“Oh, yes, you will. You’ve enlisted already, and you have a bad ankle already. Let me see it.”
Thaine examined the sprained limb carefully. He had something of his father’s ability for such things combined with his mother’s gentle touch.
“Let me bind it up a little while you tell me about Grass River. Then hie thee to a hospital,” he said.
“There’s nothing new, except that Dr. Carey has gone West for a vacation and John Jacobs is raising cain over at Wykerton because a hired hand, just a waif of an 302 orphan boy, got drunk in Hans Wyker’s joint and fell into Big Wolf and was drowned. Funny thing about it was that Darley Champers came out against Wyker for the first time. It may go hard with the old Dutchman yet. Jim Shirley isn’t very well, but he never complains, you know. Jo Bennington was wild to have me enlist. I suppose some pretty University girl was backing you all the time,” Todd said enthusiastically.
“The only pretty girl I care for didn’t want me to go to the war at all,” Thaine replied, staring gloomily out at the rain.
“Well, why do you go, then?” Todd inquired.
“Oh, she doesn’t specially care for me here, either,” Thaine replied. “Girls don’t control this game for me. But we have some princes of men here all right.”
“As for instance?” Todd queried.
“My captain, Adna Clarke, and his lieutenants, Krause and Alford. They were first to enlist in our company down in the old rink at Lawrence. Captain Clarke is the kind of a man who makes you feel like straightening right up to duty when you see him coming, and he is so genial in his discipline it is not like discipline. Lieutenant Krause fits in with him—hand and glove. But, Todd,” Thaine went on enthusiastically, “if you meet a man on this campground with the face of a gentleman, the manners of a soldier, a smile like sunshine after a dull day in February, and a, well a sort of air about him that makes you feel he’s your friend and that doing a kind act is the only thing a fellow should ever think of doing—that’s Lieutenant Alford. There are some fine University boys here and we have all packed up our old Kansas University yell, ‘Rock 303 Chalk! Jay Hawk! K U!’ to use on the Spanish. We’ll make them learn to run whenever they hear that yell. The whole regiment is a credit to Kansas, if we haven’t the clothes right now. You are rather a disreputable looking old mudball yourself. Let’s try to get to the hospital tent.”
Thaine lifted Todd Stewart to his feet, and as they started up the slushy way to the hospital tent, he said: