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 breakfast with 'em, and the fires'll all be made to save us the trouble."

The company officers had bustled in; got the reports from the first sergeants. There were orders.

"Company A, by the left flank! Left—face! For'd—march!"

"Company B, by the left flank! Left—face! For'd—march! Right oblique—march!"

And so on. Thus they all filed out of the barn door into the rain and the darkness, where the regimental officers were waiting.

"By company, into line—march! Left wheel—march! Company—halt! Right—dress!"

"Sure, how can a man right dress when he can't see?"

"Silence in the ranks!"

"Form platoons—quick—march!"

"Close up on the leading company, captains!"

It was a jumble. Jerry found his place with the rest of the music by guesswork.

"Is that you, Jerry?" little Mike Malloy, drummer of Company A, whispered. His teeth were chattering.

"Yes, Mike."

"An' are we goin' into battle?"

"Looks like it, Mike."

"Oh, murther" Mike groaned. "We'll all be dead wid cold before we get kilt entoirely wid bullets."

"Battalion, forward—route step—march! Close up, men; close up," shouted Major Lee. "Don't straggle. Drum major, sound a march."

"How can we sound a march wid the drums soaked an' the fifes drownded?" Mike complained.