"Every man will receive a week's pay in advance; and his fare, home
and back, will be paid by Government. That is all."
And quite enough too! We rock upon our squelching feet. But the
Captain adds, without any suspicion of his parade-ground manner--
"If I may say so, I think that if ever men deserved a good holiday,
you do. Company, slope arms! Dis-_miss_!"
* * * * *
We do not cheer: we are not built that way. But as we stream off to
our Irish stew, the dourest of us says in his heart--
"God Save the King!"
X
DEEDS OF DARKNESS
A moonlit, wintry night. Four hundred men are clumping along the
frost-bound road, under the pleasing illusion that because they are
neither whistling nor talking they are making no noise.
At the head of the column march Captains Mackintosh and Shand, the
respective commanders of C and D Companies. Occasionally Mackintosh,
the senior, interpolates a remark of a casual or professional nature.
To all these his colleague replies in a low and reproachful whisper.
The pair represent two schools of military thought--a fact of which
their respective subalterns are well aware,--and act accordingly.
"In preparing troops for active service, you must make the conditions
as _real_ as possible from the very outset," postulates Shand.
"Perform all your exercises just as you would in war.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104