tricken animal retreating to
its lair, he sought the privacy of his old-fashioned garden, where none
might intrude upon his grief.

II

First Sergeant Michael Joseph Farrel entered the orderly-room and saluted
his captain, who sat, with his chair tilted back, staring mournfully at
the opposite wall.

"I have to report, sir, that I have personally delivered the battery
records, correctly sorted, labeled, and securely crated, to the
demobilization office. The typewriter, field-desk, and stationery have
been turned in, and here are the receipts."

The captain tucked the receipts in his blouse pocket.

"Well, Sergeant, I dare say that marks the completion of your duties--all
but the last formation." He glanced at his wrist-watch. "Fall in the
battery and call the roll. By that time, I will have organized my
farewell speech to the men. Hope I can deliver it without making a fool
of myself."

"Very well, sir."

The first sergeant stepped out of the orderly-room and blew three long
blasts on his whistle--his signal to the battery to "fall in." The men
came out of the demobilization-shacks with alacrity and formed within a
minute; without command, they "dressed" to the right and straightened the
line. Farrel stepped to the right of it, glanced down the long row of
silent, eager men, and commanded,

"Front!"

Nearly two hundred heads described a quarter circle.

Farrel stepped lithely down the long front to the geometrical center of
the formation, made a right-face, walked six paces, executed an
about-face, and announced complainingly:

"Well, I've barked at you for eighteen months--and finally you made it
snappy. On the last day of your service, you manage to fall in within
the time-limit and dress the line perfectly. I congratulate you." Covert
grins greeted his ironical sally. He continued: "I'm going to say
good-by to those of you who think there are worse tops in the service
than I. To those who did not take kindly to my methods, I have no
apologies to offer. I gave everybody a square deal, and for the
information of some half-dozen Hot-spurs who have vowed to give me the
beating of my life the day we should be demobilized, I take pleasure in
announcing that I will be the first man to be discharged, that there is a
nice clear space between these two demobilization-shacks and the ground
is not too hard, that there will be no guards to interfere, and if any
man with the right to call himself '