Not a single man of
the company died during the six years, which is certainly very
remarkable."
But, when you come to think of it, what an even more remarkable boast
for a body of warriors!
We of Troy (180 men and two uniforms) laughed at this claim.
Say what you will, there is no dash about longevity, or very little.
For uniform we wore dark-blue coats and pantaloons, with white wings
and facings, edged and tasselled with gilt, and scarlet waistcoats,
also braided with gilt. We wanted no new name, we! Ours was an
inherited one, derived from days when, under Warwick the King-maker,
Lord High Admiral of England, we had swept the Channel, summoned the
men of Rye and Winchelsea to vail their bonnets--to take in sail,
mark you: no trumpery dipping of a flag would satisfy us--and when
they stiff-neckedly refused, had silenced the one town and carried
off the other's chain to hang across our harbour from blockhouse to
blockhouse. Also, was it not a gallant of Troy that assailed and
carried the great French pirate, Jean Doree, and clapped him under
his own hatches?
"The roaring cannons then were plied,
And dub-a-dub went the drum-a;
The braying trumpets loud they cried
To courage both all and some-a."
"The grappling-hooks were brought at length,
The brown bill and the sword-a;
John Dory at length, for all his strength,
Was clapt fast under board-a.
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