"I DON"T want to say or think anything disloyal," laughed Noll, as the two chums turned in at barracks, "but I wish Shrimp would desert."
"I wish we could have Sergeant Brimmer to teach us all the time,"
returned Hal. "I can"t believe that Corporal Shrimp is any good to the service."
"I wouldn"t be any good if I had to stand around for a fellow like Shrimp all the time," Noll answered. "How different it is when we are under a real soldier like the sergeant."
Corporal Shrimp was alone in the squad room when the two chums entered.
The corporal was scowling sulkily until he caught sight of Hal and Noll.
"Come over to yer beds, ye two blamed rookies!" ordered Shrimp, jumping up. "I"ll be bound ye know nothing yet of how to fold yer bedding."
"No, we don"t," replied Hal, with an outward respect that he was far from feeling.
"Then watch me, bandy-legs, while I put yer bed down in regulation style."
Shrimp quickly threw the bedding down on Hal"s cot. With the deft hands of the trained soldier Shrimp made the bed up with neatness and dispatch.
"And in the morning, after first call to reveille," continued the Corporal, "ye"ll turn yer mattress up--so. And fold and lay the bedding--so. Now, let"s see ye shake down yer bed and make it."
This task Hal performed rather well for the first time trying. But Shrimp found a lot of fault, volubly, then finally shoved Hal Overton aside and finished the bed-making with a few deft touches.
"Now, turn up yer mattress, and fold yer bedding," ordered the corporal.
Hal started patiently to obey, but there was no pleasing Shrimp. He vented a couple of oaths, evidently in order to make the matter clearer.
"Now, do it over again," ordered Shrimp roughly.
"This fellow is venting his spite on us because he"s angry at the way Sergeant Brimmer relieved him this afternoon," thought Hal hotly. Yet he tried patiently to follow out his instructions.
In the meantime four or five other recruits had entered the squad room.
"Here ye gibbering monkey! Not that way!" snarled Shrimp. "Stand aside!"
Seizing Hal by the shoulders Shrimp deliberately hurled him out into the middle of the squad room. Hal did not fall, but he wheeled about, his eyes flashing.
Corporal Shrimp stood surveying him angrily.
"Making faces at me, are ye, ye Army-lawyer?" howled Shrimp, springing toward Hal.
He launched a blow full at the young rookie. Private Overton, who had some knowledge of boxing and of its companion foot-work, stepped aside.
But as Shrimp recovered and prepared to launch another blow, Hal Overton threw his hands up at guard.
Then recollecting that he was a private soldier, under discipline, Hal let his hands fall uselessly at his side, while a hot flush of shame mounted to his brow.
"Going to hit me, were ye?" sneered Shrimp, in an ugly tone. "It"s well ye didn"t! Now, stand where ye are till I take some of the conceit out of ye!"
Shrimp raised his right fist deliberately.
"Corporal!"
There was no mistaking that crisp tone. It was one of sharp command.
Sergeant Brimmer, who had just opened the door and looked in, now came striding down the squad room.
"Corporal, stand at attention!"
Shrimp wheeled about, coming to the position of the soldier as he faced the sergeant. But the corporal"s countenance was still as black as thunder. Sergeant Brimmer, too, was thoroughly angry, though righteously so.
"Corporal Shrimp, you"re in arrest for striking at and humiliating a private soldier. Come with me to the company commander."
"Now, see here, Sergeant," began Shrimp hoa.r.s.ely, "you don"t know what I have to put up with with these rookies. I have to do something to keep discipline among men who are new to barracks. I----"
"Hold your tongue and come with me," insisted Sergeant Brimmer crisply.
There was no disregarding that angry, authoritative tone. As the sergeant wheeled Shrimp turned and went with him, as though stricken suddenly dumb.
"Good enough!" rose a cry, as the door closed on the two non-coms.
"Got what he needs," muttered some one else.
"I hope he stays in arrest," added another rookie. "This squad room was a good deal like a madhouse when the sergeant wasn"t here."
Twenty minutes went by before the door opened to admit Sergeant Brimmer on his return.
"Now, men, come close. I want to tell you a few things," began the sergeant. "The first is this. No non-commissioned officer has any right to swear at any of you. It is in violation of regulations. If any non-commissioned officer calls you vile names, or swears at you, it is your right, and your duty, too, to report it to the non-commissioned officer in charge of the squad room. If he fails to take heed of your complaint, then go to the first sergeant of the company. If he fails to heed your complaint, then go to the company commander. Is that clear?"
The recruits nodded.
"Second," pursued Sergeant Brimmer, "no non-commissioned officer has any right to strike you, unless it be strictly in self-defense, or in defense of an officer who is threatened by you. You have the same remedy of complaint, if any non-commissioned officer strikes you, or lays violent hands on you, as in the case of vile or profane language. Is that clear."
"Yes, Sergeant," came from all sides.
"Any questions?" asked Sergeant Brimmer, looking about him.
"Has any officer any right to direct bad language at an enlisted man, or to strike him?" queried Noll.
"The officer has no more right than anyone else, except in an emergency of danger to himself or others," replied Sergeant Brimmer. "But there"s this difference: I"ve been in the Army fourteen years, and I never knew an officer to degrade himself in that fashion. But occasionally a non-commissioned officer will so disgrace himself. Either the officer or non-commissioned officer who swears at or strikes an enlisted man may be court-martialed, and, if it is found that he is guilty, he is dismissed from the service."
"We"ve had an awful lot to put up with from Corporal Shrimp, Sergeant,"
announced one of the uniformed recruits.
"I"m afraid you have, men. But I don"t want you to carry tales to me.
Tale-bearing is never worth while, nor encouraged, in the Army. Corporal Shrimp"s case is now before the commanding officer. To-night or to-morrow an officer will be here to take the complaints of any of you men who have grievances. You will be expected to complain to the officer only about wrongs that have been done you by Corporal Shrimp. The officer will not permit any tale-bearing about anything that happened to anyone else. Corporal Shrimp is now in another squad room, under arrest.
He will probably be court-martialed. In any case he won"t return here until his case has been thoroughly disposed of."
The door opened, and a corporal of twenty-five years, or under, entered, striding straight up to Brimmer.
"Sergeant, I am directed by the company commander to report to you for quarters and duty here," announced the newcomer.