It is not the most roughly nurtured of us who will rough it the
most cheerfully. Willie Thomson, of harsh and meagre upbringing,
was the grumbler of his billet. He found fault with the camp fare,
accommodation and hours in particular, with the discipline in
general. Yet, oddly enough, after a fortnight or so, he seemed to
accept the physical drill at 7 a.m. with a sort of dour
satisfaction, though he never had a good word to say for it.
His complaints at last exasperated Macgregor, who, on a certain wet
evening, when half the men were lounging drearily within the
billet, snapped the question:
'What the blazes made ye enlist?'