"Hardly. The officer would be in too much danger from the bullets of his own men if he got in front of them."
"Then an officer isn"t in so very much danger, after all," guessed Mrs.
Overton, speaking in a tone of relief. "Some one in front of him will stop the bullets."
"No one man can stop a bullet that"s going under full steam, Mother. At two or three hundred yards" range, to-day, a bullet will pa.s.s through six or eight men in succession, if there are that many men in its path."
"I--I guess I don"t want to hear any more of that kind of stuff,"
shivered the little woman. "It all sounds--awfully dangerous!"
But Hal"s mother was not idle. With the deft fingers of a woman she was lifting and laying out the handsome uniforms one by one.
"Here"s the one I want you to wear when you go out with your father and me this evening," she said, holding up the full-dress uniform.
Hal laid down the sword he had been examining, stepped over and placed an arm around his mother"s waist.
"Mother, dear, I"m afraid you don"t understand. An officer, when away from troops and duty, rarely wears his uniform in public. It would be looked upon as a foolish piece of vanity on his part."
"But you wore your sergeant"s uniform when you first came home."
"All I can say, Mother, is that the two cases are different. One of these days you"ll understand just why an enlisted man goes off post in uniform, and an officer, when away from his duties, ordinarily wears citizen"s dress. But here"s one uniform, Mother, that I can wear at home in hot weather."
He lifted two garments from near the bottom of the box.
"Why, that"s only a set of tennis flannels," objected his mother.
"It"s part of an officer"s prescribed uniform, just the same," Hal a.s.sured her.
"But there"s no gold lace, no braid, no shoulder-straps--nothing." Mrs.
Overton"s voice quivered with disappointment.
"Here"s the red sash that goes with the trousers," smiled Hal, bringing to light the article he had named. "That gives the suit quite a gay and military appearance, as you"ll soon see."
"It doesn"t look like much more than any clerk might wear," remarked Mrs. Overton, doubtfully.
"It isn"t meant to. This flannel undress is intended for an officer to wear when he doesn"t want to look conspicuous among civilians. I"ll go to my room and put it on presently, and then I think you"ll like it a whole lot better."
"Maybe," said Mrs. Overton doubtfully.
"All this time," pursued Lieutenant Hal, "I"m wondering whether Noll had found a letter waiting for him at his home, and whether his news was as fine as mine."
"You up there, Hal?" called a voice from below--Noll"s.
"Charge!" yelled back the young lieutenant.
Up the stairs very sedately came Noll Terry. His appearance proclaimed the story. He was wearing the tennis flannel undress, red sash and all.
CHAPTER II
BUNNY HEPBURN UP TO OLD TRICKS
"Congratulations, old chum!" cried Hal Overton, striding across the room and holding out his hand.
The two friends joined hands in a fervent clasp.
"Yes; I got my letter, and the news was satisfactory," said Noll, in a queer, half-choking voice.
"A letter from Mr. Ad Interim?" asked Mrs. Overton, making a little face.
"Why, that"s the only sort of an appointment that a fellow can get in summer, when there"s no Senate in session, Mrs. Overton," Noll replied.
"But it"s all right. The Senate never heard of either of us, and so the Senators won"t have anything against us. We"ll get our commissions, all right, soon after the next Congress convenes. Our commissions are safe enough."
"Quite," agreed Hal. "That"s what I"ve been trying to tell Mother."
"A new second lieutenant is only a shave-tail, at best," smiled Noll.
"What does that mean?" demanded Mrs. Overton quickly.
"I don"t know," Noll replied. "It"s just an Army term of derision for a very new young officer, I guess."
"And a second lieutenant soon becomes a "goat,"" Hal added.
"That isn"t a nice word," retorted Mrs. Overton. "It"s slang!"
"It"s worse than slang in the Army," laughed Hal. "The army "goat" is the very new officer who has a lot of extra duties thrust upon him that the older officers don"t want. Those duties of the "goat" are generally both very trifling and very annoying."
"Then it isn"t right," declared Hal"s mother, with an air of conviction.
"No one ought to annoy a young man who has been smart enough to make an officer of himself. What are a second lieutenant"s duties?"
"Well," replied Noll quizzically, "for one thing he must see that every one of his colonel"s eight pairs of boots are kept polished."
"Oliver Terry!" remonstrated Mrs. Overton.
"And see to it that the gra.s.s is kept mowed on the colonel"s lawn,"
added Hal.
"A new second lieutenant is expected to relieve the colonel"s wife"s nurse-girl in taking care of headquarters" kids on Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day afternoons----" continued Noll.
"Also groom the colonel"s horses," added Hal.
"I don"t believe a word of that," declared Mrs. Overton, whereat both very new young officers laughed heartily.
"And you"re starting in badly, too," continued Hal"s mother accusingly.
"I happen to know this much--that an officer must have too much honor to stoop to telling lies. And that he"s court-martialed and driven out of the service if he does. So be careful."