"You had better luck than you deserved," commented Roger crisply. "Now come on out for a walk with me. I want you to tell me about this affair. But not here. It's a good thing that it was I instead of Jimmy who happened along. There'd have been a free-for-all fight sure. Here comes the sergeant, too," he added grimly, as the acting first sergeant stepped from the stairway into the squad room. "Wait a minute. Sit down again and we'll see what Bixton intends to do." With these words, Roger calmly seated himself on his own cot to await developments, his eyes trained squarely on Bixton. That injured individual had also been busy plying a clothes brush, a fairly good sign, Roger thought, that he did not intend to carry out his threat. During the short time that the sergeant remained in the room an expectant silence prevailed. Like himself the other rookies present were breathlessly awaiting the outcome. Stretched at full length on his cot, Bixton made no move to unburden himself to the officer. He watched the latter morosely as he paused to give an order to one of the men, who promptly seized his hat and followed him from the room. As the two disappeared, Roger could not refrain from casting a challenging glance at the sulker. Directly he had done it, he was sorry. Bixton had caught and rightly interpreted it. Raising himself on his elbow he said fiercely: "'Fraid I was going to tell on him, wasn't you? I'll do it yet, if I feel like it. I'll fix both you boobs for this. There's other ways beside that. Before I'm through, I'll see you both fired outa this camp and those two smart Alecks that run with you. This camp's not big enough to hold me and you fresh guys at the same time, and you'll pretty soon get wise to it or my name's not Bixton." CHAPTER X NO LONGER "JUST ROOKIES" As the September days glided by, Bixton's threat of speedy vengeance bore no apparent fruit. Whether he was lying in wait for a good opportunity to discredit the four Khaki Boys, or whether he was only the proverbial barking dog that never bites, they neither knew nor cared. To their great relief, the story of the fight did not reach the ear of the acting first sergeant. Thus Ignace escaped the disgrace of being punished in his very first week at Camp Sterling. On hearing an account of the affair from Ignace himself, Roger was less inclined than ever to blame him for what had happened. He did not say so to Ignace, however. Instead, he sharply pointed out to the crest-fallen pugilist that two wrongs never made a right. He also privately warned Bob and Jimmy, who had been told of the fracas, not to let their sympathies run away with them.