Page:The Galaxy, Volume 6.djvu/830

792 "Ogden, hold your tongue! Sergeant, bring me that man Ford, instantly!"

Nettled at being told to hold my tongue, a thing I wouldn't have stood from the lips of any man in those days, before I got curbed down into a steady soldier, I took a step toward him and, raising my finger, said:

"Look ye here, Lieutenant, I won't stand that from you, or any other puppy!"

"Ogden, do you know whom you are talking to?" said Lieutenant Davis, if anything, paler than usual, and, as I could see, biting his lip with fast-rising anger. "Stand back, sir, or you'll be sorry! Sergeant, bring me that man! Stand back, Ogden!"

"Don't you wish you may get it!" with a sneer, was scarcely out of my mouth, when Lieutenant Davis drew his sword, took a step toward me, and said, more slowly and quietly than before—"Ogden, stand back, or I'll knock you down!"

"Knock, and be ."

My words half uttered, I saw Davis raise his arm with a quick, nervous motion, and, before I could ward off the blow, I felt a crushing sensation on my head, my knees gave way, and that was all I knew.

When I came to myself they told me that Lieutenant Davis had knocked me down with the hilt of his sword, then coolly ordered the rest of the company to bed, whither they had dispersed, whereupon he re-imprisoned Ford. The men said it had all been done so quick that they had no time to collect their wits enough to resist, even had they chosen; that my being knocked off my pins with such a sudden blow seemed to break up all their unity of action, and that Ford had come forward himself and gone with the guard; that Lieutenant Davis had said no word after his blow, but followed the guard out of the quarters, where everything had resumed its quiet aspect.

For days after this event, by no means honorable to myself, I kept my bunk, with bandaged and aching head, and feelings sore and venomous. Could I have gotten any of my comrades to take my part, I should have at once recommenced hostilities; but all of them sided against me, saying I had provoked worse treatment than I received. Lieutenant Davis did not attempt further to punish me; but this only enraged me the more, for it looked like clemency, and I would rather have been court-martialed and shot, I thought, than accept clemency from him. But I could do nothing more than nurse my wrath in silence, for when I returned to duty Lieutenant Davis took neither more nor less notice of me than before, and never spoke or acted as if he had the slightest recollection of my conduct. But this was fresh cause of aggravation, and augmented my daily growing store of revenge.

After this fracas, Company G seemed entirely to have lost their old dislike for Lieutenant Davis; nor could I ever get a single man to join me in any scheme against him or his authority. Even Renny Ford (who, by the way, had been released next day, with a caution against the abuse of liquor), bore no grudge, and I could never make him believe that it was for him I had suffered so much. He would always answer to my assertions of this fact that it was not so much my friendship for him as my enmity to Lieutenant Davis that got me into the trouble; and though I used to deny it then, I now admit the force of his reasoning. Company G became the best-drilled, best-behaved company in the regiment, as it was really of the best material, and none was more devoted to its commanding officer.