I ain't said nothing against your padre that I haven't heard from your own fellows." "That's all right, sergeant.

That was before we got to the war.

I'm not huntin' for any trouble with anybody, but if any one wants to start up anything with any one, sergeant, in this battalion, he knows how to do it." And this came to be recognised as an article in the creed of the sergeant's mess.
The bayonet-fighting squad were engaged in some preliminary drill of the more ordinary kind when Major Bayne and the chaplain arrived on the ground.
"We'll just watch the little beggar a while from here and go up later," said the major.
As Barry watched the drill sergeant on his job, it seemed to him that he had never seen a soldier work before.

In figure, in pose, in action there was a perfection about him that awakened at once admiration and envy.

Below the average height, yet not insignificant, erect, without exaggeration, precise in movement without angularity, swift in action without haste, he was indeed a joy to behold.
"Now, did you ever see anything like that ?" enquired the major, after their eyes had followed the evolutions of the drill sergeant for a time.
"Never," said Barry, "nor do I hope to again.