第11章 SOLDIER BOY AND THE MEXICAN PLUG(3)

"And she has taught me how to say good-morning and good-night to her,which is by lifting my right hoof for her to shake;and also how to say good-bye;I do that with my left foot -but only for practice,because there hasn't been any but make-believe good-byeing yet,and I hope there won't ever be.It would make me cry if I ever had to put up my left foot in earnest.She has taught me how to salute,and I can do it as well as a soldier.I bow my head low,and lay my right hoof against my cheek.She taught me that because I got into disgrace once,through ignorance.I am privileged,because I am known to be honorable and trustworthy,and because I have a distinguished record in the service;so they don't hobble me nor tie me to stakes or shut me tight in stables,but let me wander around to suit myself.Well,trooping the colors is a very solemn ceremony,and everybody must stand uncovered when the flag goes by,the commandant and all;and once I was there,and ignorantly walked across right in front of the band,which was an awful disgrace:Ah,the Lieutenant-General was so ashamed,and so distressed that I should have done such a thing before all the world,that she couldn't keep the tears back;and then she taught me the salute,so that if I ever did any other unmilitary act through ignorance I could do my salute and she believed everybody would think it was apology enough and would not press the matter.

It is very nice and distinguished;no other horse can do it;often the men salute me,and I return it.I am privileged to be present when the Rocky Mountain Rangers troop the colors and I stand solemn,like the children,and I salute when the flag goes by.Of course when she goes to her fort her sentries sing out 'Turn out the guard!'and then ...do you catch that refreshing early-morning whiff from the mountain-pines and the wild flowers?The night is far spent;we'll hear the bugles before long.Dorcas,the black woman,is very good and nice;she takes care of the Lieutenant-General,and is Brigadier-General Alison's mother,which makes her mother-in-law to the Lieutenant-General.That is what Shekels says.At least it is what I think he says,though I never can understand him quite clearly.He -""Who is Shekels?"

"The Seventh Cavalry dog.I mean,if he IS a dog.His father was a coyote and his mother was a wild-cat.It doesn't really make a dog out of him,does it?""Not a real dog,I should think.Only a kind of a general dog,at most,I reckon.Though this is a matter of ichthyology,I suppose;and if it is,it is out of my depth,and so my opinion is not valuable,and I don't claim much consideration for it.""It isn't ichthyology;it is dogmatics,which is still more difficult and tangled up.Dogmatics always are.""Dogmatics is quite beyond me,quite;so I am not competing.But on general principles it is my opinion that a colt out of a coyote and a wild-cat is no square dog,but doubtful.That is my hand,and I stand pat.""Well,it is as far as I can go myself,and be fair and conscientious.I have always regarded him as a doubtful dog,and so has Potter.Potter is the great Dane.Potter says he is no dog,and not even poultry -though I do not go quite so far as that.

"And I wouldn't,myself.Poultry is one of those things which no person can get to the bottom of,there is so much of it and such variety.It is just wings,and wings,and wings,till you are weary:turkeys,and geese,and bats,and butterflies,and angels,and grasshoppers,and flying-fish,and -well,there is really no end to the tribe;it gives me the heaves just to think of it.But this one hasn't any wings,has he?""No."

"Well,then,in my belief he is more likely to be dog than poultry.

I have not heard of poultry that hadn't wings.Wings is the SIGNof poultry;it is what you tell poultry by.Look at the mosquito.""What do you reckon he is,then?He must be something.""Why,he could be a reptile;anything that hasn't wings is a reptile.""Who told you that?"

"Nobody told me,but I overheard it."

"Where did you overhear it?"

"Years ago.I was with the Philadelphia Institute expedition in the Bad Lands under Professor Cope,hunting mastodon bones,and Ioverheard him say,his own self,that any plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium that hadn't wings and was uncertain was a reptile.Well,then,has this dog any wings?No.Is he a plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium?Maybe so,maybe not;but without ever having seen him,and judging only by his illegal and spectacular parentage,I will bet the odds of a bale of hay to a bran mash that he looks it.Finally,is he uncertain?That is the point -is he uncertain?I will leave it to you if you have ever heard of a more uncertainer dog than what this one is?""No,I never have."

"Well,then,he's a reptile.That's settled.""Why,look here,whatsyourname"

"Last alias,Mongrel."

"A good one,too.I was going to say,you are better educated than you have been pretending to be.I like cultured society,and Ishall cultivate your acquaintance.Now as to Shekels,whenever you want to know about any private thing that is going on at this post or in White Cloud's camp or Thunder-Bird's,he can tell you;and if you make friends with him he'll be glad to,for he is a born gossip,and picks up all the tittle-tattle.Being the whole Seventh Cavalry's reptile,he doesn't belong to anybody in particular,and hasn't any military duties;so he comes and goes as he pleases,and is popular with all the house cats and other authentic sources of private information.He understands all the languages,and talks them all,too.With an accent like gritting your teeth,it is true,and with a grammar that is no improvement on blasphemy -still,with practice you get at the meat of what he says,and it serves...Hark!That's the reveille....

[THE REVEILLE]

"Faint and far,but isn't it clear,isn't it sweet?There's no music like the bugle to stir the blood,in the still solemnity of the morning twilight,with the dim plain stretching away to nothing and the spectral mountains slumbering against the sky.You'll hear another note in a minute -faint and far and clear,like the other one,and sweeter still,you'll notice.Wait ...listen.There it goes!It says,'IT IS I,SOLDIER -COME!'...

[SOLDIER BOY'S BUGLE CALL]

...Now then,watch me leave a blue streak behind!"