human
O, goodness gracious! murmured little Pete Skidmore, almost fainting with terror, in the covert of oak leaves, just above the court's head, whither he had noiselessly climbed, to overhear everything.
gpt
He's a-goner, sure! They'll shoot him, sure as guns. Saltpeter won't save him. He's broke every Article o' War in the whole book. My, what will I do?
human
It mayn't be as bad as we expect, the Orderly-Sergeant tried to console them.
gpt
The bite of most of them regulations and charges and specifications ain't never near as bad as their bark. If they were, a good many of us would have been shot long ago. My experience in the army's been that the regulations are like the switches the teachers used to have in school--a willow for the good scholars, and a stout hickory for the bad ones. Still, I'm afraid that Shorty won't get off with less than hard labor for life on the fortifications.
human
Prisoner, you have heard the charges and specifications, said Lieut. Bowersox, in a stern voice.
gpt
How do you plead to them?
human
O, I'm guilty--guilty o' the whole lot,
gpt
Inasmuch, said Lieut. Bowersox, with an entire change of tone,
human
But I done all that--
gpt
Silence, thundered Lieut. Bowersox,
human
But has the Judge-Advocate the right to disregard the plain plea?
gpt
Lieutenant, we can have no discussion of the court's practices in the presence of the prisoner. If you want to enter upon that we shall have to clear the court. Do you desire that?
human
Call your first witness, then, Judge-Advocate,