"Corporal, ich thu's es net!" (Corporal, I won't do it.)
Tired though we all were, we could not help laughing at the preposterous idea of a man daring to disobey the corporal. As the boys jerked off their accoutrements and began to spread down their gum-blankets on the fragrant clover wet with the dew, they were greatly amused at this singular passage between John and the corporal.
"Come on, John. Don't make a Dutch dunce of yourself. You know you must go."
"Ich hab' dir g'sawt, ich thu's es net" (I have told you I won't do it), insisted John.
"Pitch in, John!" shouted some one from his bed in the clover. "Give it to him in Dutch; that'll fetch him."
"Oh, hang it!" said the corporal. "Come on, man. What do you mean? You know you've got to go."
"Ich hab' dir zwei mohl g'sawt, ich thu's es gar net" (I have told you twice that I will certainly not do it).
"Ha! ha! It beats the Dutch!" said some one.
"Something rotten in Denmark!" exclaimed another.
"Put him in the guard-house!" suggested a third from under his gum-blanket.