A bullet from one of the other fellows made the splinters fly from a rail a foot or two from Si"s head; but he was getting excited now, and he didn"t mind it any more than if it had been a paper wad from a pea-shooter.
It makes a great difference with a soldier under fire whether he can take a hand in the game himself, or whether he must lie idle and let the enemy "play it alone."
"Did ye hear him squeal?" said Si, as he dropped upon the ground and began to reload with all his might. "I hit that son-of-a-gun, sure. Give "em H--Hail Columbia, Shorty. We"ll show "em that the 200th Ind. is in front to-day!"
"Forward, men!" shouted the officers. "Go right for "em!"
The skirmishers sprang over the fence and swept across the field at a "double-quick" in the face of a sputtering fire that did little damage.
None of them reached the other side any sooner than Si did. The rebels seemed to have found out that the 200th boys were coming, for they were already on the run, and some of them had started early. Pell-mell through the brush they went, and the blue-blouses after them.
"Halt, there, or I"ll blow ye into the middle o" next week!" yelled Si, as he closed up on a ragged specimen of the Southern Confederacy whose wind had given out. Si thought it would be a tall feather in his hat if he could take a prisoner and march him back.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SI CAPTURES A JOHNNY 149 ]
The "Johnny" gave one glance at his pursuer, hesitated, and was lost. He saw that Si meant business, and surrendered at discretion.
"Come "long with me!" said Si, his eyes glistening with pleasure and pride. Si marched him back and delivered him to the Colonel.
"Well done, my brave fellow!" said the Colonel.
"This is a glorious day for the 200th Ind., and you"ve taken its first prisoner. What"s your name my boy?"
"Josiah Klegg, sir!" said Si, blushing to the very roots of his hair.
"What company do you belong to?"
"Company Q, sir!" and Si saluted the officer as nicely as he knew how.
"I"ll see your Captain to-night, Mr. Klegg, and you shall be rewarded for your good conduct. You may now return to your company."
It was the proudest moment of Si"s life up to date. He stammered out his thanks to the Colonel, and then, throwing his gun up to a right shoulder-shift, he started off on a canter to rejoin the skirmishers.
That night Si Klegg was the subject of a short conversation between his Captain and the Colonel. They agreed that Si had behaved very handsomely, and deserved to be promoted.
"Are there any vacancies in your non-commissioned officers?" asked the Colonel.
"No," was the reply, "but there ought to be. One of my Corporals skulked back to the rear this morning and crawled into a wagon. I think we had better reduce him to the ranks and appoint Mr. Klegg."
"Do so at once," said the Colonel.
Next morning when the 200th was drawn up in line an order was read by the Adjutant reducing the skulker and promoting Si to the full rank of Corporal, with a few words commending the gallantry of the latter.
These orders announcing rewards and punishments were supposed to have a salutary effect in stimulating the men to deeds of glory, and as a warning to those who were a little short of "sand."
[Ill.u.s.tration: CORPORAL SI KLEGG 151 ]
The boys of Co. Q showered their congratulations upon Si in the usual way. They made it very lively for him that day. In the evening: Si hunted up some white cloth, borrowed a needle and thread, went off back of the tent, rammed his bayonet into the ground, stuck a candle in the socket, and sewed chevrons on the sleeves of his blouse. Then he wrote a short letter:
"Deer Annie: I once more take my pen in hand to tell you there"s grate news. I"m an ossifer. We had an awful fite yisterdy. I don"t know how menny rebbles I kild, but I guess thare was enuff to start a good sized graveyard. I tuk a prizner, too, and the Kurnal says to me bully fer you, Mister Klegg, or sumthin to that eff.e.c.k. This mornin they made me a Corporil, and red it out before the hull rijiment I guess youd been prowd if you could have seen me. To-night the boys is hollerin hurraw fer Corporal Klegg all over camp. I ain"t as big is the Ginrals and gum of the other ossifers, but thars no tellin how hi I"ll get in three years.
"Rownd is the ring that haint no end, So is my luv to you my friend.
"Yours, same as before,
"Corporal Si Klegg."
CHAPTER XVI. ONE OF THE "NON-COMMISH"
A NIGHT"S ADVENTURES AS "CORPORAL OF THE GUARD."
"CORPORAL Klegg, you will go on duty to-night with the camp guard!" said the Orderly of Co. Q one evening, as the 200th Ind. filed off into a piece of woods to bivouac for the night, two or three days after Si had been promoted.
The chevrons on his arms had raised Si several degrees in the estimation not only of himself, but of the other members of the company. His conduct in the skirmish had shown that he had in him the material for a good soldier, and even the Orderly began to treat him with that respect due to his new rank as one of the "non-commish."
Like every other man who put on the army blue and marched away so bold, "With gay and gallant tread," Si could not tell whether he was going to amount to anything as a soldier until he had gone through the test of being under fire. There were many men who walked very erect, talked bravely, drilled well, and made a fine appearance on dress parade, before they reached "the front," but who wilted at the "zip" of bullets like tender corn blades nipped by untimely frost. And a good many of them continued in that wilted condition. Perhaps they really couldn"t help it. An inscrutable Providence had seen fit to omit putting any "sand in their gizzards," as the boys expressed it.
It must be confessed that Si was somewhat unduly elated and puffed up over, his own achievements as a skirmisher and his success in climbing the ladder of military rank and fame. It is true, it wasn"t much of a fight they had that day, but Si thought it was pretty fair for a starter, and enough to prove to both himself and his comrades that he wouldn"t be one of the "coffee coolers" when there was business on hand.
Si was sorry that his regiment did not get into the fight at Perryville.
The 200th Ind. belonged to one of the two corps of Buell"s army that lay under the trees two or three miles away all through that October afternoon, while McCook"s gallant men were in a life-and-death struggle against overwhelming odds. It bothered Si as much to understand it all as it did 30,000 other soldiers that day.
Si responded with alacrity when he was detailed for guard duty. He had walked a beat once or twice as a common tramp, and had not found it particularly pleasant, especially in stormy weather; but now he was a peg higher, and he thought as Corporal he would have a better time. He had already observed that the rude winds of army life were tempered, if not to the shorn lambs, at least to the officers, in a degree proportionate to their rank. The latter had the first pick of everything, and the men took what was left. The officers always got the softest rails to sleep on, the hardtack that was least tunneled through by the worms, the bacon that had the fewest maggots, and the biggest trees in a fight.
"Forward--March!" shouted the officer in command, when the detachment was ready. Si stepped off very proudly, thinking how glad his good old mother and sister Marier and pretty Annabel would be if they could see him at that moment. He was determined to discharge his official duties "right up to the handle," and make the boys stand around in lively style.
When the guard reached the place selected for headquarters the officer drily lectured them in regard to their duties, impressing upon them the necessity of being alert and vigilant. There was only a thin picket-line between them and the enemy. The safety of the army depended upon the faithfulness of those appointed to watch while others slept. He gave them the countersign, "Bunker Hill," and ordered them under no circ.u.mstances to allow any person to pa.s.s without giving it, not even the Commanding General himself.
Then the guards were posted, the "beats" laid off and numbered, and as the fast-gathering shadows deepened among the trees the sentinels paced to and fro around the tired army.
For an hour or two after the guards were stationed all was quiet along the line. The noise of the great camp was hushed for the night, and no sound broke the stillness of the gloomy forest. The moon rose and peeped timidly through the branches.
"Corporal of the Guard; Post No. 6."
Si"s quick ear, as he lay curled up at the foot of a tree, caught these words, rapidly repeated by one sentinel after another. It was his first summons. He sprang to his feet, gun in hand, his heart beating at the thought of adventure, and started on the run for "Post No. 6."
"What"s up?" he said to the guard, with a perceptible tremor in his voice.
"There"s one o" the boys tryin" to run the guards!" was the answer.
"He"s been out foragin", I reckon. He"s got a lot o" plunder he wants to git into camp with. See him, out there in the bush?"
The forager, for such he proved to be, was nimbly dodging from tree to tree, watching for a chance to cross the line, but the alertness of the"
guards had thus far kept him outside. He had tried to bribe one or two of the boys by offering to "whack up" if they would let him pa.s.s or give him the countersign, so that he could get in at some other point in the cordon. But the guards were incorruptible. They were "fresh" yet, and had not caught on to the plan of accepting an offered chicken, a section of succulent pig, or a few sweet potatoes, and then walking off to the remote limit of the beat, with eyes to the front, while the forager shot across the line in safety. They learned all about this after a while.
The raider tried to parley with Si, but Si wouldn"t have it. Raising his gun to a "ready" he ordered the man to come in or he would put a hole through him.
The best thing to do under the circ.u.mstances was to obey. The forager, who belonged to Si"s company, crept up to Corporal Klegg and in a conciliatory tone opened negotiations.
"You jest let me pa.s.s, and you may have your pick of this stuff," said he, holding up a fowl in one hand and a ham in the other. "It"ll be all right, and n.o.body "ll ever know nothin" "bout it!"