human
We must march slower. Si, said Shorty, glancing ruefully back,
gpt
That's so, accorded Si.
human
It's like tryin' to make a grass-bellied horse run a quarter-stretch.
gpt
Might I inquire, asked Monty Scruggs, as he came up, wiped his face and sat down on a rock,
human
Neither, answered Si.
gpt
It's only a common, straight, every-day march out into the country. You kin count upon one a day like this for the rest o' your natural lives--I mean your service. It's part o' what you enlisted for. And this's only a beginnin'. Some days you'll have to keep this up 15 or 18 hours at a stretch.
human
Gracious, I wish I'd wings, or that I'd enlisted in the cavalry,
gpt
Brace up! Brace up! said Shorty.
human
You'll soon git used to it, and make your 40 miles a day like the rest of us, carrying your bed-clothes and family groceries with you. It's all in gittin' used to it, as the man said who'd bin skinnin' eels for 40 years, and that now they didn't mind it a bit.
gpt
Well, le's jog along, said Si.
human
We ought to git there in another hour. There's a big rain comin' up, and we want to git under cover before it strikes us. Forward!--March!