There were soldiers riding down the road, on horses, two and two. That
is the horses were two and two, and the men not. Because each man was
riding one horse and leading another. To exercise them. They came from
Chatham Barracks. We all drew up in a line outside the church-yard wall,
and saluted as they went by, though we had not read _Toady Lion_ then.
We have since. It is the only decent book I have ever read written by
_Toady Lion's_ author. The others are mere piffle. But many people like
them.
In _Sir Toady Lion_ the officer salutes the child.
There was only a lieutenant with those soldiers, and he did not salute
me. He kissed his hand to the girls; and a lot of the soldiers behind
kissed theirs too. We waved ours back.
Next day we made a Union Jack out of pocket-handkerchiefs and part of a
red flannel petticoat of the White Mouse's, which she did not want just
then, and some blue ribbon we got at the village shop.
Then we watched for the soldiers, and after three days they went by
again, by twos and twos as before. It was A1.
We waved our flag, and we shouted. We gave them three cheers. Oswald can
shout loudest. So as soon as the first man was level with us (not the
advance guard, but the first of the battery)--he shouted:
"Three cheers for the Queen and the British Army!"
And then we waved the flag, and bellowed. Oswald stood on the wall to
bellow better, and Denny waved the flag because he was a visitor, and so
politeness made us let him enjoy the fat of whatever there was going.
The soldiers did not cheer that day; they only grinned and kissed their
hands.
The next day we all got up as much like soldiers as we could. H. O. and
Noel had tin swords, and we asked Albert's uncle to let us wear some of
the real arms that are on the wall in the dining-room. And he said,
"Yes," if we would clean them up afterwards. But we jolly well cleaned
them up first with Brooke's soap and brick dust and vinegar, and the
knife polish (invented by the great and immortal Duke of Wellington in
his spare time when he was not conquering Napoleon. Three cheers for our
Iron Duke!), and with emery paper and wash leather and whitening. Oswald
wore a cavalry sabre in its sheath. Alice and the Mouse had pistols in
their belts, large old flint-locks, with bits of red flannel behind the
flints. Denny had a naval cutlass, a very beautiful blade, and old
enough to have been at Trafalgar. I hope it was. The others had French
sword-bayonets that were used in the Franco-German War. They are very
bright, when you get them bright, but the sheaths are hard to polish.
Each sword-bayonet has the name on the blade of the warrior who once
wielded it. I wonder where they are now. Perhaps some of them died in
the war. Poor chaps! But it is a very long time ago.
I should like to be a soldier. It is better than going to the best
schools, and to Oxford afterwards, even if it is Balliol you go to.
Oswald wanted to go to South Africa for a bugler, but father would not
let him. And it is true that Oswald does not yet know how to bugle,
though he can play the infantry "advance," and the "charge" and the
"halt" on a penny whistle. Alice taught them to him with the piano, out
of the red book father's cousin had when he was in the Fighting Fifth.
Oswald cannot play the "retire," and he would scorn to do so. But I
suppose a bugler has to play what he is told, no matter how galling to
the young boy's proud spirit.
The next day, being thoroughly armed, we put on everything red, white,
and blue that we could think of--night-shirts are good for white, and
you don't know what you can do with red socks and blue jerseys till you
try--and we waited by the church-yard wall for the soldiers. When the
advance-guard (or whatever you call it of artillery--it's that for
infantry, I know) came by we got ready, and when the first man of the
first battery was level with us Oswald played on his penny whistle the
"advance" and the "charge"--and then shouted:
"Three cheers for the Queen and the British Army!"
This time they had the guns with them. And every man of the battery
cheered too. It was glorious. It made you tremble all over. The girls
said it made them want to cry--but no boy would own to this, even if it
were true. It is babyish to cry. But it was glorious, and Oswald felt
different to what he ever did before.
Then suddenly the officer in front said, "Battery! Halt!" and all the
soldiers pulled their horses up, and the great guns stopped too. Then
the officer said, "Sit at ease," and something else, and the sergeant
repeated it, and some of the men got off their horses and lit their
pipes, and some sat down on the grass edge of the road, holding their
horses' bridles.
We could see all the arms and accoutrements as plain as plain.
Then the officer came up to us. We were all standing on the wall that
day, except Dora, who had to sit, because her foot was bad, but we let
her have the three-edged rapier to wear, and the blunderbuss to hold as
well--it has a brass mouth, and is like in Mr. Caldecott's pictures.
He was a beautiful man the officer. Like a Viking. Very tall and fair,
with mustaches very long, and bright blue eyes.
He said:
"Good-morning."
So did we.
Then he said:
"You seem to be a military lot."
We said we wished we were.
"And patriotic," said he.
Alice said she should jolly well think so.
Then he said he had noticed us there for several days, and he had halted
the battery because he thought we might like to look at the guns.
Alas! there are but too few grown-up people so far-seeing and thoughtful
as this brave and distinguished officer.
We said, "Oh yes," and then we got off the wall, and that good and noble
man showed us the string that moves the detonator, and the breech-block
(when you take it out and carry it away, the gun is in vain to the
enemy, even if he takes it); and he let us look down the gun to see the
rifling, all clean and shiny; and he showed us the ammunition boxes, but
there was nothing in them. He also told us how the gun was unlimbered
(this means separating the gun from the ammunition carriage), and how
quick it could be done--but he did not make the men do this then,
because they were resting. There were six guns. Each had painted on the
carriage, in white letters, 15 Pr., which the captain told us meant
fifteen-pounder.
"I should have thought the gun weighed more than fifteen pounds," Dora
said. "It would if it was beef, but I suppose wood and gun are lighter."
And the officer explained to her very kindly and patiently that 15 Pr.
meant the gun could throw a _shell_ weighing fifteen pounds.
When we had told him how jolly it was to see the soldiers go by so
often, he said:
"You won't see us many more times. We're ordered to the front; and we
sail on Tuesday week; and the guns will be painted mud-color, and the
men will wear mud-color too, and so shall I."
The men looked very nice, though they were not wearing their busbies,
but only Tommy caps, put on all sorts of ways.
We were very sorry they were going, but Oswald, as well as others,
looked with envy on those who would soon be allowed--being grown up, and
no nonsense about your education--to go and fight for their Queen and
country.
Then suddenly Alice whispered to Oswald, and he said:
"All right; but tell him yourself."
So Alice said to the captain:
"Will you stop next time you pass?"