Might serve as a beacon, too. Might
fetch assistance!"
It was evident that panic had set in.
"Fall in!" commanded Brown, and his straight back took on a curve
that meant straightness to the nth power.
"'Tshun! Ri'--dress! Eyes--front!"
He glared at them for just about one minute before
he spoke, and during that minute each man there realized that what
was coming would be quite irrevocable.
"I'm sergeant here. My orders are to hold this post until relieved.
Therefore--and I hope there's no man here holds any other notion;
I hope it for his own sake!--until we are relieved, we're going to
hold it! Moreover, this command is going to be a real command, from
now on. It's going to buck up. I'm going to put some ginger in it.
There are three dead men here to be avenged, and I'm going to avenge
'em, or make you do it! And if any man imagines he's going to help
himself by feeling afraid, let me assure him that the only thing
he needs to fear is me! I've a right to command men--I know how--
I intend to do it. And if I've got to make men first out of whey-faced
cowards, why, I'm game to do it, and this is just where I begin!
Now! Anybody got a word to say?"
There was grim silence.
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