But the march was to be a short one. The command was led into the grove and halted. The order to pitch camp was given. Now a lively scene followed. As the outer covering of his blanket roll each soldier carries a flap of canvas, which constitutes one half of a shelter tent, as it is officially termed. The soldier's name for it is dog tent or pup house. Each man also carries two jointed sticks. One pair of sticks is jointed to form the front pole of the tent, the other the rear pole. In front of the tent site a peg is driven, and a cord passed from this peg up over the front pole, across to the rear pole, and down to a peg at the rear. Now the two flaps of canvas are fitted over this frame and the tent is up. "Let's beat the company to it, Noll?" breathed Hal in his bunkie's ear. In the Army the "bunkie" is the man with whom the tent is shared. Usually two bunkies become close chums, even if they were not before joining the service. "We've done it," breathed Hal, as he and Noll straightened up and gazed about them. "That takes the crimp out of a few veterans." "Get a hike on, some of you men!" called First Sergeant Gray briskly. Then he turned to glare mildly at Hooper and Dowley, who were finishing last. Corporal Cotter, his own tent up with Corporal Reynolds, turned to look down the company street. "Hooper, you and Dowley are going to hear something," predicted the corporal dryly. "That's done well enough," grumbled Dowley, glancing at his tent. Captain Cortland stood at the head of the company street glancing down. "One tent forward out of alignment," called the company commander, then stepped down the street. "Who are the men that occupy this tent?" he demanded, halting. "My tent, sir," mumbled Hooper. "And mine, sir," added Dowley. "Don't you men know how to erect a tent in alignment with the street front?" inquired Captain Cortland. "Take it down. Corporal Cotter, stand by to see that these men set up their tent in soldierly fashion." "I told you you'd hear something," remarked Cotter. "Aw, what's the use of being so finicky about a tent a quarter of an inch out of alignment?" grumbled Hooper. "The tent is more than that out of alignment," returned the corporal. "And there's every use in the world in performing every duty in the most soldierly fashion." "Say," began Dowley argumentatively. "Silence, and get on with your work," ordered Corporal Cotter sharply. "Hooper, you're close to thirty-five years old. Dowley, you're around thirty. Yet those two kids, Overton and Terry, are only eighteen, and they beat you at every point in soldierliness." "Soldiering is a kid's game," growled Dowley. "The best men we get in the Army are those we catch young," retorted Corporal Cotter. "Stop! Tighten that cord a whole lot more." "How does that suit you, Corp?" demanded Dowley when, at last, the sulky bunkies had again finished their task. "Address me as Corporal, not Corp," returned Cotter stiffly.