"My dear Captain, I"m only a lieutenant. It requires a man of higher rank to do such an important piece of work. You"re a new man on the staff, and we wanted to pay you an honor and give you a chance to show your patriotism. You will be saving the reputation and character of the army."
"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Sam. "Are you sure that it"s always done in just this way?"
"Always. It"s an ordinary matter of business arrangement, as I"ve already told you."
"Then it must be all right, I suppose," said Sam.
"But it"s not only that. It"s a n.o.ble act to protect the character of a brother officer."
"So it is, so it is," said Sam. "I"ll do it. I"ll call and see him about it to-morrow afternoon."
"h.e.l.lo!" shouted another officer, coming into the room. "Have you seen the orders? There"s to be a conference of brigade and regimental commanders here to-night, and all staff officers are invited to attend.
That means business."
Sam was overjoyed at the news, and the three men hastened to the headquarters" room to discuss it with their fellow officers.
Sam was present at the conference as a matter of course, and he watched the proceedings with the greatest interest. A map was stretched out on a magnificent gilt table in the middle of the room in which Sam had first seen the general, and most of the officers bent over it studying it. The general sat back in his arm-chair with his fan and asked everybody"s advice, and no one appeared to have any advice to give.
"The fact is this, gentlemen," he said at last, "we"ve got to do something, and the question is, what to do. Burton," said he to his a.s.sistant adjutant-general, "show them the plan that we"ve worked out."
Burton was one of the officers who were poring over the map, and he began to explain a general advance in the direction of the enemy. He pointed out the position which they were now supposed to occupy, some ten miles away.
"We ought to move out our lines to-morrow," he explained, "within, say, three or four miles of theirs. The regiments will keep the same order that they"re in here at Havilla. We can"t make the final arrangements until we get there. We may stay there a day or two to entrench ourselves, and then move on them at daybreak some day within a week."
"That"s the plan, gentlemen," said the general. "What do you think of it?" and he began to question all the general and field officers present beginning with the youngest, and none of them had any suggestion to offer.
"Then it"s understood that we start for this line here to-morrow morning at seven," said Burton.
They all a.s.sented.
"Now, boys, let"s have some whisky," said the general, and the conference resolved itself into a committee of the whole.
Early in the morning the troops began to move forward. Sam, who acted as aide-de-camp, was sent out from headquarters once or twice to urge the various colonels to make haste, but there seemed to be no special orders as to the details of the movement. The regiments went as best they could and selected their own roads, finally choosing the positions that seemed most desirable to their commanders, who took care not to leave too great an interval between regiments. The men were set to work at once at putting up the tents and making entrenchments. It was some time after midday when the general and his staff finally left the headquarters in the city. Sam came downstairs with Major Stroud to mount his horse, and was surprised to see a landau with two horses drawn up at the door.
"Who"s that for?" he cried.
"For the general," answered Major Stroud quietly.
"For the general! Why on earth doesn"t he ride a horse?"
"There isn"t a horse in the place that can carry him. He tried one when he first came here. He mounted it on a step-ladder, and the beast came down on his knees on the stone pavement and had to be shot. He hasn"t tried it since."
After waiting on the street for a long time Sam had the privilege of seeing the general emerge from the palace and enter his carriage. He was perspiring and fanning as usual, but carried no whisky and soda.
The staff officers, of whom there were a dozen or more, mounted and followed the carriage. Sam rode next to Stroud. There was much confusion in the roads which they traveled--wagons laden with tents and provisions and hospital stores, camp-followers of all descriptions, and some belated soldiers besides. The general, however, had the right of way, and they proceeded with reasonable speed. They pa.s.sed through native villages, rows of one-and two-story thatched houses on each side, with wooden palisades in front of them, well shaded by low but spreading palms. They pa.s.sed large sugar refineries, built by the Castalians, and churches and convents. They pa.s.sed rice-fields, some covered with water and others more or less dry, which st.u.r.dy peasants were busy harrowing with buffaloes. On the road they saw many two-wheeled carts drawn by single buffaloes, the man standing in the cart as he drove. At last they came to a halt on rising ground at the edge of a piece of woodland, and Colonel Burton, the adjutant-general, rode up beside the general"s carriage and dismounted, and the two began to study the map again. After a long discussion the procession moved on again and finally stopped at the crest of a ridge, where the general alighted and soon selected a place for his tent. An hour had pa.s.sed before the tents and baggage arrived, but notwithstanding the delay the tents were pitched and supper ready by sundown, and Sam found himself actually in the field on the eve of a battle. The eve, however, was somewhat prolonged. Several days pa.s.sed, and Sam was kept pretty busy in riding to the various brigade and regimental headquarters and finding out how things were progressing: what was the state of the trenches, and what news there was from the enemy. Scouting parties were sent out, but their reports were kept secret, and Sam was left in the dark. There was a native village about half a mile to the rear, and the inhabitants were all friendly. Sam stopped there occasionally for a drink of water, and became acquainted with the keeper of the cafe, who was particularly amicable and fond of conversation. Cleary was on the lookout for accommodations in the neighborhood, and Sam introduced him to this native, Senor Garcia, who provided him with a room. One evening Sam was sitting with Cleary in the cafe when Garcia, as was his custom, joined them, and they began to talk in the Castalian language.
"We are glad you people are coming to rule our islands," said Garcia; "that is, those of us who know your history, because we know that you are a great people and love freedom."
"I am pleased to hear it," said Sam. "Cleary, I was sure that all the sensible natives would feel that way."
"You believe in liberty, equality, fraternity?"
"Of course we do," said Cleary.
"Yes," said Sam, "if you understand those words properly. Now liberty doesn"t interfere with obedience. Our whole army here is built up on the idea of obedience. We"ve all got liberty, of course, but----"
"Liberty to do what?" asked Garcia innocently.
"Why, liberty to--well, to--yes, liberty to do as we"re ordered,"
said Sam.
"Ah! I see," said Garcia. "And then you have equality."
"Yes," said Sam, "in a general way we have. But that doesn"t prevent people from differing in rank. Now there"s the general, he"s my superior, and I"m the superior of the lieutenants, and we"re all superior to the privates. We have regular schools at home to teach us not to misunderstand the kind of equality that we believe in. There"s one at East Point for the army. This gentleman and I were educated there. We weren"t allowed even to look at our superiors. There"s another inst.i.tution like it for the navy. And then every man-of-war and every army garrison is a sort of college to spread these ideas about rank. A captain of a ship can"t even let his officers dine with him too often. It"s a fine system and it prevents us from making any mistakes about what equality means."
"And then fraternity?" asked Garcia.
"Oh, that"s just the same," said Cleary. "At East Point we got a blow in the jaw if we showed the wrong kind of fraternity to our betters."
"It"s a wonderful system," said Garcia. "But I have heard some of your people explain liberty, equality, fraternity a little differently."
"They must have been civilians," said Sam. "The army and navy represent all that is best in our country, and the people at large do not understand the army and navy. Luckily for you, the islands will be in charge of the army. There won"t be any mistake about the kind of liberty and equality we give you."
"I am so grateful," said Garcia, rolling up his eyes.
"Yes, Cleary," said Sam. "The people at home don"t understand us.
Did you see that there"s a bill in Congress to allow men in the ranks, mere non-commissioned officers, to apply for commissions? If they pa.s.s it, it will be the end of the army. Just think of a sergeant becoming one of us! Oh, I forgot, you aren"t an officer, but you must know how I feel!"
Cleary expressed his sympathy, and Sam bade him and his host good-night. On his way back through a path in the jungle he thought he heard a light step behind him, but when he looked back he could see nothing. When he arrived at the headquarters" tent he found all the higher officers of the army there, and Stroud whispered to him that they had heard that Gomaldo would take the offensive the next morning, and that consequently a general advance was ordered for daybreak in order that they might forestall him. The general was rather taken by surprise and his final plans were not ready, but it was arranged that at four o"clock each regiment should advance, and that orders containing further details would be sent to them by six o"clock at the latest. Burton remained in the general"s tent to perfect the orders, and Sam went to the tent which he occupied with Major Stroud to enjoy a few hours" sleep.
"I"m afraid we"re not quite ready," said Sam.
"No army ever is," replied Stroud laconically.
"I wish the general were a little livelier and quicker," said Sam, blushing at his own blasphemy.
"And thinner?" said Stroud, smiling, as he twisted his white mustache and smoothed his imperial. "Oh, he"ll do very well. He"s a good solid point to rally round and fall back on, and then we always know where to find him, for he can"t get away very far if he tries."
At half-past three in the morning the officers of the staff were called by a native servant and began to make their preparations. They breakfasted as best they could on coffee without sugar or cream, and some stale bread, with an egg apiece, and whisky. Sam felt unaccountably sleepy, and he thought that all the rest looked sleepy too. It was five o"clock before Burton had the orders ready for the various subordinate commanders, telling each of them in which direction to advance. The plan had been mapped out the night before, but the orders had to be copied and corrected. At last he came out and distributed them to Stroud, Sam, and several other officers--two orders to each, yawning painfully as he handed them out.
"I don"t think I slept a wink last night," he said.
The two commands to which Sam"s orders were directed were stationed on the extreme right of the army. He made a rough tracing of that part of the map and set out at once on a wiry little native pony. For some distance he followed the high-road, but then was obliged to turn into a branch road which led through the woods, and which soon became a mere wood-path. Before long he heard firing in front of him, and soon he recognized the sound of whistling bullets above his head. He found himself ducking his head involuntarily, and almost for the first time in his life he was conscious of being afraid. This was a surprise to him, as his thoughts during the night whenever he had been awake had been full of pleasant antic.i.p.ations.
The path suddenly came out into an open rolling country, and Sam pulled up his horse, dismounted, and hiding behind some underbrush, took a look at the situation. There was a Gatling-gun, worked by a young officer and five men, a few hundred yards to the right at the edge of the woods. Beyond to the front he could see a line of troops firing at the enemy from behind a wall. Of the Cubapinos he could see nothing but the smoke of their guns and muskets here and there. Sh.e.l.ls were falling in another part of the field, but nowhere near him. Bullets were flying thick through the air, and he heard them hissing constantly. As he looked he saw one of the Gatling crew fall over, doubled up in a heap. Sam moved along in the wood nearer to this gun, so that he might ask where he could find the brigade commander. As he approached he heard the lieutenant say:
"d.a.m.n those sharp-shooters. They"ve got our range now. With this d.a.m.ned smokeless powder they can pick us all off. Clark, bring some of that artificial smoke stuff here."
The soldier obeyed, and in a few moments a dense smoke rose above them, covering the whole neighborhood.