“Ben!” cried Gilbert. “I am ever so glad to meet you. I was afraid I should have to leave Luzon without seeing you. How have you been?”
“First-rate, Gilbert. And you?”
“Oh, I’m all right except for a slight wound in the shoulder. We had a final brush with the guerillas yesterday, and bagged nine of them. But what are you doing here?”
“I came down on a special mission for the general. Larry is with me, as a member of my company. Here he comes now.”
As Larry Russell came up, more hand-shaking followed; and then the Russells plied Gilbert with questions, all of which he answered as well as he could.
“I wish you were going with us,” said the young lieutenant. “We might have some fine times together.”
“That’s true,” put in Larry Russell. “But I guess we’ve got to stay here until we are mustered out.”
“Perhaps we’ll be sent to China later on,” said Ben Russell. Then he turned, as he felt a pluck at his sleeve. “Hullo, Stummer! And you, too, Casey! How are you getting along? It’s too bad that you left me to join the regulars, but I suppose it’s all for the best.”
“I dink you besser choin, too,” replied the German soldier. “Uncle Sam vill need you in China, sure.”
“Perhaps, Carl, but not now.”