But if any one of the several thousand prospective3 soldiers, sleeping the sleep of the more or less just in the tents of Camp Dixton, thought it was but a dream, those notes of the bugle, he was sadly, if not rudely, awakened5 when the sound came with greater insistence6, as if calling over and over again:
“Get up! Get up! You must get up!”
“I say, Ned!” lazily called Bob from his bed amid the blankets on the ground under a khaki tent, “what day is it?”
“What difference does that make?” asked Ned. “What time is it?”
“You ought to know without asking, when you hear that horn,” grunted7 Jerry.
“Horn? Bugle you mean,” came a voice from[109] the other corner of the tent, if a conical tent, the shape used in the army, can be said to have “corners.”
“Have it your own way,” assented8 Jerry. “I’m anxious to know what Bob meant by asking what day it was.”
“If it’s only Sunday we’ll get a chance to rest,” explained the stout9 Chunky, peering out from under his blankets. For he and the others had wrapped up well, as the night had been chilly.
“Chance to rest!” exclaimed Ned. “Say, we haven’t done anything yet.”
“Done anything!” challenged Bob. “Don’t you call that drill we went through yesterday anything?”
“Just a little setting up exercise, and some marching to get you to know your hay foot from your straw foot,” commented the tall lad. “If you’re going to kick about that the second day in camp what will happen in about a week?”
“Oh, I’m not kicking,” hastily said Bob. “In fact, I’m too lame10 and sore to kick. And my arm feels like a boil.”
“Anti-typhus germs,” explained Ned. “You’ll be a whole lot worse before you’re better. We have to have two more injections, I understand.”
The rousing notes of the bugle, “rousing” in a double sense, again sounded, and, not without considerable grumbling11 and growling12, in which[110] even Jerry, by the look on his face at least, seemed to join, the boys got up and prepared for another day in camp—their second.
The young volunteers, with a lot of other recruits, had reached the camp ground the day before, but there was so much confusion, so many new arrivals, and such a general air of orderly disorder13 about the place, that the impressions Ned, Bob, and Jerry received were mixed.
Camp Dixton was situated14 in one of the Southern states, and was laid out on a big plain at the foot of some hills, which, as they rose farther to the west, became sizable mountains. The plain which had, until within a short time of the laying out of the cantonments, been several large farms, consisted of level ground, with a few places where there were low rounded hills and patches of wood. It was an ideal location for a camp, giving opportunity for drills and sham15 battles over as great a diversity of terrain16 as might be found in Flanders or France.
As to the camp itself, it was typical of many that have since sprung up all over the United States to care for the large army, or armies, that are constantly being raised. And the building of Camp Dixton, like the making of all the others, had been little short of marvelous. On what had been, a few months before, a series of farms, there was now a military city.
[111]
The place was laid out like a model city. The barracks for the soldiers were, of course, made of rough wood, and few of them were painted, but there was time enough for that. A great level, center space had been set aside as a parade ground, and in the midst of this was the division headquarters. North and south of the parade ground were the long rows of “streets” lined with the wooden buildings, some of which were sleeping quarters, some cook houses and others places where the officers lived.
There were long rows of warehouses17, into which ran railroad sidings; there were an ice house, an ice plant, a big laundry, a theater, and many other buildings and establishments such as one would find in a city.
As for the military units themselves, there were infantry18, cavalry19, machine gun companies, artillery20 companies, a motor corp and even a small contingent21 of aeroplanes.
On their arrival the day before, Ned, Bob, and Jerry, with the other recruits, had been met at the railroad station by a number of officers, who looked very spick and span in their olive-drab uniforms, with their brown leather leggings polished until one could almost see his face in them.
In columns of four abreast22, carrying their handbags and suitcases, the new soldiers were marched[112] up to camp, a most unmilitary looking lot, as the boys themselves admitted.
A few at a time, the lads were ushered23 into booths, where officers took their names, records, and other details, then they were given something to eat.
“For all the world like a sort of picnic in a new mining town,” as Ned wrote home.
Then had come a preliminary drill, and some setting-up exercises. The boys were so tired out from this, and from their journey, that no one thought of anything but bed when it was over.
“And now we’ve got to do it all over again,” murmured Bob, as he began to dress. “This is somewhat different from what we were used to at home. Home was never like this!”
“Quit your kicking!” exclaimed Jerry. “Aren’t you glad you’re in this, and are going to help lick the Huns?”
“Sure I am!” declared the stout lad.
“Then keep still about it!”
“Say, I’ve got a right to kick if I want to, as long as I get up when the bugle calls,” declared Bob. “It’s the constitutional right of a free-born American citizen to kick, and I’m doing it!”
“Showing you how much like the mule24 an otherwise perfectly25 good fellow can become,” murmured Ned, and then he had to duck to get out of the way of a shoe that Bob tossed at him.
[113]
“Come on, fellows! Hustle26!” called a non-commissioned officer, thrusting his head in the doorway27 of the tent where the boys were dressing28. “Roll call soon!”
“We’ll be there,” announced Ned. “I hope we get shifted to one of the barracks to-day,” he went on. “It’s a bit damp in this tent.”
“Yes, a wooden shack29 will be better,” agreed Jerry.
Most of the new arrivals were in the wooden buildings, but in the hurry and confusion of the day before, some had to be assigned temporarily to tents. New barracks were in the course of construction, however, to accommodate the constantly growing number of volunteers. Later the great camps would be filled with the men of the draft.
When Ned had finished his hasty dressing, he strolled over to look at the posted notice in the tent, which gave a list of the day’s duties and the hours for drills. The bulletin was headed “Service Roll Calls.”
The first thing in the order of the day is reveille, but this is preceded by what is known as “First call.” This is sounded at 5:45 in the morning, rather an early hour, as almost any one but a milkman will concede. But one gets used to it, as Bob said later.
“First call” is a series of stirring notes on the[114] bugle which has for its purpose the awakening30 of the buglers themselves, to get them out of their snug31 beds to give the reveille proper. March and reveille come ten minutes later, the buglers marching up and down the streets in front of the tents and barracks, and “blowing their heads off,” to quote Jerry Hopkins. This is calculated to awaken4 each and every rookie, but if it fails the various squad32 leaders see to it that no one is missed.
“Assembly,” is the call which comes at six o’clock, and then woe33 betide the recruit who is not dressed and in line, standing34 at attention. As can be seen, there is but five minutes allowed for dressing; that is, if a man does not awaken until the reveille sounds. If he opens his eyes at first call, and gets up then, he has fifteen minutes to primp, though this is generally saved for dress parade. Roll call follows the assembly.
On this morning, when it had been ascertained35 that all were “present or accounted for,” Ned, Bob, and Jerry, with their new comrades, were dismissed to wash for breakfast. With soap and towels there was a general rush for the wash room, and then followed a healthful splashing.
“It isn’t like our bathroom at home,” said Bob, as he polished his face, “but I suppose the results are the same.”
“Sure,” agreed Ned. “They have showers[115] here, and that’s more than they have in some camps, yet, I hear.”
“We’ll need a shower after drill,” declared Jerry. “It’s going to be hot and dry to-day.”
Breakfast was the next call, only it was not called that. It was down on the schedule as “mess,” and so every meal was designated though, of course, in their own minds, each recruit thought of the first meal as breakfast, the second as dinner, and the third as supper. But to the army cook each meal was a “mess.”
But before breakfast the boys had to make up their beds. They had been given a lesson in that the previous day. Soon after their arrival the recruits were divided into squads36, and under the guidance of a squad leader they were taken to a big pile of straw and told to fill the heavy, white cotton bags that were to serve in the place of mattresses38. There was a hole in the middle of the bag, and through this the straw was poked39, and the whole made as smooth as possible on the bunks40.
After their first night, Ned, Bob, and Jerry were transferred to a wooden barracks. When they carried the straw mattresses to this building, they found that each squad room contained about fifty bunks arranged around the walls, with two rows down the middle. On each bunk41, besides the mattress37, or “bedsack,” as it is officially called,[116] were a pillow and three blankets. These must be neatly42 arranged after the night’s sleep. Beds in a military camp are not made up until just before they are used, but during the day the blankets must be neatly folded, laid on the bunks and the pillow placed on top of the blankets.
There were no clothes closets, and the only place Ned, Bob and Jerry had to put their things was on a shelf back of each lad’s bunk, and on some nails, driven into the wall near by. On these were all the possessions they were allowed, and, as can be imagined, they were not many—or would not be, once the boys were in uniform.
As yet, none of the new recruits wore a uniform. All were dressed just as they had come from their homes, and there was the usual variety seen at any baseball game.
“Mess call!” sang out Jerry, as he and his chums heard the notes of the bugles43 again. This time the call seemed to the boys to be more cheerful.
“I hope they have something good for breakfast,” murmured Bob, and this time his chums did not laugh at him. They were as hungry as he was.
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1
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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2
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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3
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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4
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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5
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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6
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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7
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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8
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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11
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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12
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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13
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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14
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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15
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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16
terrain
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| n.地面，地形，地图 | |
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17
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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18
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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19
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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20
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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21
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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22
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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23
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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25
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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26
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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27
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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28
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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29
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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30
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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31
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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32
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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33
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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34
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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35
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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37
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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mattresses
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| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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39
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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40
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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41
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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42
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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43
bugles
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| 妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠 | |
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