that. But if you think you are going to trifle with me--"

A moment later the squad moved on towards its station. Behind the
sergeant's back Jones and Patterson were slyly passing apples and pears
to their friends while the sergeant expounded eloquently to the
corporal. "You see what kind of men are in the army now. Why, when I
joined the regiment it was a very different thing, I can tell you. Then
a sergeant had some authority, and if a man disobeyed orders, he had a
very small chance of escaping something extremely serious. But now! Good
God! If I report these men, the captain will look over a lot of beastly
orderly sheets and say--'Haw, eh, well, Sergeant Morton, these men seem
to have very good records; very good records, indeed. I can't be too
hard on them; no, not too hard.'" Continued the sergeant: "I tell you,
Flagler, the army is no place for a decent man."

Flagler, the corporal, answered with a sincerity of appreciation which
with him had become a science. "I think you are right, sergeant," he
answered.

Behind them the privates mumbled discreetly. "Damn this sergeant of
ours. He thinks we are made of wood. I don't see any reason for all this
strictness when we are on active service. It isn't like being at home in
barracks! There is no great harm in a couple of men dropping out to raid
an orchard of the enemy when all the world knows that we haven't had a
decent meal in twenty days."

The reddened face of Sergeant Morton suddenly showed to the rear. "A
little more marching and less talking," he said.

When he came to the house he had been ordered to occupy the sergeant