Si Klegg, Book 6. John McElroy

in the ranks," commanded Si. "Draw your stomachs in, put your little fingers down to the seams of your pantaloons—"

      "You mean the middle finger, don't you?" queried Monty Scruggs. "That's more natural way of standing."

      "No, I mean the little finger," asserted Si.

      "But the middle finger is more natural," persisted Monty. "You can't stand straight with your little finger at the seam. See here."

      "Scruggs, do as I say, without no words," said Si, and then Monty's face took on an expression of determination to carry the matter to a higher court.

      "Now, keep your faces straight to the front, and at the command 'Right dress!' turn your eyes, without moving your heads, until you kin see the buttons on the breast of the second man to the right. 'Right dress!'"

      "There's no man on my right for me to look toward. What 'm I to do?" complained Gid Mackall.

      "There, you see what come o' putting him in front," exulted Harry Joslyn. "Now, if I'd bin—"

      "Say, I can't see up to Jim Humphreys' big breast without twistin' my neck nearly off," murmured little Pete Skidmore. "Can't you make him scrooch a little? Jest see him swell up."