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Uncle Sam's Boys as Sergeants, a novel by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 13. Chasing A Speeding Deserter |
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_ CHAPTER XIII. CHASING A SPEEDING DESERTER INSTEAD of one, there were two flying bodies headed toward the gully's bottom. Corporal Noll Terry, standing there, had heard the ominous crackle of snapping wood. If there is one thing that a soldier is taught above another, it is to think and move swiftly at a critical moment. Noll saw the tree trunk sag downward, in just the fraction of a second ere it broke. Nor did Corporal Terry wait to see more. With his eyes on his bunkie, Terry made a prompt leap downward. He had the advantage of landing on his feet. He was jarred, but there was no time to stop to think of that. At a bound he was far enough forward, his arms outstretched, to swing hold of head-downward Hal Overton. The impact might have been too much. Sergeant Hal might even yet have landed on his head. But, as he threw him arms around Hal, Corporal Terry threw himself over backward. He fell with a thump, but was shaken up--no bones broken. Sergeant Hal landed on top of his bunkie unhurt. In an instant they separated, each leaping to his feet. The falling halves of the tree trunk had fallen perilously close to the boyish non-coms., yet by a stroke of good fortune neither of the comrades had been struck. "Thank you, old bunkie! The best ever!" glowed Hal, as without a backward look he raced to pick up his wheel. "Hurt?" "Not a bit," gasped Noll, his wind jarred out of him for the moment. "Then I'll finish the ride!" To the thrilled, throbbing spectators there did not come a thought of "accident." Clearly this whole splendid scene had been only a glimpse of practical military training. It had all been planned, of course, so the audience supposed, that the tree trunk should snap and that the other young sergeant should be there to perform the swift work of rescue. Even at that it was a wonderful sight, and again the spectators were on their feet, cheering more hoarsely than ever. Yet hardly had they started to cheer when, some how, in a way they did not quite grasp, Sergeant Hal Overton had climbed up out of the gully, carrying his wheel with him. Now he was mounted again! On the further side of the gully the young Army dispatch rider was racing forward again. His wheel, somewhat damaged by the fall, was moving stiffly now, but Overton put into his pedaling every ounce of energy left to him. In another moment he was out of sight, his dispatch-bearing ride ended, and the band leader stopped his musicians. In this startling scene the onlookers felt that they had viewed the best piece of individual daring of the afternoon. Little did they guess that they had seen the failure of a scoundrel's dastardly attempt to end Sergeant Overton's life. But grizzled old Colonel North, of the Thirty-fourth United States Infantry, knew better. "Cortland," he remarked, turning to B Company's captain, "just as soon as the last number is over I want you to make an instant and red-hot investigation of that accident to Sergeant Overton. Report to me as soon as you have even the trace of a suggestion to make." "Yes, sir; and I have one suggestion to make now," replied Captain Cortland. "What is it?" "I ask you, sir, to oblige me very greatly by promising a warrant at once for Corporal Terry's promotion to sergeant." "By Jove, young Terry earned it!" agreed Colonel North. "Yes, sir; and, to my way of thinking, he did more. He proved that B Company cannot afford to be without a sergeant of his proved calibre." "Go to Wright, the battalion adjutant, then, and tell him, with my compliments, to prepare an order at once, for reading at the dress parade which is to end up the afternoon's show." "Very good, sir." "And, Cortland, ask Wright, as a personal favor to me, to read the order slowly and distinctly, so that the audience can grasp the fact that they've witnessed a deed of heroism and its prompt reward in the Army." "A splendid idea, sir!" At the close of the afternoon's fast and furious work came a spectacle such as doubtless no one in the audience had ever seen before. The three fighting arms of the service--artillery, cavalry and infantry--combined at dress parade. The ceremony, as enacted that afternoon, possessed all the fervor and solemnity of a religious rite. When it came to the publication of orders appointing Corporal Oliver Terry a sergeant in recognition of unusual bravery and judgment in saving a comrade's life, only a small percentage of the on-looking, listening thousands grasped the importance or meaning of the promotion of one young soldier. No matter! All would read about it in the Denver papers the next morning. At the firing of retreat gun three military bands combined in the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner." Then, as the troops marched off, all was over as far as the audience was concerned. Captain Cortland, however, had no sooner dismissed his company than he turned back to the field, to go to the gully to investigate the matter of the broken log. Lieutenant Prescott went with him. Over back of one of the cook tents, however, a plain soldier man was already arriving at the truth. "Hinkey, come over here!" called Private Slosson. There was something in this soldier's voice which made Private Hinkey feel that perhaps it would not be altogether wise to disregard this request that sounded so much to him like an order. "Hinkey," continued Private Slosson, "'twas a near escape from breaking his neck that Sergeant Overton had this afternoon." "That's no concern of mine, I guess," murmured Hinkey. "Then it ought to be," retorted Private Slosson with considerable warmth. "Hinkey, you had me guessing yesterday and this forenoon, you were so full of industry. And that put me in mind. I saw you coming down from near the gully this morning, and you had something hidden under your coat." The fingers that held Hinkey's cigarette began to tremble. "What do you mean, Slosson?" "Well, first of all, the thing you had under your coat was a saw. I saw you hide something under the woodpile here, but I'm so dumb that I didn't think much of it at the time. Now, the log over the gully was a spruce log, wasn't it?" "I don't know." "Well, I do," replied Slosson, "and we haven't been using much spruce timber around here, either. So I looked over the saw. Hinkey, between the teeth is quite a little bit of what looks mighty like spruce sawdust. Queer, ain't it?" "I don't know," replied Private Hinkey, speaking bravely, though his face now looked bloodless and his lips were quivering. "Spruce sawdust in the saw you handled," continued Slosson mercilessly. "And say, the saw cut in the log over at the gully was pasted with putty, and then bark bits stuck on, to hide the cut. Wasn't that the way it was done?" "How should I know?" snarled Private Hinkey, trying to glare back into the accusing eyes of Private Slosson. "Why I asked," continued the latter soldier, "was because I've just been taking a look at the service clothes you wore this morning, and I find putty marks in several places on the trousers." Hinkey realized that he had been unmasked. Moreover, only one look into Slosson's eyes was needed for making sure that the accusing soldier was not going to keep still about it. With a sudden snarl of rage, Hinkey sprang forward, driving his hard right fist squarely into Slosson's left eye and knocking that soldier down. Then, without loss of a second, Hinkey made a dive for the nearest gate of the grounds. As he ran at top speed Private Hinkey then and there, so far as he was personally concerned, ended his connection with the regular Army of the United States. Private Slosson, holding his eye and feeling weak and dizzy, shouted: "Some one run after Hinkey, B Company, and catch him!" The call brought several men, among them Lieutenant Hampton, of B Company. "What has Hinkey done?" demanded the lieutenant, running up. "He knocked me down, and then deserted, sir." "Why, my man?" "Because he fixed the tree trunk in the way that nearly cost Sergeant Overton his life, and I just showed Hinkey that I had all the proof. You'll not see the fellow again, sir, unless you're swift." Lieutenant Hampton bounded to the gateway. Down the street he saw Private Hinkey, running like a deer and already near a street corner. Hal Overton was the only sergeant close enough for the lieutenant's purpose. "Sergeant Overton, take four men, pursue Hinkey and bring him back here," ordered Lieutenant Hampton. Hal reached the gateway just in time to see Hinkey running around the street corner. In a twinkling Hal and four soldiers were hot-foot after the suspected deserter. But Hinkey was out of sight now. As he reached the middle of the block into which he had turned, a man in his shirt sleeves, standing idly in a doorway called out softly: "Jump in behind me, comrade, if you're in trouble and being chased." Hinkey stopped pantingly, giving the man a swift look. That glance was enough to show the deserting soldier that he had met a kindred spirit. "Thanks. I'll accept," muttered Hinkey, darting into the doorway. The man who had hailed him pulled the door shut just before Sergeant Hal and four soldiers ran around the corner above. "What's that soldier been doing that ran by here so fast?" called the citizen in shirt sleeves. "Which way did he go?" asked Hal swiftly, halting just an instant. "See the next corner?" "Yes." "Your man turned there--to the left. You fellows will have to double your speed if you're ever going to catch that soldier." "Put on all the steam you can, men," Hal called back over his shoulder as he once more started in what he believed to be pursuit. Chuckling softly, the citizen opened the door, closed it again and went inside to tell Hinkey why he had saved him. It was a full hour before Sergeant Hal Overton again reported back at camp on the grounds. He had come back at last, forced to admit himself baffled. "You did all you could, Sergeant," replied Captain Cortland, who had just returned to the company street. "Hinkey will be caught, sooner or later." Then, turning to First Sergeant Gray, who had just come up, Captain Cortland smiled as he added: "Sergeant Gray, I wonder if Hinkey is still running. If he runs long enough he'll probably fall in with some muck-raking magazine writer, who'll get out of Hinkey a startling story of why some soldiers insist on deserting the Army." "Captain," replied Sergeant Gray, "I could tell those magazine writers a good deal about why men desert from the Army, sir. But the magazine writers wouldn't want my story of why men desert." "What would your story be, Sergeant?" "Why, sir, I'd tell those writers--and prove it by the records--that the men who desert from the Army are the same worthless, skulking vagabonds who are always getting bounced out of jobs in civil life because they're no good anywhere." "That's the whole story, Sergeant Gray," nodded Captain Cortland. "I know it, sir; I haven't been in the Army all these years not to have found out that much." Just then Noll Terry appeared on the scene, wearing his newly won sergeant's chevrons. Captain Cortland's inquiry into the cause of the accident to Sergeant Overton was concluded by taking the sworn testimony of Private Slosson. The papers were then filed away to be used in case the deserter Hinkey should be apprehended. _ |
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