“Then what is that gun doing on your shoulder?”
“I—I don’t know, sir.”
“Don’t you know that you should come to present arms when an officer passes?”
“No, sir. No one ever told me that before.”
“Don’t you study your Handy Books?”
“Yes, sir, but I have been here only a day.”
“Present arms!”
Sam came to a present.
“Carry on!” came the sharp command, after which Hickey again shouldered his weapon and began his measured pacing back and forth. The lieutenant passed on, Sam gazing after him with a scowl upon his face.
“I hope to get to be an officer some of these days. Won’t I make the rest of the bunch step around lively? I don’t seem to be able to do anything to suit anybody.”