To the freeborn and freebred recruit from the Athabasca plains, the stiff and somewhat exaggerated military bearing of the sergeant major was at first a source of quiet amusement, later of perplexity, and finally of annoyance.

For McFetteridge and his minutiae of military discipline McCuaig held only contempt.

To him, the whole business was a piece of silly nonsense unworthy of serious men.
It was inevitable that the sergeant major should sooner or later discover this opinion in Private McCuaig, and that he should consider the holding of this opinion as a tendency toward insubordination.

It was also inevitable that the sergeant major should order a course of special fatigues calculated to subdue the spirit of the insubordinate private.
It took McCuaig some days to discover that in these frequent fatigues and special duties, he was undergoing punishment, but once made, the discovery wrought in him a cold and silent rage, which drove him to an undue and quite unwonted devotion to the canteen, which in turn transformed the reserved, self-controlled man of the wilds into a demonstrative, disorderly and quarrelsome "rookie" aching for trouble.
Under these circumstances, an outburst was inevitable.

Corporal Ferry, in charge of the canteen, furnished the occasion.
"No more for you, McCuaig.