Non-efficient Officers, dey may come.'"

The laugh that followed was interrupted by the approach of a raucous,
shrieking noise that rose and fell in lugubrious cadence. "What the
deuce!" exclaimed Whitehall, starting up.

"That's Bill," explained Stone. "Bill Sullivan. He thinks he's singin'.
Funny you never heard him before, Kid, but then he's not often taken
that way, thank the Lord."

"Come in, Bill," he called, "an' tell us what's the matter. Feel sick?
Where's the pain?" he asked as big Bill appeared in the doorway.

"Come in, hombre, an' rest yo'self," invited Whitney, and hospitably
handed over his tobacco-pouch. "What was that tune yo'all were singin'
out yonder?"

"Thanks," responded Bill, settling down. "That there tune was 'I Wonder
Where You Are To-night, My Love.'"

"Sounded like 'Sister's Teeth Are Plugged with Zinc,'" commented
Whitney.

"Or 'Lookin' Through the Knot Hole in Papa's Wooden Leg,'" said
Whitehall.

"Or 'He Won't Buy the Ashman a Manicure Set,'" added Stone.

"No," reiterated Bill solemnly. "It was like I told yer; 'I Wonder Where
You Are To-night, My Love,' and it's a corker, too! I seen a feller an'
a goil sing it in Kelly's Voddyville Palace out ter Cheyenne onct. Foist
he'd sing one voise an' then she'd sing the nex'. He was dressed like a
soldier, an' while he sang they was showin' tabloids o' what the goil
was a-doin' behind him; an' then when she sang her voise he'd be in the
tabloid, an' when it got ter the last voise, an' he was dyin' on a
stretcher in a ambulance, everybody in the house was a-cryin' so yer
could hardly hear her. It was great! My!" continued Bill, spreading out
his great paws over the radiator, "ain't this the snappy evenin'? Real
cold. Somehow it 'minds me of the cold we had in China that time of the
Boxers, after we'd got ter the Legations; the nights was cold just like
this is."

"Why, Bill," said Whitney, "I never knew yo'all were there then. Why did
yo' never tell us befo'? What were yo' with?"

"Fourteenth Infantry," responded Bill proudly. "It's a great ol'
regiment--don't care if they _are_ doughboys."

"What company was you in?" inquired Hansen, ponderously taking his pipe
from his mouth and breaking silence for the first time.

"J Company, same as this."

At this reply Stone opened his mouth abruptly to say something, but
thought better of it and shut up again.

"It was blame cold them nights a week or so after we was camped in the
Templ