Part 4 (1/2)
”Is this true?” asks the Captain of the first witness, curtly.
”Yes, sir.”
”You saw the men throwing biscuits at the prisoner?”
”Yes, sir.”
”He was daen' it himsel'!” proclaims Private McNulty.
”This true?”
”Yes, sir.”
The Captain addresses the other witness.
”You doing it too?”
”Yes, sir.”
The Captain turns again to the prisoner.
”Why didn't you lodge a complaint?” (The schoolboy code does not obtain in the Army.)
”I did, sir. I tellt”--indicating Corporal Mather with an elbow--”this genelman here.”
Corporal Mather cannot help it. He swells perceptibly. But swift puncture awaits him.
”Corporal Mather, why didn't you mention this?”
”I didna think it affected the crime, sir.”
”Not your business to think. Only to make a straightforward charge. Be very careful in future. You other two”--the witnesses come guiltily to attention--”I shall talk to your platoon sergeant about you. Not going to have Government property knocked about!”
Bobby Little's eyebrows, w.i.l.l.y-nilly, have been steadily rising during the last five minutes. He knows the meaning of red tape now!
Then comes sentence.
”Private McNulty, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying Government property, so you go before the Commanding Officer. Don't suppose you'll be punished, beyond paying for the damage.”
”Right turn! Quick march!” chants the Sergeant-Major.
The downtrodden McNulty disappears, with his traducers. But Bobby Little's eyebrows have not been altogether thrown away upon his Company Commander.
”Got the biscuits here, Sergeant-Major?”
”Yes, sirr.”
”Show them.”
The Sergeant-Major dives into a pile of brown blankets, and presently extracts three small brown mattresses, each two feet square. These appear to have been stabbed in several places with a knife.