Each of the four soldiers standing at attention promised promptly.
"All right, then," Prescott nodded. "Rest!" Whereupon they resumed their seats on the bench. "Remember that a promise is a promise. And I've seen enough of soldiers to know that they're likely to be careless where it hurts most."
"I'd do anything Captain Prescott asked me to do," remarked one of the soldiers when Dick had passed on out of barracks.
"If I knew anything he wanted me to do I'd do it before he asked me," declared another.
When a captain's men feel that way about him it's a cinch that he commands a real fighting unit.
CHAPTER IX
ORDERS FOR "OVER THERE"
During the next drill period Sergeant Kelly, hearing an angry voice, glanced out through the window.
In the last draft to the company some green recruits had come in, men who had been drafted to the National Army and sent to the Regulars to fill up. Among them were Privates Ellis and Rindle.
"About face!" rapped out the crisp tones of Corporal Barrow, as he glared at eight men in double rank.