Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 53: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Casual’s Return take the damage outta your pay. You won’t get it paid off if yuh stay in the Army till you’re retired.” The sergeant paid no heed. Toward night the corporal stopped his sound-off. It was dark in the car while objects were still perfectly visible outside. From time to time, while the train was halting at the stations, there was a pleasant sound of gurgling from the darkness. The sergeant did not notice it at first, but after many repetitions, he began to wonder what it was. It did not take him long to decide. He leaped to his feet and going over to where the corporal sat on his box, he reached forth his hand and wrested a bottle from him. | “You’ve got your nerve, old hard luck,” cried Eadie, “to go drinking yourself drunk right before me. I’m going to put you in command of the guard tonight and see if you can do something toward earning your pay. See if you can melt some of that fat off your lazy bones. The crust of you, guzzling this stuff openly and you a non- commissioned officer! You won’t drink any more, you bet.” “Sall gone,” said the corporal, a sob catching in his throat. “All gone?” cried the sergeant, holding the bottle to the light from the door. ‘You hog! It never occurred to you that some one else might like a drink did it? You might have offered me one, even though I wouldn’t take it. I don’t drink when I’m on duty.” He hurled the bottle through the door. “There! Now don’t let me catch you hanging your lip over any more bottles. If you were a little younger, I’d put a Saturday inspection shine on your nose for you.’’ ‘That so?” cried the corporal. ‘“No—— dirty-necked recruit is gonna make fight talk to me. I was a corporal when you couldn’t wipe your own chin! No Mex non-com gets away with anything here!”’ He arose suddenly to his feet and made a fistic assault upon Eadie, who, easily duck- ing the swing, thrust his open palm into the corporal’s chest and shoved him upon the pile of bread, where Joy by name and Gloom by nature passed quietly into ob- livion, and lay snoring heavily. When the corporal passed out, Jake came to. He sat up rubbing his head and then joined Eadie by the door. - 51 “You're a fine guy,” Eadie greeted him “I was just takin’ a little sleep,” said Jake penitently. “T’ll bet you were. How did your eye get all bunged up?” “Bumpin’ on the floor. beds is rougher than “Ugh,” grunted the sergeant, “you were tighter than a boiled owl. You threw your weight into a compartment full of soldiers and they knocked you for a ‘gool.’ ” “Did I?” grinned Jake. ‘They wouldn’t have done it only I passed out goin’ in the door ” “Now listen,” began the sergeant. ““You’re going up to join a unit of the regu- lar Army. They don’t get drunk there, and they don’t go around slugging each other. Orders are given to be obeyed and the men obey them. The non-commis- sioned officers are respected, and they con- duct themselves so as to be worthy of that respect. And there’s none of this sneaking off and passing the buck and soaking your- self with rum all the time. I’m telling you this so you won’t get in the mill the minute you land. You’re going to join an outfit where they soldier, and if you want to keep yourself in right, you’ve got to soldier like- wise. Get me?” “I getcha,” said Jake penitently. ‘No kiddin’, that stuff they pass out here works hard an’ fast. It sure don’t belong to the union, that liquor.” “I thought you said a while ago that it tasted like vinegar, and that you didn’t like it.” “Well, that was the stuff they had in their canteens. This corporal had some- thing in a bottle.” , “What did that taste like?” “Man, it was like takin’ a mouthful o’ lightnin’. I ain’t kiddin’ yuh. Wow!” “Well, it’s all gone,” said Eadie. “And I heaved the dead man out the door. Now, no more. I want some help with this crowd. I think they’ve drunk up all their stuff and if they don’t get any more, we'll be all right.” Boy, these road- 99 warm IT WAS apparent at the next sta- fee tion that they were to go no farther “= that night. The two troop cars and the freight car containing the food were de- tached from the train and left in. the front of the station. This was a very large affair, the largest they had yet encountered. CoOmicbook © 5}