“There, across the field, you can see them coming,” called out Jack, after they had waved their hats until their arms were weary.
“The troops, as sure as anything, and on the double-quick at that!” exclaimed Amos, again thrilled by the sight of the khaki-clad legion that had suddenly burst into view on the full run, with bayonets gleaming wickedly, and every man apparently a part of a well-drilled machine.
“Look, look, Jack, there’s a regiment of Highlanders in their bare legs, tartans and kilts!” exclaimed Amos. “How fierce they look, Jack! I don’t wonder that they nearly always carry everything before them. I’d want to turn tail and run if I saw those boys heading for me. But what is the matter with them all that we don’t hear the bagpipes; and, Jack, where are those English cheers we’ve heard so much about?”
“Just give them time,” he was told; “they need all their wind right now for running. When they strike the line of the Kaiser’s men they’ll do their shouting.”
“Still they come along, thousands and thousands of them, as if there was no end to the reserves. What a splendid lot of men they are. It’s terrible to think of the homes that will never see many of them again.”
“Look closer, Amos, for I really believe those strapping fellows are Canadians!”
“Yes, I can see the maple leaf on that flag, Jack. And they look as if they could hardly be kept from whooping it up right now.”
Both boys displayed additional excitement. It almost seemed as though they might be looking upon fellow Americans, such is the bond existing between the two neighboring countries that for more than a hundred years have lived in amity, with not even a fort or blockhouse along the three thousand miles of boundary line.
“I warrant you, Amos, a lot of those fellows have come from the ranches in the Northwest Territory. Yes, some of them run as though they might be more at home on the back of a horse than afoot. Perhaps I know a number of the boys, for I spent a time on a Saskatchewan cattle ranch.”
The thought caused Jack to follow the passage of the hurrying Canadian regiment with intense interest. They were, however, too far away for him to have recognized any familiar faces. Besides, in the trappings of a soldier a man would look quite different from the cowboy in sheepskins or leather “chaps” as Jack had known him.