Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 64: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

62 of a fist full of Jake’s red hair, which was long and flowing, where it grew at all. “Cutie,’’ murmured the sergeant. ‘You needn’t hug me. I haven’t got a sou to my name.” Lee and the Frog observed. ‘“‘Kadie’s passed out!” said Lee. “Ts that so?”’ howled the Frog. “Well, no gold brickin’ ——— from headquarters is going to say that an ‘A’ battery man can’t carry his pack!” ; The Frog leaped at Lee’s throat, knocking the other down. Lee’s fall was so sudden and complete that the Frog fell over him, and landed some distance away. When he had with difficulty got to his feet, he beheld Lee recumbent. So sudden had been the other’s lapse into unconsciousness that he had not known what had struck him. “Gimme that sergeant,” howled the Frog, “I’m going to take him home! No John gets away with anything here!” - He went at Jake with foam flying, but Jake, disdaining to lay down the sergeant, lifted one leg and placing his foot in the Frog’s chest, hurled him backward, so that he tripped over the body of Lee, and fell into the ditch beside the road, where nothing was visible of him but his knees and lower legs. “Home, James,” announced Jake. “If I knuckle under now, I'll never call myself a man again.” So he went home to the barracks, and - when he found two empty cots he laid the sergeant upon one, and himself upon the other, and knew no more until reveille. 51 AFTER breakfast and before drill juume| is the hour when the battery com- mander goes to the orderly room, or battery office, signs the reports, outlines the day’s work, reads the orders and circulars and hears the alibis of the delinquents. In ‘‘A”’ battery’s orderly room, Sergeant Eadie sat upan the first sergeant’s cot, waiting to report to the battery commander for assignment. The sergeant’s stock was low. The formation at reveille had been one full of gloom as morning-after forma- tions always were. The breakfast had been poor, the bacon raw and greasy, the coffee like concentrated lye and a fearful sour mess had been passed from the pans to the mess-kits to the garbage cans, which the mess sergeant claimed to be fried pota- toes, and which the cursing artilleryman assured him was fit only for fertilizer. Adventure In addition, the first sergeant had de- tailed Eadie for stable guard that very night, a thing not within the canons of military etiquette, for a man is not sup- posed to be detailed for duty until he has been with an outfit at least twenty-four hours. The sergeant therefore was in poor spirits. ‘‘When I think,” he muttered, “of all I went through to get back to this dizzy bat- tery, when I might have saved myself all the trouble and had another start in a new outfit! It might have been better. It cer- tainly couldn’t have been any worse.”’ He had also some apprehension regarding Jake’s fate. Jake had gone, upon advice of some of Eadie’s friends, to report to the regimental adjutant. From this duty he had not returned. The first sergeant worked at his desk, the clerk worked at. his, and Eadie wondered why he himself was allowed to be at large without a keeper. The door opened and the three men in the orderly room sprang to their feet. The cap- _ tain entered, pulling off his gloves. ‘“‘Good morning,”’ he said. ‘Good morn- ing, sergeant,” shaking hands with Eadie. “Y’m glad to see you with us again. Hear you had a rough voyage. I was in headquar- ters when your red-headed friend reported. By the way, he was assigned to the supply company. He said he could skin mules and they needed drivers. The little matter of being a deserter was overlooked.” The Old Man winked a wink. ‘How does the outfit look?”’ he asked. “Well, sir,”’ said Eadie, “it has changed a bit since I left it.” The Old Man grinned behind his hand. “You weren’t drunk were you, last nighte”’ ‘Yessir, I was,” said Eadie, reddening. “It seems to be the custom here. But that stuff has you before you know it.” “Makes men beat up inoffensive labor troops, I hear,” said the captain. ‘Well, we allowed the boys a little license last night. This isn’t the usual thing by any means. Once perhaps in a lifetime.’’ He paused for emphasis. ‘“‘We’re going up to the front tomorrow.”’ AD) NOW in the presence of his battery KO) commander one does not leap into the air with howls, nor does one go into raptures, no matter how agreeable the news. : CoMmicboool< ) CO 5}