"Yes," said May. "It makes me think of a dog when you say 'Head up, sir, and tail erect.'"
"I should not have described it in just those terms, but perhaps you have caught the idea," said the General, whose sense of humor, as it may have been observed, was not abnormally developed. "Take the position yourself."
May laid the rifle on the barn floor, preparatory to obeying.
"Keep your piece," the General commanded.
"Piece—of what?" asked May, looking puzzled. "I haven't a piece of anything."
"Piece, arm, rifle and musket are synonymous terms," explained the General. "Do you know what synonymous means?"
"One just as bad as the other," May promptly replied.
The General smiled, but he was not to be diverted from his purpose by absurd replies.
"You may leave your piece where it is for the present," said he, "and you are to do as I bid you. Stand where you are. Now, heels well together, feet out—yes, that is good—body erect, chest out—that is excel——"