George at the Fort | Page 5

report
at the office the next morning at nine o'clock, sharp; but he was
provoked because the officer did not tell them where they were going.
This, however, only proved the truth of the old sergeant's words--that a
private never knew where he was going until he got there. Bob knew
that they were bound for Brownsville when a steamer landed them
there a few hours later, and he found out that they were going from
there to Fort Lamoine when they arrived at that post after a weary
tramp of more than three hundred miles.
The recruits camped beside the trail at night, and during the daytime
plodded along behind the army-wagon which contained their tents,
blankets, rations and cooking-utensils. It was very fatiguing to all of
them, and it was not long before Bob began to learn something of the
dispositions of the men with whom he was to be intimately associated

during his term of enlistment. The majority of them grumbled lustily,
and even talking of deserting, and there were not more than two or
three besides himself who bore the discomforts of the march with
anything like patience. There was not much restriction placed upon
their actions, and, although they were not permitted to stray away from
the line of march during the daytime, they were allowed to visit any
ranches or farm-houses that might be in the neighborhood of their
camping-grounds. The people they met along the route were very
liberal with the products of their gardens and with their milk, butter and
eggs, and the recruits fared sumptuously every day; but it would have
been much better for some of them if they had remained in camp at
night and left the settlers entirely alone. Not a few of the men with
whom they exchanged civilities unconsciously sowed among them
seeds of discontent that were destined eventually to bear a fruitful crop
of trouble. By endeavoring to live up to the sentiments they heard
expressed on every hand, more than one of the recruits found
themselves landed in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth.
"I don't see why you chaps swear away your liberty, and work for
thirteen dollars a month, when you might just as well get forty and be
free men," said a rancheman one night, after he has given Bob and
three companions, one of whom was Bristow, all the milk he had to
spare. "You'll soon get enough of soldiering, I tell you. I know, for I
have tried it. It is a heap easier to ride around on your horse and watch
your cattle while they are fattening themselves for market on the rich
grass."
"But we don't happen to have any cattle to watch," said Bob.
"Who would give us forty dollars a month?" demanded Bristow, who
was one of the loudest and most persistent grumblers among the
recruits.
"You could get it almost anywhere in this country," replied the
rancheman. "I'd give it to you, for one, and I know of a dozen others
who stand ready to snap up the first man that comes along, no odds
whether he ever herded cattle or not. You have made precious fools of
yourselves, and you'll get a fool's reward. You'll have mean grub, hard

work and poor pay, and be niggers to every little snipe who wears a
shoulder-strap."
"We've found that out already--haven't we, boys?" said Bristow, as he
and his companions reluctantly took leave of the hospitable rancheman
and retraced their steps toward the camp. "We are precious fools to
work for thirteen dollars, when we might just as well earn three times
that amount, and be our own masters besides. There is no need that
anybody should tell us that our officers will treat us like niggers, for we
have found that out too. Look at that lieutenant! He rides in the wagon
every day, while we have to hoof it."
"But you must remember that he is not strong," said Bob. "He has not
yet fully recovered from the effects of his wound."
"I don't believe a word of it," declared Bristow. "He's just as able to
march and cook his own grub and pitch his own tent as we are. It
makes me sick to see how that man Haskins waits on him." (Haskins
was the one who had served out clothing to the recruits in Galveston.)
"But a blind man could see what he is working for," added Bristow.
"He wants to get into the good graces of the lieutenant, hoping that he
will be recommended for a non-com's position when we reach the fort.
I tell you I have seen enough of soldiering already, and the very first
chance I get I am going to skip out."
"I'll go with you," said one