Just then Sergeant Linham and Will came by, and joined Jack and Larry. The champagne finished, the sergeant went to work, and did not desist till he had secured a good bundle of spoil, amongst which was a magnificent gold watch. Jack gave a man of the Rifles half-a-sovereign for a splendid fur-lined coat and pair of high boots, and later on he picked up a Hussar officer’s jacket which had been thrown down in the road. The latter he gave to Larry for a couple of shirts which he sadly needed, and then he sat down to watch the fun. In an hour’s time nothing was left of the booty except broken boxes and empty hampers. While they were still halting a staff-officer came riding along, and seeing a number of the 8th Hussars, asked a man if he knew which was the trumpeter who had ridden up to Lord Raglan in the lane. Larry was pointed out to him, when he said, ‘There was a trumpeter of the 17th with you. I want him too.’ ‘Come on, Jack,’ said Larry dolefully; ‘we’re in for it. I thought this bit of luck was too good to last.’ The two trumpeters, feeling horribly nervous and guilty, marched behind the staff-officer up towards Mackenzie’s Farm, where Lord Raglan was. They found the old Peninsular veteran smiling graciously as he talked to a number of officers, among whom were Larry’s colonel and Lord Cardigan. Jack and Larry saluted, when Lord Raglan said to the latter in his kind tones, ‘Colonel Powell tells me it was you who first discovered the Russian convoy.’ ‘Shure, yer lordship, it was as much Jack Blair here, of the 17th, as me.’ ‘Tell us the circumstances,’ said Lord Raglan; and Larry, in a rich brogue and in a fashion which made several officers hide their mouths behind their hands, gave an account of their proceedings. Lord Raglan did not smile; but when Larry had finished he said, ‘How long have you been in the service, O’Callaghan?’ ‘Four years, me lord, and me father was trumpet-major of the 8th before me, and his father sarved in the Peninsula under the Iron Dook.’ At mention of the great Duke Lord Raglan’s face lighted up. ‘O’Callaghan,’ he said, ‘you have rendered an important service. By chance I had myself discovered the convoy; but through the cavalry having gone astray I might not have been able to capture it had they not, thanks to you, been coming this way towards the guns. Colonel Powell gives you an excellent character, and at my suggestion he has promoted you to the rank of sergeant. You will be appointed his orderly trumpeter.’ Then, turning to Jack, he said, ‘Of you, Blair, I have heard before. You are the same who gallantly rescued a comrade in the affair on the Bulganak, are you not?’ ‘I did my best for him, my lord.’ ‘You succeeded, for I have heard from your regimental doctor that he is doing well. I shall not forget you. Now you may both go.’ The delighted trumpeters rejoined their comrades, and their news was received with great satisfaction, for both were deservedly popular in their regiments.