ock wiser men. Shut up!"

Though Mahan's tone of reproof was professionally harsh, his spirit was
not in his words. And the silenced private knew it. He knew, too, that
the top-sergeant was as savage over the early halt as were the rest of
the men.

Bruce, as a rule, when he honored the "Here-We-Comes" with a visit,
spent the bulk of his time with Mahan and old Vivier. But to-day
neither of these friends was an inspiring companion. Nor were the rest
of Bruce's acquaintances disposed to friendliness. Wherefore, as soon
as supper was eaten, the dog returned to his heap of bedding, for the
hour or so of laziness which Nature teaches all her children to demand,
after a full meal,--and which the so-called "dumb" animals alone are
intelligent enough to take.

Dusk had merged into night when Bruce got to his feet again. Taps had
just sounded. The tired men gladly rolled themselves into their
blankets and fell into a dead sleep. A sentry-relief set forth to
replace the first batch of sentinels with the second.

Mahan was of the party. Though the top-sergeant had been a stupid
comrade, thus far to-day, he was now evidently going for a walk. And
even though it was a duty-walk, yet the idea of it appealed to the dog
after his long inaction.

So Bruce got up and followed. As he came alongside the stiffly marching
top-sergeant, the collie so far subverted discipline as to thrust his
nose, in friendly greeting, into Mahan's slightly cupped palm. And the
top-sergeant so far abetted the breach of discipline as to give the
collie's head a furtive pat. The night was dim, as the moon had not
risen; so the mutual contact of good-fellowship was not visible to the
marching men on either side of Mahan and the dog. And discipline,
therefore, did not suffer much, after all.

At one post after another, a sentinel was relieved and a fresh man took
his place. Farthest in front of the "Here-We-Comes" lines--and nearest
to the German--was posted a lanky Missourian whom Bruce liked, a man
who had a way of discovering in his deep pockets stray bits of food
which he had hoarded there for the collie and delighted to dole out to
him. The Missourian had a drawlingly soft voice the dog liked, and he
used to talk to Bruce as if the latter were another human.

For all these reasons--and because Mahan was too busy and too grumpy to
bother with him--Bruce elected to stay where he was, for a while, and
share the Missourian's vigil. So, when the rest of