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Again and yet again his bright glance ranged from the gay red of the bandsmen's coats to the lines of spectators sitting at the little tables under the galleries, returning inevitably and persistently to the pivot of the scene a space of pale-colored, waxed floor in the centre of the hall, where innumerable couples whirled or glided to the tune of the waltz.
And it was not without its memorable features. The Bandsmen's Race crowned one of the participators in undying fame. This popular hero broke an oar half-way through the race, and rising to his feet promptly sprang overboard.
The other barrel of bottled beer had been securely locked against the needs of the morrow, and the bandsmen's inspiration was only claret or sauterne, well watered. We sat down for dinner. The déjeuner was repeated, and eggs added for variety. We had risen from breakfast four hours before, yet there was no lack of appetite. The drink appeared only to make their gastric juices flow freely.
"Here, you had better come with me!" and he led the way to the portion of the barracks which formed the bandsmen's quarters, where Dick passed the night. "Eh? No! Why, it is! Well, I'm blessed!"
Some days ago I taxed the band-master, Bond, with the possibility of playing in the dark; for a moment his face was as long as Taylor's bassoon, but since then by means of surreptitious practice and, I fancy, the sheer confiscation of his bandsmen's folios, the impossible has been achieved. Every band is the best in France, but only ours can play in darkness.
"Nobby Clark 'im as jumped overboard in the Bandsmen's Race" was thereafter his designation among his fellows. The last race the All-comers did not justify universal expectation. The treble-banked launch was indeed coxed by the Chief Boatswain's Mate.
Neither the lights, nor the people passing in and out, not even the gipsy bandsmen's music, distracted his thoughts for a second. Could it be less than twenty-four hours since he had picked up her handkerchief, not thirty yards away? In that twenty-four hours he seemed to have known every emotion that man could feel.
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