The soldiers halted.
"Break ranks!" cried Jimmieboy, after the corporal had told him the proper order to give next.
The soldiers broke ranks, and in sheer weariness threw themselves down on the soft turf at the side of the road--all except the corporal, who at Jimmieboy"s request came and sat down at the general"s side to make his report.
"This is fine weather we are having, corporal," said the major, winking at the subordinate officer, and trying to make him understand that the less he said about the major the better it would be for all concerned.
"Yes," returned the corporal. "Better for sleeping than for military duty, eh, major?"
Here the major grew pale, but had the presence of mind to remark that he thought it might rain in time for tea.
"There"s something behind all this," thought Jimmieboy; "and I"m going to know what it all means."
Then he said aloud, "You have had a very speedy recovery, corporal."
Here the major cleared his throat more loudly than usual, blushed rosy red, and winked twice as violently at the corporal as before.
"Did you ever hear my poem on the "Cold Tea River in China"?" he asked.
"No," said the corporal, "I never did, and I never want to."
"Then I will recite it for you," said the major.
"After the corporal has made his report, major," said Jimmieboy.
"It goes this way," continued the major, pretending not to hear.
"Some years ago--"way back in "69--a Friend and I went for a trip through China, That pleasant land where rules King Tommy Chang, Where flows the silver river Yangtse-w.a.n.g-- Through fertile fields, through sweetest-scented bowers Of creeping vinous vines and floral flowers."
"My dear major," interrupted Jimmieboy, "I do not want to hurt your feelings, but much as I like to hear your poetry I must listen to the report of the corporal first."
"Oh, very well," returned the major, observing that the corporal had taken to his heels as soon as he had begun to recite. "Very well. Let the corporal proceed."
Jimmieboy then saw for the first time that the corporal had fled.
"Why, where is he?" he asked.
"I do not know," returned the major, coldly. "I fancy he has gone to the kitchen to cook his report. He always goes off when I recite."
"Oh, well, never mind," said Jimmieboy, noticing that the major was evidently very much hurt. "Go on with the poem about "Cold Tea River.""
"No, I shall not," replied the major. "I shall not do it for two reasons, general, unless you as my superior officer command me to do it, and I hope you will not. In the first place, you have publicly humiliated me in the presence of a tin corporal, an inferior in rank, and consequently have hurt my feelings more deeply than you imagine. I am not tall, sir, but my feelings are deep enough to be injured most deeply, and in view of that fact I prefer to say nothing more about that poem. The other reason is that there is really no such poem, because there is really no such a stream as Cold Tea River in China, though there might have been had Nature been as poetic and fanciful as I, for it is as easy to conceive of a river having its source in the land of the tea-trees, and having its waters so full of the essence of tea gained from contact with the roots of those trees, that to all intents and purposes it is a river of tea. Had you permitted me to go on uninterrupted I should have made up a poem on that subject, and might possibly by this time have had it done, but as it is, it never will be composed. If you will permit me I will take a horseback ride and see if I cannot forget the trials of this memorable day. If I return I shall be back, but otherwise you may never see me again. I feel so badly over your treatment of me that I may be rash enough to commit suicide by jumping into a smelting-pot and being moulded over again into a piece of shot, and if I do, general, if I do, and if I ever get into battle and am fired out of a gun, I shall seek out that corporal, and use my best efforts to amputate his head off so quickly that he won"t know what has happened till he tries to think, and finds he hasn"t anything to do it with."
Breathing which horrible threat, the major mounted his horse and galloped madly down the road, and Jimmieboy, not knowing whether to be sorry or amused, started on a search for the corporal in order that he might hear his report, and gain, if possible, some solution of the major"s strange conduct.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CORPORAL"S FAIRY STORY.
Jimmieboy had not long to search for the corporal. He found that worthy in a very few minutes, lying fast asleep under a tree some twenty or thirty rods down the road, snoring away as if his life depended upon it.
It was quite evident that the poor fellow was worn out with his exertions, and Jimmieboy respected his weariness, and restrained his strong impulse to awaken him.
His consideration for the tired soldier was not without its reward, for as Jimmieboy listened the corporal"s snores took semblance to words, which, as he remembered them, the snores of his papa in the early morning had never done. Indeed, Jimmieboy and his small brother Russ were agreed on the one point that their father"s snores were about the most uninteresting, uncalled for, unmeaning sounds in the world, which, no doubt, was why they made it a point to interrupt them on every possible occasion. The novelty of the present situation was delightful to the little general. To be able to stand there and comprehend what it was the corporal was snoring so vociferously, was most pleasing, and he was still further entertained to note that it was nothing less than a rollicking song that was having its sweetness wasted upon the desert air by the sleeping officer before him.
This is the song that Jimmieboy heard:
"I would not be a man of peace, Oh, no-ho-ho--not I; But give me battles without cease; Give me grim war with no release, Or let me die-hi-hi.
I love the frightful things we eat In times of war-or-or; The biscuit tough, the granite meat, And hard green apples are a treat Which I adore-dor-dor.
I love the sound of roaring guns Upon my e-e-ears, I love in routs the lengthy runs, I do not mind the stupid puns Of dull-ull grenadiers.
I should not weep to lose a limb, An arm, or thumb-b.u.m-b.u.m.
I laugh with glee to hear the zim Of sh.e.l.ls that make my chance seem slim Of getting safe back hum.
Just let me sniff gunpowder in My nasal fee-a-ture, And I will ever sing and grin.
To me sweet music is the din Of war, you may be sure."
"Well, I declare!" cried Jimmieboy. "If my dear old papa could snore songs like that, wouldn"t I let him sleep mornings!"
"He does," snored the corporal. "The only trouble is he doesn"t snore as clearly as I do. It takes long practice to become a fluent snorer like myself--that is to say, a snorer who can be understood by any one whatever his age, nation, or position in life. That song I have just snored for you could be understood by a Zulu just as well as you understood it, because a snore is exactly the same in Zuluese as it is in your language or any other--in which respect it resembles a cup of coffee or a canary-bird."
"Are you still snoring, or is this English you are speaking?" asked Jimmieboy.
"Snoring; and that proves just what I said, for you understood me just as plainly as though I had spoken in English," returned the corporal, his eyes still tightly closed in sleep.
"Snore me another poem," said Jimmieboy.
"No, I won"t do that; but if you wish me to I"ll snore you a fairy tale," answered the corporal.
"That will be lovely," said Jimmieboy. "I love fairy tales."
"Very well," observed the corporal, turning over on his back and throwing his head back into an uncomfortable position so that he could snore more loudly. "Here goes. Once upon a time there was a small boy named Tom whose parents were so poor and so honest that they could not afford to give him money enough to go to the circus when it came to town, which made him very wretched and unhappy, because all the other little boys who lived thereabouts were more fortunately situated, and had bought tickets for the very first performance. Tom cried all night and went about the town moaning all day, for he did want to see the elephant whose picture was on the fences that could hold itself up on its hind tail; the man who could toss five-hundred-pound cannon b.a.l.l.s in the air and catch them on top of his head as they came down; the trick horse that could jump over a fence forty feet high without disturbing the two-year-old wonder Pattycake who sat in a rocking-chair on his back. As Tom very well said, these were things one had to see to believe, and now they were coming, and just because he could not get fifty cents he could not see them.
"Then he thought, "Here! why can"t I go out into the world, and by hard work earn the fifty cents I so much need to take me through the doors of the circus tent into the presence of these marvelous creatures?"
"And he went out and called upon a great lawyer and asked him if he did not want a partner in his business for a day, but the lawyer only laughed and told him to go to the doctor and ask him. So Tom went to the doctor, and the doctor said he did not want a partner, but he did want a boy to take medicines for him and tell him what they tasted like, and he promised Tom fifty cents if he would be that boy for a day, and Tom said he would try.
"Then the doctor got out his medicine-chest and gave Tom twelve bottles of medicine, and told him to taste each one of them, and Tom tasted two of them, and decided that he would rather do without the circus than taste the rest, so the doctor bade him farewell, and Tom went to look for something else to do. As he walked disconsolately down the street and saw by the clock that it was nearly eleven o"clock, he made up his mind that he would think no more about the circus, but would go home and study arithmetic instead, the chance of his being able to earn the fifty cents seemed so very slight. So he turned back, and was about to go to his home, when he caught sight of another circus poster, which showed how the fiery, untamed giraffe caught cocoanuts in his mouth--the cocoanuts being fired out of a cannon set off by a clown who looked as if he could make a joke that would make an owl laugh. This was too much for Tom. He couldn"t miss that without at least making one further effort to earn the money that would pay for his ticket.
"So off he started again in search of profitable employment. He had not gone far when he came to a crockery shop, and on stopping to look in the large shop window at the beautiful dishes and graceful soup tureens that were to be seen there, he saw a sign on which was written in great golden letters "BOY WANTED." Now Tom could not read, but something told him that that sign was a good omen for him, so he went into the shop and asked if they had any work that a boy of his size could do.
""Yes," said the owner of the shop. "We want an errand-boy. Are you an errand-boy?"