Their captain had been seeking them, and to him they were bound at once to report.
“I congratulate you,” he said, as the youths appeared before him, “for not only have you today received the Distinguished Service Cross from the French Government, and well earned them, too, but the higher command of your own army has also recognized the value of your services, in promotions which the colonel has just certified to me.
“Sergeant Thomas Walton you are henceforth a second lieutenant in the United States army, and I herewith hand you your commission duly signed.”
Before Tom even could give utterance to the surprise and gratification which for the moment overwhelmed him, the captain had turned to the other two boys.
“We may be upon the verge of peace,” he said, “and yet again one never can tell what the next hour will bring forth in war. But whatever occurs, whether hostilities be continued or suspended, both of you are advanced to positions of sergeant—and in announcing these advancements or promotions I am proud to say that they were hard won and are well deserved, and that I wish you three young men the greatest of happiness and the very best of luck.”
The world war was about at an end. The three boys from Brighton had been tried and found capable in every task that had been placed before them.
- Transcriber’s Notes:
- Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
- This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated with a Transcriber’s Note.
- The author’s spelling of “caloused” has been corrected to “calloused,” and “sappling” to “sapling.”
- Typographical errors were silently corrected.