you little imp," responded Gidcordially. "You can't do a straight thing if you try, and you never try.You never fisted-up with me on a ball-bat that you didn't slip your handso's to come out ahead."
"Now, there's three loaves o' bread for the Sargint," said Harry, layingthem down on a newspaper. "There's three for the Corpril; there's threefor me; there's three for you."
"Here, what're you givin' me that broken loaf for?" demanded Gid,stopping in his distribution of meat. "Give that to Pete Skidmore. He'sthe littlest."
"Ain't goin' to do nothin' o' the kind," responded Harry. "You've got totake things as they come. That loaf fell to you, and you've got to keepit."
"If you don't take that nubbin loaf away and put a full one in itsplace, not a speck o' lean meat 'll you get--nothin' but fat six inchesthick."
"You'll cut that meat straight across, and give me my right share o'lean, you puddin'-headed, sandhill crane," shouted Harry.
"Who're you a-calling names, you bow-legged little shrimp?" shouted Gid,slapping Harry across the face with a piece of fat pork.
An angry mix-up, school boy rules, followed, to the great detrimentof the rations. Si and Shorty rushed up, separated the combatants, andadministered shakes, cuffs, and sharp reprimands.
"Now, you quarrelsome little whelps," said Si, after quiet had beenrestored, "you've got to take them rations that you've spiled foryourselves. You shan't have no other. Put that bread and that meatyou've kicked around into your own haversacks. Then go back there androll up your blankets--same as the other boys. Alf Russell, you andJim Humphreys come here and divide the rest o' these rations into sevenparts, if you kin do it without fightin'."
The division of the rations proceeded, with some jars between Russelland Humphreys over the apportionment of fat and lean meat, and angryprotests from little Pete Skidmore because they made his share smallerthan anybody else's.
"Yit," said he, "I've got to march just as far as any of you, carry justas big a gun, and do just as much shootin'."
"You're wrong," said the medical-minded Alf Russell. "You ought to haveless than the others, because you're smaller. The littler and youngerthe person the smaller the dose, always."
"No," acceded the farmer Jim Humphreys. "Tain't natural, nor right. Youdon't give a colt as much feed as you do a grown horse. Anybody knowsthat."
"Pete's plea is sound," contraverted the legal-minded Monty Scruggs. "Allmen are equal before the law, though they mayn't be a foot high. Rationsare a matter of law, and the law's no respecter of persons."
"Rations is intended," persisted Alf, "to give a man what he needs toeat--nothing more, nothing less. Pete don't need as much as a man; whygive it to him? There'd be just as much sense in giving him the clothesfor a six-footer."
"All o' you are always imposin' on me 'cause I'm little," whimperedPete. "And that stuck-up Alf Russell's the worst of all. Just becausehe's goin' to be a doctor, and leads in singin' at church, he thinkshe knows more'n the man what writ the arithmetic, and he's down on mebecause I won't take all he says for law and gospel, in spite of hisairs. Jim Humphreys is down on me, because I writ home that I'd shota man back there at the burnt bridge, and Jim got skeered at acoon-huntin' nigger."
"Never mind, Pete," said Monty consolingly, "none o' them shall imposeon you while I'm around. Now, Alf, you and Jim give Pete just as much asthe rest, or I'll make you."
"Who'll you make, you brindle steer?" said Alf, laying down his breadand bristling up.
"Stand back, Alf; he meant me," said Jim, disposing his meat, andapproaching Monty with doubled fists. "Now, Mister Scruggs, le's see youdo some makin', since you're so brash."
"Here, stop that, you little scamps," shouted Si, whose attention hadbeen so far devoted to quieting Harry and Gid, and showing them howto prepare their traps for marching. "Great Scott, can't you git alongwithout fightin'? I'm goin' to take you where you'll git real fightin'enough to satisfy you.
"Go ahead, there, and divide them rations, as I ordered you, and be quickabout it, for we must hurry off."
The mention of real fighting immediately sobered up the boys, andmade them forget their squabbles. They hurried about their work withquickened zeal.
"Now," said Si, "pack your rations carefully in your haversacks, just asyou see me and Corpril Elliott doin'. First, keep your sugar, coffee andsalt separate. Put 'em in little tin boxes, like these, and see thatthe lids are on tight. Hurry up, now. Shorty, you'd better look over theboxes, and go up and draw as many cartridges as you think we'll need."
The mention of need for cartridges was an electric impulse which set theboys keenly alive. They bundled their rations into their haversacks, andflung their blanket rolls over their shoulders, and were standing in astate of palpitating expectancy, when Shorty came back with his handsfull of cartridges, which he proceeded to distribute.
"Take arms," commanded Si. "Forward!--March!"
Si and Shorty started off with their long, easy campaign stride, which,in some incomprehensible way that the veteran only learns by practice,brought their feet down every time in exactly the right place, avoidingall stumbling-b
locks, and covering without apparent effort a longdistance in the course of an hour. The boys pattered industriouslyafter, doing their best to keep up, but stumbling over roots and stones,and slipping on steep places, and dropping to the rear in spite ofthemselves.
When Si made the customary halt at the end of the first hour, hislittle command was strung back for a quarter of a mile, and little PeteSkidmore was out of sight.
"Better go back and look for little Pete, Shorty," said Si. "We seem tobe losin' him."
Pete was soon brought up, panting and tired.
"Dod durn it, what're you all runnin' away from me for?" he gasped."Want to lose me? Want to git into the fight all by yourselves, andleave me out? Think because I'm little I can't help? I kin shoot as wellas anybody in the crowd, dod durn you."
"There, you see the nonsense o' giving you as much rations as theothers," suggested Alf Russell. "You can't pack 'em, and you wouldn'tneed 'em if you did pack 'em."
"What business is it of yours. Mister Russell, I'd like to know," askedMonty Scruggs, "what he does with his rations. His rations are hisrights, and he's entitled to 'em. It's nobody's business what use a manmakes of his rights."
"Where are these rebels that we're goin' to fight?" asked Harry Joslyn,eagerly scanning the horizon. "I've been looking for 'em all along, butcouldn't see none. Was you in such a hurry for fear they'd get away, andhave they got away?"
"I wasn't in no hurry," answered Si. "That was only regler marchin'gait."
"Holy smoke," murmured the rest, wiping their foreheads; "we thought youwas trying to run the rebels down."
"Don't be discouraged, boys," said Si. "You'll soon git used to marchin'that way right along, and never thinking of it. It may seem a littlehard now, but it won't last long. I guess you're rested enough.Attention! Forward!--March!"
Si and Shorty had mercifully intended to slow down a little, and notpush the boys. But as they pulled out they forgot themselves, and fellagain into their long, swinging stride, that soon strung the boysout worse than ever, especially as they were not now buoyed up by anexpectation of meeting the enemy.
"We must march slower. Si," said Shorty, glancing ruefully back, "orwe'll lose every blamed one o' them boys. They're too green yit."
"That's so," accorded Si. "It's like tryin' to make a grass-belliedhorse run a quarter-stretch."
"Might I inquire," asked Monty Scruggs, as he came up, wiped his faceand sat down on a rock, "whether this is what you'd call a forced march,or merely a free-will trial trot for a record."
"Neither," answered Si. "It's only a common, straight, every-day marchout into the country. You kin count upon one a day like this for therest o' your natural lives--I mean your service. It's part o' what youenlisted for. And this's only a beginnin'. Some days you'll have to keepthis up 15 or 18 hours at a stretch."
There was a general groan of dismay.
"Gracious, I wish I'd wings, or that I'd enlisted in the cavalry,"sighed Harry.
"Brace up! Brace up!" said Shorty. "You'll soon git used to it, and makeyour 40 miles a day like the rest of us, carrying your bed-clothes andfamily groceries with you. It's all in gittin' used to it, as the mansaid who'd bin skinnin' eels for 40 years, and that now they didn't mindit a bit."
"Well, le's jog along," said Si. "We ought to git there in another hour.There's a big rain comin' up, and we want to git under cover before itstrikes us. Forward!--March!"
But the rain was nearer that Si thought. It came, as the Spring rainscome in the North Georgia mountains--as if Niagara had been shifted intothe clouds overhead. The boys were literally washed off the road, andclung to saplings to avoid being carried away into the brush.
"I'll fall back and keep the boys together," said Shorty, as soon as anintermission allowed them to speak.
"Alright," said Si. "Look out for little Pete." And Si began to forgestolidly ahead.
"Goodness, Sarjint, you're not going to travel in such a storm as this,"gasped Gid Mackall.
"Certainly," Si called back. "Come on. We've got to reach that milltonight, no matter what happens. You'd might as well be drowned marchin'as standin' still. 'Tain't rainin' no worse further ahead than here.Forward!"
CLOSE UP, BOYS. 111]
"Close up, boys," said Shorty, taking little Pete's gun and theyoungster's hand. "This's only a Spring shower. 'Tain't nothin' to whatwe had on the Tullyhomy Campaign. There the drops was as big as punkins,and come as thick as the grains on a ear o' corn. Close up, there; dodgethe big drops, and go ahead."
"Hold on to me tight! Hold on to me!" clamored little Pete. "If youdon't I'll be washed away and lost for sure."
"Come along, Peter, my son," Shorty assured him.
"I hain't never lost no children yit, and I hain't goin' to begin withyou."
The storm grew more violent every minute, limbs were torn from thetrees, and fell with a crash, and torrents rushed down from the mountainside, across the road. Si strode on resolutely, as if the disturbancewere nothing more than a Summer zephyr. He waded squarely through theraging streams, turning at times to help the next boy to him, strodeover the fallen limbs, and took the dashing downpour with stolidindifference.
"Close up, boys! Close up!" shouted Shorty from time to time, "Don'tmind a little sprinkle like this. It'll lay the dust, and make marchin'easier. Come along, Peter, my son. I'm not goin' to lose you."
Night suddenly came, with pitchy darkness, but Si steadily forgedonward. Then the rain ceased as suddenly as it began, but the road wasencumbered with fallen timber and swirling races of muddy water. Theyseemed more uncomfortable even than when the rain was falling. They werenow nearing the mill, and the sound of a fitful musketry fire came totheir ears.
"They've sneaked up in the storm to attack the mill," Si called out toShorty. "Close up and prepare for action."
"Goodness," gasped Gid Mackall, much of whose vim had been soaked out ofhim by the fearful downpour, and who was oppressed by fatigue, hunger,and the dense blackness of the night in the strange woods. "You don'thave to fight when you're wetter'n a drowned rat, and so tired you'reready to drop, do you?"
"That's what you do," said Shorty, wiping off his musket. "That's theway you'll have to do most o' your fightin'. The miserabler you feel themiserabler you want to make the other fellers feel. Boys, turn your gunsupside down and let the water run out. Then half-cock 'em, and blow into'em to clean the water out o' the tubes. Then find a dry rag somewhereabout you, and wipe off the nipples. We want every gun to go off whenthe order is given. Don't anybody load till Si gives the order."
The drenched but excited boys followed his directions with nervoushaste. Shorty took one gun after another and examined it, while Siwent forward a little ways to reconnoiter. The calm deliberation of thepartners steadied the nervous boys.
"Load," called back Si, from the vantage ground of a little knoll, uponwhich he was standing, trying to see into the darkness beyond. A volleyfrom out in front responded to the sound of his voice, and bulletsknocked bark off the big chestnut behind which he had shrewdly takenrefuge.
"Jest as I expected, Si," Shorty called back to him. "The rebels havethrowed back a squad to watch for us."
"Yes," said Si, coolly, as he stepped back to meet the boys. "Thereain't but 10 o' them, though. I counted every flash and located 'em.They're all in a bunch right over there by a dead tree to the left. Moveup there quick, aim a little to the left. Aim low, and fire just as wereach the rise. I'll fire first, and the rest of you foller. Try to hitsomething, every one of you."