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.

Dick 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,