battalion-drill

That was the last straw that breaks the camel's heart and Colonel Dearman would have his revenge or lose life, honour, and wealth in the attempt. Ha! and, moreover, Ho! The Colonel knew his battalion-drill by heart and backwards. Was it his fault that his officers were fools and his men damn-fools? Major Pinto swallowed hard, blinked hard, and breathed hard.

Percival Christopher Wren - Driftwood Spars: The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who: Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life

And Captain John Robin Ross-Ellison was away on an alleged shikar-trip across the distant Border. Colonel Dearman knew his battalion-drill. He also knew his Gungapur Fusiliers and what they did when they received the orders of those feared and detested evolutions. They walked about, each man a law unto himself, or stood fast until pushed in the desired direction by blasphemous drill-corporals.

Percival Christopher Wren - Driftwood Spars: The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who: Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life

"Kindly order that mob to disperse before it is fired on, will you, Colonel? They can go home and stay there," said he. Captain Rozario was a man of sensibility and he openly wept. No one could call this a good beginning nor could they have called the ensuing battalion-drill a good ending. "Put the remainder of the battalion through some simple movements if they know any," requested the General.

Percival Christopher Wren - Driftwood Spars: The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who: Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life

So it is not strange if the lawyers, merchants, clerks, stock-brokers, bar-keepers, and newspaper editors, who officer the volunteer corps, should laugh at "setting-up" preliminaries to scorn, and consider a few days of rough battalion-drill a satisfactory qualification for efficient service in the field.

George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence - Border and Bastille