Corporal Diggs was a general in embryo, and his name was yet to ring through the trump of fame, until, among all nations it should become a household word; he felt within his soul the uprising of greatness, as he looked through his glasses with the air of one born to command. And to think that he was an officer already—a corporal, men under him, to whom his word was law! Truly, the dream of his life was now beginning to be realized, his dearest desire was about to be fulfilled.
Corporal Diggs had, from his earliest boyhood, thirsted for military glory; he had pored over the pictures of famous generals represented as leading the dashing cavalry on their charge, amid blind smoke and flashing swords, or guiding the infantry by a wave of the hand, and had longed for an opportunity to do likewise. True, he was a mere corporal, but it took only a few sweeping strides from corporal to general. The soldiers did not seem at present to regard him with awe and admiration, but they had not yet seen him under fire; they did not know how cooly he could undergo so trying an ordeal. He longed for battle as the war horse that already sniffs the fray. Once in battle, he would so signalize himself by his coolness and daring as to be mentioned in the colonel's report, and would undoubtedly be at once promoted.
Corporal Diggs was full of fire and running over with enthusiasm. No man in all the camp seemed as busy as he; his tireless, short legs stumped about from place to place continually, his head thrown back, his eyes shining brilliantly through his glasses, a rusty, naked sword in his right hand. Occasionally the official duty of Corporal Diggs brought him to a standstill and then he would thrust the point of his sword in the ground, and lean upon it. As the sword was a long one when standing upon end, it came near reaching the chin of the born warrior who carried it.
No one could appreciate the greatness of this great man. "Why did you leave before I showed you?" and other such frivolous phrases were constantly sounded in his ears. The gallant soldier sometimes became highly indignant, but he soothed himself with the reflection that all this would be changed after they had once witnessed his powers on the battle-field.
It was the middle of the afternoon. The recruits had exhausted all their means of amusement, and were lounging about under the shade of the trees, or cleaning their rusty guns.
"What shall we do to keep awake this evening?" said one fellow, lazily, reclining flat on his back under the broad branches of an old elm.
"Dunno," said another, who was almost asleep.
"Let's get up a scout," proposed a third.
"I'll tell you how we can have some fun," said Seth Williams, his eyes twinkling.
"How?" asked half a dozen at once.