“Me? Well, I started huggin' mud and saying all the good words I could think of. Even the O. C. got down on his knees, and the major, he near got into the grave, but that darned Pilot stood up there getting taller every minute, and goin' on with his prayer, and the boys sayin' 'Amen!' that loud and emphatic that I thought he'd take the hint and cut out somethin', but cut out nothin'! Seemed as if his memory was workin' over time, the way he kept a fetchin' up things that he could a easily forgot, and when he comes to the benediction, the whizbangs begin to come. Up goes his hand, the way they do. I thought to myself that that was a kind of unnecessary display. I looks up and there he was, more like a tree than ever. In fact, I says to myself--it's queer how you think things at times like that--darned if they won't think the darned fool is a tree, for nothin' but a darned tree would stand up in the flare light and look so much like a tree anyhow. I guess that's what saved him. He never moved until he was done, and then didn't he stay with us pioneers after the rest had gone until we filled up. Say, he's all right.”
“You bet he's all right,” said Sergeant Mackay, “and he's gettin' in his work with the boys.”
“What do you mean, 'gettin' in his work'?” enquired the pioneer sergeant.
“Oh, well, you know,” said Sergeant Mackay awkwardly, “he's makin' 'em think a lot different about things. I know he has 'em tied up all right in their language.” And this was as near to a confession of faith as the sergeant cared to go.
“Oh, I can see a difference myself up the line,” said the pioneer sergeant. “The boys used to get out of his way. He used to jump on 'em something fierce. You remember?”
“Well, they just love to have him drop in now and they tell him things. I saw Corporal Thom the other night showin' him his girl's picture, and the Pilot thought she was a fine girl too, and got her address down, and said he was going to write her and tell her what a fine chap the corporal was, and you ought to see Corporal Thom swell up until he 'most bust his tunic.”
“Oh, I know the corporal's dippy about the Pilot,” said Sergeant Mackay.
“Yes, and the officers, too,” said the pioneer sergeant. “There's Captain Duff. Well, you know what a holy terror he is.”
