or the discipline and order of the company.

"Is your name Overton?" asked Sergeant Gray, holding out his hand. "Glad
to have you with us, Overton. You'll bunk in Sergeant Hupner's squad
room. Remember that, when there's anything you really need to know, the
non-commissioned officers of the company are paid to instruct you. Don't
be afraid to ask necessary questions."

"I won't, thank you, Sergeant."

"And don't be sensitive or foolish, Overton, about any little pranks
some of the men are more or less bound to play upon you at first. The
easiest way to keep out of trouble is to be good-natured all the time.
But that doesn't mean that you have to submit to any abuse."

"Thank you, Sergeant."

"Now, I'll take you to Sergeant Hupner."

That was more easily said than done. Sergeant Gray took Hal to the squad
room in which he was to live thereafter, but Hupner was out at the time.

"Just stay here a little while, and report to Sergeant Hupner when he
comes in," directed the first sergeant. "He'll assign you to a bed and
make you feel at home."

Hardly had Sergeant Gray closed the door when Hal thought he had taken
the measure of the eight other privates present. They looked like a
clean, capable and genial lot of young fellows. He was speedily to find
that they were "genial" enough.

"So you want to be a regular, do you?" quizzed one of the soldiers,
halting before Hal, and looking him over.

"Why, I am one already, am I not?" asked Hal, smiling.

"No, sir, you're not," retorted the questioner. "How did you start in?
Made a grand stand play on the train last night, didn't you? Helped to
shoot up a lot of train robbers, didn't you?"

"That was under orders of an Army officer," Hal replied good-naturedly.
The other soldiers had crowded about the pair.

"You went and played the hero, didn't you?" persisted the questioner.
"Probably you didn't know that a regular is never allowed to be a hero.
Heroes serve only in the volunteers."

This is a well-known joke in the Army. In war time local pride in the
volunteer regiments is always strong. Local newspapers always devote
most of their war space to the "heroic" doings of the local volunteer
regiment. The regulars do the bulk of the fighting, and the most
dangerous, but their deeds of daring are rarely chronicled in the
newspapers. All the praise goes to the volunteer regiments. Hence, in
war time, a stock Army question is, "Are you a hero or a regular?"

"I guess y