The Drummer Boy

by J. T. Trowbridge

  V.

  FUN IN CAMP.

  Frank now practised his lessons on his drum, and was very happy. He hadpassed the surgical examination a few days after his arrival in camp, andbeen duly sworn into the service. This latter ceremony made a strongimpression on his mind. He stood in the open air, together with a numberof new recruits, and heard the Articles of War read; after which they alltook off their caps, and held up their right hands, while the oath wasadministered.

  One day, on returning to camp after his lesson in the woods, he wasastonished to see Jack Winch, with his cap off, his fighting-cutdisplayed to all beholders, and his fist shaking, marched off by armedsoldiers.

  "What are they doing with Jack?" he hastened to inquire of Abram Atwater,who stood among his comrades with his arms composedly crossed under hiscape.

  "He is put under guard," said the tall, taciturn soldier.

  "You see," cried Joe Harris, coming up, "Jack had tipped the bottle oncetoo often, and got noisy. The sergeant told him to keep still. 'Dry upyourself,' said Jack. 'Start,' says the sergeant; and he took hold of himto push him towards the tent; but the next he knew, he got a blow squarein the face,--Jack was so mad!"

  "Come, boys," said Ned Ellis, "Le's go over and see how he likes thefun."

  The proposal was accepted; and presently a strong deputation of the Blueswent to pay a visit to their disgraced comrade. Arrived at the guardtent, a couple of sentinels crossed their bayonets before them. Butalthough they could not enter, they could look in; and there, seated onthe ground, they saw Jack, in a position which would have appearedexcessively ludicrous to Frank, but that it seemed to him too pitiful tobehold any comrade so degraded. In consequence of his continued fury andviolence, Jack had been secured in this fashion. Imagine a grotesqueletter _N_, to which feet, arms, and a head have been added, and you havesome idea of his posture, as seen in profile. His knees were elevated;forming the upper angle of the letter. The lower angle was represented bythat portion of the body which forms the seat of the human animal. Thearms were passed over the upper angle, that is, the knees, and kept intheir place by handcuffs on the wrists, and by a musket thrust through,over the arms and under the knees.

  "Can't you untie them iron knots with your teeth, Jack?" said Joe,meaning the handcuffs.

  "How do you like the back to your chair?" said Ned.

  "Let's see ye turn a somerset backwards, Jack."

  And so forth. But Frank did not insult him in his disgrace.

  Winch was by this time sufficiently sobered and humbled. He destroyed thesymmetry of the _N_ by doubling himself ingloriously over his knees andhiding his face between them.

  "Got the colic, Jack?" asked Harris--"you double up so."

  Winch glared up at him a moment,--a ludicrous picture, with that writhingface and that curious fighting-cut,--but cast down his eyes again,sulkily, and said nothing.

  "Come away, boys," whispered Frank. "Don't stay here, making fun of him.Why do you?"

  "Jack," said Ellis, "we're going to take a drink. Won't you come alongwith us?"--tauntingly.

  And the Blues dispersed, leaving poor Jack to his own bitter reflections.

  He had learned one thing--who his friends were. On being released, heshunned Harris and Ellis especially, for a day or two, and paid his courtto Frank.

  "I am going to tell you something, Frank," said he, as they were once atthe pond-side, washing their plates after dinner. "I'm going to leave thecompany."

  "Leave the Blues?" said Frank.

  "Yes, and quit the service. I've got sick of it."

  "But I thought you liked it so well."

  "Well, I did at first. It was a kind of novelty. Come, let's leave it. Iwill."

  "But how can you?"

  "Easy enough. I am under age, and my father 'll get me off."

  "I should think you would be ashamed to ask him to," Frank could not helpsaying, with honest contempt.

  Jack was not offended this time by his plainness, for he had learned thatthose are not, by any means, our worst friends, who truly tell us ourfaults.

  "I don't care," he said, putting on an air of recklessness. "I ain'tgoing to lead this miserable dog's life in camp any longer, if I have todesert"--lowering his voice to a whisper; "we can desert just as easy asnot, Frank, if we take a notion."

  "I, for one," said Frank, indignantly, "shan't take a notion to doanything so dishonorable. We enlisted of our own free will, and I thinkit would be the meanest and most dishonest thing we could do to----"

  "Hush!" whispered Jack. "There's Atwater; he'll hear us."

  * * * *

  At midnight the drummer boy was awakened by a commotion in the tent.

  "Come, Frank," said some one, pulling him violently, "we are going tohave some great fun. Hurrah!"

  Frank jumped up. The boys were leaving the tent. He had already suspectedthat mischief was meditated, and, anxious to see what it was, he ran outafter them.

  He found the company assembled in a dark, mysterious mass in the streetbefore the row of tents.

  "Get a rope around his neck," said one.

  "Burn the tent," said another.

  "With him in it," said a third.

  "What does it all mean?" Frank inquired of his friend Atwater, whom hefound quietly listening to the conspirators.

  "A little fun with the Gosling, I believe," said Atwater, with a shrug."They'd better let him alone."

  "The Gosling" was the nickname which the Blues had bestowed on theircaptain.

  After a hurried consultation among the ringleaders, the company marchedto the tent where the Gosling slept. Only Atwater, Frank, and a fewothers lingered in the rear.

  "I hope they won't hurt him," said Frank. "Ought we not to give thealarm?"

  "And get the lasting ill-will of the boys?" said Atwater. "We can'tafford that."

  The captain's tent was surrounded. Knives were drawn. Then, at aconcerted signal, the ropes supporting the tent were cut. At the sametime the captain's bed, which made a convenient protuberance in the sideof the tent, was seized and tipped over, while tent-pole, canvas, andall, came down upon him in a mass.

  "Help! guard! help!" he shrieked, struggling under the heap.

  At the instant a large pile of straw, belonging to the quartermaster'sdepartment close by, burst forth in a sheet of flame which illumined thecamp with its glare.

  The boys now ran to their tents, laughing at the plight of their captain,as he issued, furious, from the ruins. Frank began to run too; butthinking that this would be considered an indication of guilt, hestopped. Atwater was at his side.

  "We are caught," said Atwater, coolly. "There's the guard." And he foldedhis arms under his cape and waited.

  "What shall we do?" said Frank, in great distress, not that he feared theadvancing bayonets, but he remembered John Winch's arrest, and dreaded asimilar degradation.

  "There are two of them," said the half-dressed captain, pointing outFrank and his friend to the officer of the guard.

  In his excitement he would have had them hurried off at once to theguard-tent. But fortunately the colonel of the regiment, who had beenwriting late in his tent, heard the alarm, and was already on the spot.He regarded the prisoners by the light of the burning straw. Frank,recovering from the trepidation of finding himself for the first timesurrounded by a guard, and subject to a serious accusation returned hislook with a face beaming with courage and innocence. The colonel smiled.

  "Have you been meddling with Captain ----'s bed and cutting his tentdown?" he asked.

  "No, sir," said Frank, with a mien which bore witness to the truth.

  "Do you know who set that fire?"

  "No, sir."

  "What are you out of your tent for?"

  "I came to see the fun, sir. If it was wrong I am very sorry."

  "What fun?"

  "The boys were going to have some fun; I didn't know what, and I c
ame tosee."

  "What boys?"

  "All the boys in our company."

  "Which of them did the things your captain complains of?"

  "I don't know, sir. They were all together; and who tipped the bed, orcut the ropes, or set the fire, I can't tell."

  "It seems they were all concerned, then."

  "No, sir, not all. Some did the mischief, and the rest looked on."

  "Did this person with you do any of the mischief?"

  "No, sir; he was with me all the time, and we kept out of it."

  "How happens it, then, that only you two are caught?"

  "All the rest ran."

  "And why didn't you run?"

  "We had not been doing anything to run for," said Frank, with convincingsincerity.

  Atwater was then questioned, and gave similar answers.

  "Captain ----," said the colonel, "I think it is evident these are notthe persons who are most deserving of punishment. This boy, certainly,could not have been very deeply concerned in the assault, and I aminclined to place entire confidence in his story."

  The captain himself appeared not a little ashamed of having accused oneso young and ingenuous as the drummer boy. The prisoners were accordinglyreleased, and the investigation of the affair was postponed until themorrow. Returning with Atwater to their tent, Frank could not repress thejoy he felt at their fortunate escape. But Atwater took the whole affairwith astonishing coolness, exhibiting no more emotion at their releasethan he had betrayed at their entrapment.

  "What a fellow you are!" said Frank, staying his enthusiastic step, whilehis companion, with slow and stately pace, came up with him. "You don'tseem to care for any thing."

  "Those that care the most don't always show it," said Atwater,laconically, as they crept back into the tent.

  All was hushed and dark within; but soon they heard whispers.

  "Abe! Frank! that you?"

  And they soon found that the tent was full of the fugitives, awaitingtheir return.

  "What made you let 'em catch you? How did you get off?" were the firsteager inquiries.

  Dark as it was, Frank thought he could see Atwater shrug his shouldersand look to him for the required explanation. For Abram was a fellow offew words, and Frank was glib of speech.

  So Frank, seated on his bed, related their adventure, to the greatdelight of the boys, who bestowed the warmest praises upon them for theirspirit and fidelity. They had stood their ground when deserted by theircompanions; and, although they had told the truth about the wholecompany, they had not inculpated individuals. Thus Frank, as heafterwards learned with pleasure, had by his courage and truthfulness wonboth the confidence of his officers and the good will of his comrades.

  The next day the company was called to an account for the offence. Inreply to the captain's charges, the sergeant, acting as spokesman for therest, stated the grievances of the men. The result was, that the captainreceived directions to exercise his company in the colonel's presence;and, complying reluctantly, demonstrated his own inefficiency in a mannerwhich elicited the merriment of spectators, and even provoked the colonelto smile.

  Soon after, in order to get rid of so incompetent an officer, and at thesame time punish the insubordination of the men, it was resolved todisband the company. Thus was afforded to Frank the opportunity, whichseemed to him almost providential, of joining Captain Edney's company,and to John Winch the desired chance to quit the service, of which he hadso soon grown weary.

  At this time the boys' fathers came down together to visit them. John hadwritten home a pitiful letter, and Mr. Winch went to see about gettinghim off.

  But Jack was no sooner out of the service than he wished to be in again.Frank, Atwater, and several others, had joined Captain Edney's company,and he determined to follow their example.

  "O John!" groaned Mr. Winch, in despair at this inconstancy, "when willyou learn to be a little more steady-minded? Here I have come expresslyto plead your cause, and get you off; but before I have a chance, youchange your mind again, and now nothing can persuade you to go home."

  "Well," said John, "I didn't like the company I was in. I'm satisfiednow, and I'm going to serve my country."

  "Well, well," said Mr. Winch, "I shall let you do as you please. Butreflect; you enlist with my consent now, and you must dismiss all hope ofgetting off next time you are sick of your bargain."

  "O, I shan't be sick of it again," said John, as full of ambition as hehad lately been of discontent and disloyalty.

  In the mean time Frank made the most of his father's visit. He showed himhis new tent, his knapsack and accoutrements, and his handsome drum. Heintroduced him to the old drummer, and to Atwater, and to Captain Edney.The latter invited them both into his tent, and was so kind to them thatFrank almost shed tears of gratitude, to think that his father could gohome and tell what a favorite he was with his captain. Then, whendinner-time came, Frank drew a ration for his father, in order that hemight know just what sort of fare the soldiers had, and how they ate it.And so the day passed. And Frank accompanied his father to the cars, andsaw him off, sending a thousand good wishes home, and promising that hewould certainly get a furlough the coming week, and visit them.