says he, "and that is out of commission
to-day--valves being ground."

"But look," says I; "you got three or four of those motor-cycles with a
bath-tub tacked on the side. Couldn't you let one of your sergeants----"

"Strictly against orders," says he, "except for military purposes."

"Ah, stretch it, Major," I goes on. "Have a heart. Just think! I want to
get there to-night. Got to!"

"Impossible," says he.

"But listen----" I keeps on.

Well, it's no use rehearsin' the swell arguments I put up. I said he had
a rubber-stamp mind, didn't I? And I made about as much headway talkin'
to him as I would if I'd been assaultin' that tank with a tack-hammer.
He couldn't see any difference between havin' charge of a string of
machine shops in Connecticut and commandin' a regiment in the front-line
trenches. Besides, he didn't approve of junior officers bein' married.
Not durin' war-time, anyway.

And the worst of it was, I couldn't tell him just the particular kind of
ossified old pinhead I thought he was. All I could do was grind my
teeth, say "Yes, sir," and salute respectful.

Also there was that undertaker-faced secretary standin' by with his ear
out. The prospect of sittin' around watchin' him for the rest of the day
wasn't fascinatin'. No; I'd had about all of Barnes I could stand. A few
more of his cheerin' observations, and I'd want to jam his head into his
typewriter and then tread on the keys. Nor I wasn't goin' to be fed on
any more cog-wheel statistics by the Major, either.

All I could keep on my mind then was this one thing: How could I get
home? Looked like I was up against it, too. The nearest town was twelve
miles off, and the main-line junction was some thirty-odd miles beyond
that. Too far for an afternoon hike. But I couldn't just sit around and
wait, or pace up and down inside the barbed-wire fence like an enemy
alien that had been pastured out. So I wanders through the gate and down
a road. I didn't know where it led, or care. Maybe I had a vague idea a
car would come along. But none did.

I must have been trampin' near an hour, with my chin down and my fists
jammed into my overcoat pockets, when I catches a glimpse, out of the
tail of my eye, of something yellow dodgin' behind a clump of cedars at
one side of the road. First off I thought it might be a cow, as there
was a farm-house a little ways ahead. Then it struck me no cow would
move as quick as that, or have such a bright yellow hide. So I