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Updated: June 25, 2025
But the weeks slip by and no message comes to me from Chewton Mendip. Almost daily I wonder if the gallant lad survived that night to return to the misery of the starvation camp, or whether, out of the darkness of the forest, his brave soul soared free, achieving its final release from the sufferings of this world.... Poor Sapper Maggs! Francis and Monica are honeymooning on the Riviera.
"Unless we could drar the patrol's attention away!" said Sapper Maggs. But Francis ignored the interruption. "... We can at least try it. Come on, we must be starting! Thank God, there's no moon; it's as dark as the devil outside!" We roused up Monica and groped our way out of the cave into the black and dripping forest. Somewhere in the distance a faint glare reddened the sky.
Maggs hasn't a sittin' room of her own where she and the butler and the nurse can have their tea in peace or entertain guests, but she sets two tables in the servants' hall, and a pretty time she has of it.
'Mrs Margaret Maggs! roared the beadle; and the tenth Muse, brought to a sudden stand-still, ceased her oracular utterances, and, grasping her modicum of shining silver, vanished from the presence. The distribution lasted the whole of the day; and it was a weary day for some of the poor applicants, whose turn came last, and who almost fainted for want of refreshment.
"Looks cosy, eh?" commented the First Lord. "Maggs, set a screen around the fire, and look about for a decanter and some clean glasses." He drew a chair close to the reviving fire, and glanced at the cover of the dispatch before breaking its seal. "Nelson's handwriting?" he asked. It was plain that his old eyes, unaided by spectacles, saw the superscription only as a blur.
Sapper Maggs stood by my side. "There be a feller a-watching for us up there?" he whispered. I nodded. "If us could drar his 'tention away, yew could slip by, next time the patrols is past, couldn't 'ee?" Again I nodded. "It'd be worse for yew than for me, supposin' yew'd be ca-art, that's what t'other officer said, warn't it?" And once more I nodded. The hot whisper came again.
"Maggs," I said, "we are all in a bad way, but our case is more desperate than yours. I shall not tell you more than this, that, if we are caught, any of us three, we shall be shot, and anyone caught with us will fare the same. If you will take my advice, you will leave us and start off by yourself: the worst that can happen to you is to be sent back to your camp.
You will be punished for running away, but you won't lose your life!" Sapper Maggs shook his yellow head. "I'll stay," he answered stolidly; "it's more cumfortable-like for us four to 'old together, and it's a better protection for the lady. I bean't afear'd of no Gers, I bean't! I'll go along o' yew officers and the lady, if yew don't mind, zur!"
He says that if you can get hold of a uniform and hector a German enough, he will never call your bluff. Can you beat it?" The hours dragged wearily on. We had no food, and Maggs, who had eaten the last of his provisions twenty-four hours before the British soldier is a bad hoarder soon consumed the last of my cigarettes. It was past ten o'clock when I heard a step outside.
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