For the next hour or two Dick was going through the customary instruction, and being barked at with the rest, ordered here and there, made to perform the balance-step, and put through his facings generally. The sergeant bullied him in the time-worn style, and stared at him as if he had never seen him before, till the recruits were drawn up in line, hot, weary and worried; for, though the stout sergeant was not very active, he did not spare himself, much less the fresh, raw lads he was drilling into shape. Then, after some exceedingly severe strictures, he turned suddenly to Dick. "Here you, Number Fourteen; you've been through all this?" "Yes, sir." "Hah! Taught by some clumsy worn-out duffer who belonged to the old school! You've a lot to learn, my lad, but you needn't stop with this rough lot; you can drill with one of the regular squads." Some of the men turned to look sourly at the new recruit, and were yelled at by the sergeant. "Eyes front!" he roared. "Keep your heads up there! I'm speaking to Number Four from the left, not to you! Steady there! Right face! Dis--miss!" The rank was broken, and, as the tired squad hurried off to the barrack-room, the sergeant drew his cane from under his arm, and called to Dick, the stern, rigid look giving place to a pleasant, cheery smile as he shook hands. "You meant it, then?" he said. "Yes, I meant it," replied Dick, smiling back. "Well, I'm glad to see you, my lad. Don't you take no notice of what I said before those louts. You're all right; you'll have to go through the course, but I can soon report you as being pretty perfect. You could hold your own now with most of the fellows in the band." "I think I can soon get on," said Dick, who felt glad of a friendly word. "Of course you can. You well-educated chaps know your right leg from your left; lots of these fellows never seem to. You'll be all right there in the band." He nodded and walked away, while Dick was soon after obeying the dinner call, and forcing himself to bear his grievance, as he sat down to partake of the roughly-cooked coarse beef and potatoes which formed the day's rations, and wondered how long it would be before he grew hardened to his new life and able to forget the many little refinements and luxuries to which he had been accustomed. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. QUAVERING AMONG CROTCHETS. "It is very horrid in some things," thought Dick Smithson as he would think of his position at night in the comparative silence of his narrow bed--comparative silence, for each of his brother bandsmen had a habit of performing nocturnes on nasal instruments in a way not pleasing to a weary, sleepless person--"very horrid." For so many things jarred: the want of privacy, the common ways of his companions, the roughness of the food, and the annoyances--petty annoyances--he had to submit to from the little bandmaster.