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I wonder now in thim days that my ears did not grow a yard on me head wid list'nin'. But I looked straight forninst me an' hauled up this an' dragged down that, such as was my duty, an' the orf'cers' ladies sez one to another, thinkin' I was out av listen-reach: 'Fwhat an obligin' young man is this Corp'ril Mulvaney! I was a Corp'ril then.
"The what, Mulvaney?" "Fog av fightin'. You know, sorr, that, like makin' love, ut takes each man diff'rint. Now I can't help bein' powerful sick whin I'm in action. Orth'ris, here, niver stops swearin' from ind to ind, an' the only time that Learoyd opins his mouth to sing is whin he is messin' wid other people's heads; for he's a dhirty fighter is Jock.
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 mind one day he said he would like to go down into th' bowels o' th' earth, and see how th' Lord had builded th' framework o' th' everlastin' hills. He were one of them chaps as had a gift o' sayin' things. They rolled off the tip of his clever tongue, same as Mulvaney here, as would ha' made a rare good preacher if he had nobbut given his mind to it.
"Fire takes all the heart out av the steel, an' the next time, may be, that our little man is fighting for his life his bradawl 'll break, an' so you'll ha' killed him, manin' no more than to kape yourself warm. 'Tis a recruity's thrick that. Pass the clanin'-rod, sorr." I snuggled down abased; and after an interval the voice of Mulvaney began.
Good-night to you both, sez I; an' wid that I wint away, havin' fought wid woman, man and Divil all in the heart av an hour. By the same token I gave Father Victor wan rupee to say a mass for Flahy's soul, me havin' discommoded him by shticking my fist into his systim." "Your ideas of politeness seem rather large, Mulvaney," I said.
He was their guide, they were in his charge, and he followed his own law. "Try it, anyway," Lounsbury urged. Bill spoke to his horse. The animal still stood with lowered head. For one of the few times in his life Bill had to speak twice, not sharply, if anything more quietly than at first. The the brave Mulvaney headed into the stream.
'A first-class rifle-shot an' a good little man av your inches you are, said Mulvaney. 'But you niver had a head worth a soft-boiled egg. 'Tis me has to lie awake av nights schamin' an' plottin' for the three av us. Orth'ris, me son, 'tis no matther av a few gallons av beer no, nor twenty gallons but tubs an' vats an' firkins in that sedan-chair.
"Tis demoralisin' my men. "'Ye damned little fool, sez Cruik, laughin'. 'He's larnin' you your business. Have ye been rushed at night yet? "'No, sez the child, wishful that he had been. "'Have you any wounded? sez Cruik. "'No, he sez. 'There was no chanst for that. They follow Mulvaney too quick, he sez. "'Fwhat more do you want, thin? sez Cruik.
If Orth'ris manes to desert now, and will desert now, an' you, sorr, who have been a frind to me an' to him, will help him to ut, I, Terence Mulvaney, on my oath which I've never bruk yet, will report as you say, But" here he stepped up to Ortheris, and shook the stock of the fowling-piece in his face "your fists help you, Stanley Orth'ris, if ever I come across you agin!"
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