The Drummer Boy Part 5

"Your s.h.i.+p, then," said the veteran, dryly. "Come with me."

And conducting Frank to his tent, he took from one side an object covered with a blanket.

"My s.h.i.+p!" cried Frank, joyfully, already guessing what treasure was now to be his.

"Your sword, then, if you like that name better. For what his sword is to a hero, what his s.h.i.+p is to a true sailor, what a wife is to a true husband,--such, my young friend, to a genuine drummer is his drum."

So saying, the veteran threw aside the covering, and presented to his pupil the long-coveted prize. The boy's eyes shone with pleasure, and (as he wrote that evening to his parents) he was so happy he could have hugged both the old drummer and the new drum.

"I selected it for you, and you may be sure it is a good one. It won't be any handsomer, but, if you use it well, it won't be really much the worse, for going through a campaign or two with you. For it is with drums as it is with the drummers; they grow old, and get some honorable scratches, and some unlucky bruises, and now and then a broken head; but, G.o.d prospering them, they come out, at last, ugly to look at, perhaps"

(the veteran stroked his mustache), "but well-seasoned, and sound, and very truly at your service."

Frank thought be saw a tear in his twinkling gray eye, and he was so much affected by it, that he caught his hand in both of his, exclaiming, "Bless you, dear sir! Dear, good sir, G.o.d bless you!"

The old man winked away the moisture from his eye, smiling still, but with a quivering lip, and patted him gently on the shoulder, without saying a word.

Frank had the sense to perceive that the interview was now over; the veteran wished to be left alone; and, with the new drum at his side, he left the tent, proud and happy, and wis.h.i.+ng in his heart that he could do something for that singular, kind old man.

As Frank was hastening to his tent, he was met by one of the captains in his regiment, who, seeing the bright beaming face and new drum, accosted him.

"So, you are a drummer boy--are you?"

"Yes, sir, I am learning to be one," said Frank, modestly.

Now, these two had seen each other often in camp and the captain had always regarded Frank with a smile of interest and kindness, and Frank (as he wrote home) had "always liked the looks of the captain first-rate."

"I saw you, I think, the day you came here," said the captain. "You had some curls then. What has become of them?"

Frank's lip twitched, and he cast down his eyes, ashamed to betray any lingering feeling on that subject.

"The boys cut them off in my sleep, sir."

"The rogues!" exclaimed the captain. "And what did you do?"

Frank lifted his eyes with a smile. "I partly finished them myself--they had haggled them so; and the next day I found a man to cut my hair nicely."

"Well, it is better so, perhaps: short hair for a soldier. But I liked those curls. They reminded me of a little sister of mine--she is gone now--," in a low, mellow tone. "Are you attached to any company?"

"I am enlisted in the Jackson Blues."

"What is your name?"

"Frank Manly, sir."

"Are you any relation to Mrs. Manly, of----?"

"She is my mother, sir," said Frank, with proud affection.

"Is it possible! Mrs. Manly's son! Indeed, you look like her."

"Do you know my mother, sir?"

"My lad," said the captain, "I used to go to school to her. But, though I have heard of her often, I haven't seen her for years."

"I shall write to her, and tell her about you," said Frank, delighted.

"She will be glad to hear that I have found so good a friend."

"Ask her," said the captain, "If she remembers Henry Edney, who used to go to school to her in ----. She will recollect me, I am sure. And give my very kind regards to her, and to your father; and tell them I regret I didn't see you before you enlisted, for I want just such a drummer boy in my company. But never mind," he added quickly, as if conscious of having spoken indiscreetly, "you will do your duty where you are, and I will try to do mine, for we must have only one thought now--to serve our country."

They separated, with more kind words on the captain's part, and with expressions of grat.i.tude on the part of Frank, who felt that, to compensate him for John Winch's treachery, he was already securing the friends.h.i.+p of a few of the best of men.

You may be sure the boy wrote to his mother all about the interview, and told her how sorry he was that he had not enlisted in Captain Edney's company; not only because he liked his new friend's kindness and affable manners so well, but also because there existed in the ranks of the Jackson Blues a strong prejudice against their own officers. Captain ---- was almost a stranger to his men, and seemed determined to continue so.

He seldom appeared amongst them, or showed any interest in their welfare.

He had never once drilled them, but left that duty entirely to the sergeant. They consequently accused him boldly of laziness, ignorance, and conceit--three qualities which men always dislike in their superiors.

How different was Captain Edney!

V.

FUN IN CAMP.

Frank now practised his lessons on his drum, and was very happy. He had pa.s.sed the surgical examination a few days after his arrival in camp, and been duly sworn into the service. This latter ceremony made a strong impression on his mind. He stood in the open air, together with a number of new recruits, and heard the Articles of War read; after which they all took off their caps, and held up their right hands, while the oath was administered.

One day, on returning to camp after his lesson in the woods, he was astonished to see Jack Winch, with his cap off, his fighting-cut displayed to all beholders, and his fist shaking, marched off by armed soldiers.

"What are they doing with Jack?" he hastened to inquire of Abram At.w.a.ter, who stood among his comrades with his arms composedly crossed under his cape.

"He is put under guard," said the tall, taciturn soldier.

"You see," cried Joe Harris, coming up, "Jack had tipped the bottle once too often, and got noisy. The sergeant told him to keep still. 'Dry up yourself,' said Jack. 'Start,' says the sergeant; and he took hold of him to push him towards the tent; but the next he knew, he got a blow square in the face,--Jack was so mad!"

"Come, boys," said Ned Ellis, "Le's go over and see how he likes the fun."

The proposal was accepted; and presently a strong deputation of the Blues went to pay a visit to their disgraced comrade. Arrived at the guard tent, a couple of sentinels crossed their bayonets before them. But although they could not enter, they could look in; and there, seated on the ground, they saw Jack, in a position which would have appeared excessively ludicrous to Frank, but that it seemed to him too pitiful to behold any comrade so degraded. In consequence of his continued fury and violence, Jack had been secured in this fas.h.i.+on. Imagine a grotesque letter _N_, to which feet, arms, and a head have been added, and you have some idea of his posture, as seen in profile. His knees were elevated; forming the upper angle of the letter. The lower angle was represented by that portion of the body which forms the seat of the human animal. The arms were pa.s.sed over the upper angle, that is, the knees, and kept in their place by handcuffs on the wrists, and by a musket thrust through, over the arms and under the knees.

"Can't you untie them iron knots with your teeth, Jack?" said Joe, meaning the handcuffs.

"How do you like the back to your chair?" said Ned.

"Let's see ye turn a somerset backwards, Jack."

And so forth. But Frank did not insult him in his disgrace.

Winch was by this time sufficiently sobered and humbled. He destroyed the symmetry of the _N_ by doubling himself ingloriously over his knees and hiding his face between them.