Uncle Sam"s Boys with Pershing"s Troops.
by H. Irving Hanc.o.c.k.
CHAPTER I
d.i.c.k AT TRAINING CAMP
His jaw set firmly, his keen, fiery eyes roving over the group before him, the gray-haired colonel of infantry closed his remarks with these words:
"Gentlemen, the task set for the officers of the United States Army is to produce, with the least possible delay, the finest fighting army in the world. Our own personal task is to make this, the Ninety-ninth, the finest regiment of infantry in that army.
"You have heard, at some length, what is expected of you. Any officer present, of any grade, who does not feel equal to the requirements I have laid down will do well to seek a transfer to some other regiment or branch of the service, or to send in his resignation as a military officer."
Rising to their feet behind the long, uncovered pine board mess tables at which they had sat listening and taking notes, the eyes of the colonel"s subordinate officers glistened with enthusiasm.
Instead of showing any trace of dissent they greeted their commanding officer"s words with a low murmur of approval that grew into a noisy demonstration, then turned into three rousing cheers.
"And a tiger!" shouted a young lieutenant, in a bull-like voice that was heard over the racket.
Colonel Cleaves, though he did not unbend much before the tumult, permitted a gleam of satisfaction to show itself in his fine, rugged features.
"Good!" he said quietly, in a firm voice. "I feel a.s.sured that we shall all pull together for the common weal and for the abiding glory of American arms."
Gathering up the papers that he had, during his speech, laid out on the table before him, the colonel stepped briskly down the central aisle of the mess-room. As it was a confidential meeting of regimental officers, and no enlisted man was present, one of the second lieutenants succeeded in being first to reach the door.
Throwing it open, he came smartly to attention, saluting as the commanding officer pa.s.sed through the doorway. Then the door closed.
"Good!" cried Captain d.i.c.k Prescott. "That was straight talk all the way through."
"Hit the mark or leave the regiment!" voiced Captain Greg Holmes enthusiastically.
"Be a one hundred per cent. officer, or get out of the service!"
agreed another comrade.
The tumult had already died down. The officers, from Lieutenant-Colonel Graves down to the newest "shave-tail" or second lieutenant, acted as by common impulse when they pivoted slowly about on their heels, glancing at each other with earnest smiles.
"Gentlemen, our job has been cut out for us. We know the price of success, and we know what failure would mean for us, personally or collectively. Going over to quarters, Sands?"
Thrusting a hand through the arm of Major Sands, Lieutenant-Colonel Graves started down the aisle. Little groups followed, and the mess-room of that company barracks was speedily emptied.
Hard work, not age, had brought the gray frosting into the hair of Colonel Cleaves; he was forty-seven years old, and not many months before he had been only a major.
The time was early in September, in the year 1917. War had been declared against Germany on April 6th. In the middle of July the Ninety-o-ninth Infantry had been called into existence. Regiments were then being added to the Regular Army. Two or three hundred trained soldiers and several hundred recruits had made up the beginnings of the regiment. Prescott and Holmes had been among the latest of the captains sent to the regiment, arriving in August.
And now Colonel Cleaves had just joined his command on orders from Washington.
With forty men in the headquarters company and some fifty in the machine-gun company, the rifle companies on this September day averaged about seventy men. Nor had a full complement of officers yet arrived.
d.i.c.k Prescott and Greg Holmes, lately first lieutenants, as readers of former volumes of this series are aware, had received their commissions as captains just before joining the Ninety-ninth.
"This regiment is scheduled to go over at an early date," Colonel Cleaves had informed his regimental officers, at the conference of which we have just witnessed the close. "Headquarters and machine-gun companies must be raised to their respective quotas of men, and each rifle company must be increased from seventy to two hundred and fifty men each. New recruits will arrive every week. These men must be whipped into shape. Gentlemen, I expect your tireless aid in making this the finest infantry regiment in the American line."
One or two glances at Colonel Cleaves, when he was talking earnestly, were enough to show the observer that this officer meant all he said. Shirkers, among either officers or men, would receive scant consideration in his regiment.
Camp Berry, at which the Ninety-ninth and the Hundredth were stationed, lay in one of the prettiest parts of Georgia. Needless to say the day was one of sweltering heat and the regimental officers, as they filed out of the company barracks that had been used for holding the conference, fanned themselves busily with their campaign hats. Each, however, as he struck the steps leading to the ground, placed his campaign hat squarely on his head.
"Some pace the K.O. has set for us," murmured Greg, as he and d.i.c.k started to walk down the company street.
"And we must keep that pace if we hope to last in Colonel Cleaves"s regiment," d.i.c.k declared, with conviction. "Time was when an officer in the Regular Army could look forward to remaining an officer as long as he was physically fit and did not disgrace himself. But in this war any officer, regular or otherwise, will find himself laid on the shelf whenever he fails to produce his full share of usefulness."
"Do you think it"s really as bad as that, Prescott?" demanded Captain Cartwright, who was walking just behind them.
"Worse!" d.i.c.k replied dryly and briefly.
Cartwright sighed, then took a tighter grip on the swagger stick that he carried jauntily in his right hand. Cartwright was a smart, soldierly looking chap, but was well known as an officer who was not addicted to hard work.
Past three or four barrack buildings on the street the chums walked, Cartwright still keeping just behind them.
"Look at the work of Sergeant Mock, will you?" demanded Greg, halting short as they came to the edge of one of the drill grounds.
Mock belonged to Greg"s own company. At this moment the sergeant was busy, or should have been, drilling what was supposed to be a platoon, though to-day it consisted of only two corporals" squads, or sixteen men in all.
Greg Holmes"s eyes opened wide with disgust as he watched the drilling, unseen by the sergeant.
The platoon had just wheeled and marched off by fours. The cadence was too slow, the men looked slouchy and showed no signs whatever of spirit.
"Perhaps the sergeant isn"t feeling well," remarked d.i.c.k, with a smile.
"He won"t be feeling well after he has talked with me," Greg uttered between his teeth.
To the further limit of the drill ground the sergeant marched his platoon, then wheeled them and brought them back again. As he came about the sergeant caught sight of his company commander.
In an undertone he gave an order that brought his men along at greater speed than they had gone.
"Halt!" ordered the sergeant, and brought up his hand in salute to the officers.
"Sergeant Mock," called Holmes, in a low, even voice, "turn the men over to a corporal and come here."
Hastily, and flushing, Sergeant Mock came forward.
"How are the men feeling?" Greg inquired, after signaling the corporal now in charge to continue the drilling.
"Tired, sir," replied Mock, with a shamefaced look.
"And how is the sergeant feeling?" Greg went on, as the corporal led the men across the drill ground, this time at a sharper pace and correcting any fault in soldierly bearing that he observed.
"All right, sir," replied the sergeant.
"Then, if you"re feeling all right, Sergeant Mock," Greg continued in as even a voice as before, "explain to me why you were marching the platoon at a cadence of about ninety, instead of the regulation hundred and twenty steps per minute. Tell me why the alignment of the fours was poor, and why the men were allowed to march without paying the slightest heed to their bearing."
Though there was nothing at all sharp in the company commander"s voice, Mock knew that he was being "called," and, in fact, was perilously close to being "cussed out."