The eyes gazed straight before. A man on horseback, who must have been the colonel, sat out in front. “Support――arms!” “Carry――arms!” “Right shoulder――shift!” “Shoulder――arms!” “Present――arms!” The band and field music marched up and down, playing bravely. The two ranks stood motionless, the soldiers as stiff as ramrods, their muskets held perpendicularly in front of them. Why, compared with these Regulars the Mexican Regulars, even the famous Eleventh Infantry of the Line, were only slouchers. The music resumed position; the drums rolled, a bugler lilted a kind of call. Pretty soon the colonel turned his horse and left; the company officers barked snappy orders, and the companies were marched back to stack arms again and be dismissed. Hannibal came rollicking without his drum. “I’m off till tattoo at half-past nine,” he announced, to Jerry. “No guard duty. Our company’s to rest. If I wasn’t a drummer I wouldn’t have anything to do till to-morrow. But a drummer never gets much rest. He has to be Johnny-on-the-Spot all the time. Just wait till you’re a drummer. What you want to do? Where’ve you been since morning?” “I was up in the naval battery.” “Under fire, you mean?” “Guess so. A big shell burst right in front of me, inside the battery; in the middle of us all. Didn’t kill anybody, though. Then an officer made me get. But I’ve joined the army.” “You have? How? Already?” “You bet. I’m in the Fourth Regiment.” “What do you do there? A drummer? Who’s teaching you? Old Brown?” “No, I’m not a drummer. I’m with the officers. I’m attached to Lieutenant Grant.” “Aw――――!” and Hannibal stared. “What you mean now? How ‘attached?’” “That’s what he said. I take care of his tent and I go along with him and the Fourth Regiment.” “You do? That’s not soldiering; that’s only being a follower. But what did you join the Fourth for? Maybe I could have got you into the Eighth. You ought to be a drummer. A drummer gets nine dollars a month and he’s some pumpkins, too. He’s no private. He wears a sword like an officer, and has his own drill. I could have taught you the taps and flams and drags and rolls. They’re easy. Then maybe you’d be a drum major some day. That’s what I intend to be.” “Well, I can learn to be an officer. Lieutenant Grant will teach me,” Jerry answered.