"You can be ready, can you not?" asked the major.
"I am ready now, sir," was the brief, firm reply, but the tone told
unerringly that the lad resented and in heart rebelled at the detail.
"To whom shall I turn over the post fund, sir?"
"I do not care to have you transfer funds or--anything, Field. This is
but a temporary affair, one that will take you away perhaps a
fortnight."
"I prefer that it should be permanent, sir," was the young officer's
sudden interruption, and, though his eyes were blazing, he spoke with
effort, his face still white with mingled sense of indignity and
indignation.
"Gently, Mr. Field," said Webb, with unruffled calm, even while
uplifting a hand in quiet warning. "We will consider that, if need be,
on your return. Meantime, if you desire, I will receipt to you for the
post fund or any other public money."
"That is the trouble, sir. The best I can do is give you an order for
it. Post treasurers, as a rule, have not had to turn over their funds at
four o'clock in the morning," which statement was true enough, however
injudicious it might be to bruit it. Mild-mannered commanding officers
sometimes amaze their subordinates by most unlooked for and unwelcome
eruptiveness of speech when they feel that an unwarrantable liberty has
been taken.
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