"Git aout!" snorted the boy from Vermont. "I'm here ter sing, an' I'm goin' ter fill ther bill, by gum!"
Then he began at the first of the stanza, and howled straight through it, for all that the lieutenant spoke to him twice.
In the dusky shadows not far away the cadets were convulsed with laughter they could not suppress.
"Sir!" thundered Lieutenant Gordan, "you are making a fool of yourself!"
"Ef you don't shut up an' stop interruptin' me, I'll be gol darned ef I don't kick you clean inter the middle uv next week! You ain't ther feller that sot me ter singin', fer your voice is of a diffrunt color than his. Naow you keep mum, ur I'll take this handkerchief off my eyes, spit on my hands, an' sail right into you, by thunder!"
Then Ephraim began once more:
"Yankee Dewdle came to taown
'Long with——"
The exasperated lieutenant snatched the handkerchief from Ephraim's eyes, almost bursting with rage.
"If you don't quit this howling, I'll lodge you in the guardhouse!" he declared.
The boy came near smashing the lieutenant with his fist, and then, seeing who it was, he gave a gasp and nearly fainted on the spot.