[Illustration: "Let Me Look at That Bolt." _Frontispiece._] Uncle Sam's Boys on Field Duty OR Winning Corporal's Chevrons By H. IRVING HANCOCK Author of The Motor Boat Club Series, The High School Boys' Series, The West Point Series, The Annapolis Series, Uncle Sam's Boys in the Ranks, Uncle Sam's Boys as Sergeants, Etc. Illustrated PHILADELPHIA HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY HOWARD E. ALTEMUS CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A SQUAD-ROOM MISUNDERSTANDING 7 II. ON THE GREAT SUMMER HIKE 29 III. SOLDIER HAL MARCHES AS A PRISONER 47 IV. THE JOKING SCOUT 54 V. THE CORPORAL WITH THE SHEEPISH GRIN 65 VI. RAYNES FINDS A PATRIOTIC ALLY 77 VII. BEARS AND OTHER TROUBLES 90 VIII. IN THE MIDST OF THE "HOSTILES" 97 IX. PLANNING FOR THE NIGHT ATTACK 103 X. TRAPPERS AND TRAPPED 113 XI. THAT C COMPANY CORPORAL EATS CROW 119 XII. THE CALL TO DEADLY WORK 130 XIII. THE APPOINTMENT WITH SUPREME DANGER 138 XIV. MEETING BLICK IN EARNEST 145 XV. THE BATTLE OF THEIR LIVES 155 XVI. CAPTAIN CORTLAND "MAKES A SPEECH" 162 XVII. ROUNDING UP THE MISSING LEAVE MEN 171 XVIII. DOWLEY EGGS ON A CATSPAW 184 XIX. A DISPUTE IN THE GUARD HOUSE 192 XX. PROMOTION FLIES IN THE AIR 202 XXI. THE PRICE OF BEING A MAN 211 XXII. TWO YOUNG CORPORALS SEND OUT THE "C. Q. D." 227 XXIII. THE WIND CHANGES ITS COURSE AND BLOWS 235 XXIV. CONCLUSION 246 Uncle Sam's Boys on Field Duty CHAPTER I A SQUAD-ROOM MISUNDERSTANDING "I see by the paper----" began Private Green, looking up. Instantly the doughboys in the squad room turned loose on him. "You can never believe what you read in the papers," broke in Private Hyman. "Cut it and study your guard manual!" yelled another. "Is it going to rain to-night, rookie?" "Let him alone. He wants to prove that he can read," jeered another, which witticism brought a swift flush to the face of Private Green. For Green was as verdant as his name. He was a new recruit, just in after his probationary period at a northwestern recruit rendezvous. He was so green, in fact, that the men in the squad room, and throughout B Company of the Thirty-fourth United States Infantry accused the young fellow of having joined the Army so that he could get a wall of bayonets between his own inexperienced self and the bunco men.