e other reasons, too, why it
would have been far better had Sergeant Hal turned Tomba over to the
guard.

CHAPTER III

PLOTTERS TRAVEL WITH THE FLAG

From the deck of the "Warren" only distant glimpses of land, on the
horizon line, were visible.

The sea to-day was without a ripple, yet, as it was not raining, the sun
beat down with a heat that would have wilted most of the passengers, had
it not been for the awnings stretched over every deck.

Up on the saloon deck was a mixture of the field uniforms of Army
officers, the white duck or cotton of male civilian passengers, and the
white dresses of the women. Most of the married officers of the
Thirty-fourth had brought their families along with them, and so
children played along the saloon deck, or ran down among the friendly
soldiers on the spar deck. Here and there, among the women, was a
Yankee schoolma'am, going to some new charge in the islands.

A number of the male cabin passengers were not Army people. Some
belonged to the postals service, the islands civil service, or were
planters or merchants of wealth and influence in the islands, who had
been permitted to take passage on the troop ship.

Between decks the enlisted men of "Ours" were quartered and berthed by
companies. Each enlisted man, by way of a bed, had a bunk whose frame
was of gas pipe, to which frame was swung the canvas berth. These berths
were in tiers, three high.

Away forward, in special quarters by themselves, as a sort of steerage
passengers, were some two score natives of the islands who were making
the journey for one reason or another. These natives, however, kept to
themselves, and the soldiers saw little of them.

Altogether, the "Warren" carried something more than fourteen hundred
passengers, which meant that quarters were at least sufficiently
crowded. Yet the soldiers, with the cheerful good nature of their kind,
took this crowded condition as one of the incidents of the life.

Noll was up on deck enjoying himself; Hal, as acting first sergeant, was
otherwise occupied during the greater part of the forenoon. At the head
of B Company's quarters, two decks below, young Overton sat at a little
table, busily working over a set of papers that he had to make up. This
"paper work" is one of the banes of first sergeants and of company
commanders.

It was after eleven o'clock when Sergeant Hal finished his last sheet.
The papers he folded neatly and thrust them into a long