To Sergeant Hal it seemed impossible to thank Lieutenant Prescott sufficiently.
For, though the young soldier, even if he had not been vindicated so handsomely, would have lived down most of the suspicion in time, yet all of the stain would never have vanished had it not been for Lieutenant Prescott.
Soldiers, from the very fact of living in isolated little communities of their own, are somewhat p.r.o.ne to gossip over purely garrison and regimental affairs. So some of the story would always have clung about Sergeant Overton"s reputation among his own kind.
"But you"ve stopped all of that forever, Lieutenant," protested Hal gratefully when calling, by permission, at Mr. Prescott"s quarters.
"I am glad I have then, my lad," smiled back the young lieutenant. "I"m glad for your sake, Sergeant, and, if you wish, you may consider that I took much of the trouble on your account personally. But I had also a still greater motive in doing what I did."
"What was that, sir, if I may ask?"
"My own love of the service," replied Lieutenant d.i.c.k Prescott impressively. "What would the service ever amount to, Sergeant, if we allowed our best, brightest and most loyal men to be downed by suspicions against them that clearly had no base? What honest man would care to enter or to stay in the ranks of the Army if he did not feel sure that his officers would work to see him righted and enjoying his proper place in the esteem of his comrades. So, Sergeant, don"t try too hard to thank me. Whatever I did for you personally, I did it ten times more for the good of the tried, old, true-blue United States Army."
Then, after a pause, Mr. Prescott went on:
"I"ve had my attention attracted to you more than ever, both yourself and Sergeant Terry. I see even new possibilities in you as soldiers. Do you know why?"
"No, sir."
Lieutenant Prescott laughed lightly, though there was a slight mist in his eyes as he answered:
"It may be news to you, Sergeant, but my good old schoolboy friend, now Mr. Darrin, of the Navy, has taken almost as much of a liking to you two youngsters as though you were pet younger brothers of his. Darrin watched you both often while he was here, after we returned from the hunting trip. He spoke of you frequently, and seemed to have noticed so many excellencies in both yourself and Sergeant Terry that I grew ashamed of my own slight powers of observation. Of course, you don"t know anything of the old days when Mr. Darrin, Mr. Dalzell, Mr. Holmes and myself were all devoted chums."
"I think I do, sir," Sergeant Hal rejoined.
"You do? How?"
"Mr. Darrin told me a lot that day he and I spent some hours hunting together. He told me a lot about your old schoolboy days."
"That"s only another proof of how much Darrin likes you, then," pursued the young lieutenant warmly. "Darrin isn"t usually very talkative with new acquaintances. But what I was going to say was that, back in our schooldays, I often made a great reputation for wisdom just because I accepted Darrin"s wise estimates of human nature and people. So now Darrin"s praises of you two young sergeants have made me feel that I have missed a lot of what I should have observed about you both."
"Both Terry and myself will feel highly honored over such good opinions of us, sir," Hal replied.
"I wouldn"t talk quite so freely if I didn"t know that you"re both so level-headed that a little praise will make better, instead of worse soldiers of you, Sergeant Overton. Of course, as one of your officers, I understand that both of you young sergeants are working onward and forward with the hope of one day winning commissions in the line of the Army. I wish you every kind of good luck, Overton. Here"s my hand on it.
And some day I hope to be able to offer you my hand again--when, wearing the shoulder straps, you come into an officers" mess, somewhere, as a fellow-member of that mess."
"Mr. Darrin made both Terry and myself promise, sir, that if we ever win commissions, we"ll visit him on his ship as soon after as possible."
"Mr. Darrin and Mr. Dalzell are on their way to China by this time,"
continued Lieutenant Prescott. "From the China station their next detail will undoubtedly be the Philippine station. And that"s where, after a while, this regiment will be due to go."
And that is just where the Thirty-fourth Regiment did go, as will be discovered in the next volume in this series, which is published under the t.i.tle: "UNCLE SAM"S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros."
Not only did our two young sergeant friends taste all the joys of life and residence in these romantic tropical possessions of the United States, but they were destined also to see and take part in a lot of spirited fighting against brown enemies of the United States.
But these adventures must be reserved for the next volume.
THE END
West Point Series
By H. IRVING HANc.o.c.k
The princ.i.p.al characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans whose doings will inspire all boy readers.
1 d.i.c.k PRESCOTT"S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.
2 d.i.c.k PRESCOTT"S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier"s Life.
3 d.i.c.k PRESCOTT"S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.
4 d.i.c.k PRESCOTT"S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.
Annapolis Series
By H. IRVING HANc.o.c.k
The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in these volumes.
1 DAVE DARRIN"S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.
2 DAVE DARRIN"S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters."
3 DAVE DARRIN"S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second Cla.s.s Midshipmen.
4 DAVE DARRIN"S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.
The Young Engineers Series
By H. IRVING HANc.o.c.k
The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of all the traditions of d.i.c.k & Co.
1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.