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It had come screaming into this backwater of war, and, tearing out leaded window-panes as you would destroy cobwebs, had burst among those who already had paid the penalty. And so two of them, done with pack-drill, goose-step, half rations and forced marches, lay under the straw the priests had heaped upon them. The toes of their boots were pointed grotesquely upward.
All for a bloomin' button you could see your face in an' a bit o' lip that a bloomin' Harkangel would 'a' guv back. Mulvaney was doing pack-drill was compelled, that is to say, to walk up and down for certain hours in full marching order, with rifle, bayonet, ammunition, knapsack, and overcoat. And his offence was being dirty on parade!
I expected it was to be pack-drill, but I come off with a two bucket job water for the cook." "Now, look here, Pete; tell the truth for once in a way. The Sergeant wouldn't have come down upon you for nothing." "What, sir! Oh, I say, Mr Archie, you can go it! Old tipsy Job not come down upon a fellow for nothing! Why, I have heerd him go on at you about your drill " "That will do, Pegg.
"So you've been dancin' with little Jhansi McKenna, sorr she that's goin' to marry Corp'ril Slane? Whin you next conversh wid your lorruds an' your ladies, tell thim you've danced wid little Jhansi. 'Tis a thing to be proud av." But I wasn't proud. I was humble. I saw a story in Private Mulvaney's eye; and besides, if he stayed too long at the bar, he would, I knew, qualify for more pack-drill.
All for a bloomin' button you could see your face in an' a bit o' lip that a bloomin' Hark-angel would 'a' guv back." Mulvaney was doing pack-drill was compelled, that is to say, to walk up and down for certain hours in full marching order, with rifle, bayonet, ammunition, knapsack, and overcoat. And his offence was being dirty on parade!
"I was just wondering," said Kate, after another pause, "who he could be. I I'm not going to ask his name. But do I know him?" The policeman laughingly shook his head. "I must play the game, even with an informer. Say, there's an old saw in our force, 'No names, no pack-drill. It fits the case now. When the feller's skipped the border, maybe you'll know who he is by his absence from the village."
So many days of sleeping in the guard tent, extra fatigues, pack-drill, and perhaps a couple of hours tied up, as an example to evil-doers. But if he has counted the cost, and pays the price with a grin, we just say "Young scamp!" and dismiss the matter. But if a sergeant or a corporal does the same, that's a very different matter. He has shown himself unfit for his job. He has betrayed a trust.
Now to meet an esteemed friend doing pack-drill outside the guardroom is embarrassing, especially if you happen to be walking with his Commanding Officer. "Come on to the parade-ground, Mulvaney, it's cooler there, and tell me about Miss McKenna. What is she, and who is she, and why is she called 'Jhansi'?" "D'ye mane to say you've niver heard av Ould Pummeloe's daughter?
'Ay, lad, there's few of his sort in the Army; for one that tries to help us on a bit there's ten that tries to drag us down! 'I suppose, said Teddy dreamily, 'that, after all, the Queen's army isn't so nice to be in as the army I belong to? Does your captain help you when you're in trouble? 'He helps us to pack-drill, or C. B., or cells! replied Tim Stokes with grim humour.
"Can't help it, sir, even if you order me pack-drill, or even black-hole and a flogging. Why, its ridickerlus for you as an officer to tell your men to forsake you and leave you in the lurch." "But, my good fellow " "Ah, I haven't done yet, captain. You've worried me and gone on till it's mutiny in the ranks, and I refuse to obey." "Well, George," said my father, "you hear this; what do you say?"
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