Page:The Campaign of the Jungle.djvu/49

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THE GAP IN THE FIRING LINE.
31

"You—you young whelp!" he fumed. "You—you knocked me over on purpose!"

"No, sir,-I did not," answered the young tar, promptly. "One of the soldiers shoved me up against you."

"I don't believe you," roared the unreasonable one, as he continued to clean himself off. "You shall pay dearly for this assault, mark me!"

"Didn't you shove me?" asked Larry, appealing to one of the soldiers.

"I shoved you off of my neck, yes," answered the enlisted man. "But I didn't throw you into Lieutenant Horitz. You did that yourself."

"Of course he did it himself," said another soldier, who did not wish to see his tent-mate get into trouble. "You had it in for the lieutenant ever since he first spoke to you."

"I shall report you the first chance I get," growled Lieutenant Horitz. "I reckon you'll find that General Lawton won't allow any such disgraceful conduct while he is in command."

"What's the row back there?" came out of the darkness. "Hurry up and get afloat, or we'll cut the rope and leave you to shift for yourselves."

"Our officer was just shoved overboard," answered