"You'd better come again, Gilbert," Henry said. "You'll have to hang about here all day, and then perhaps you won't be reached!" "I think I'll hang about anyhow," Gilbert answered. He had become queerly quiet since the beginning of the War. The old, light-hearted, exaggerated speech had gone from him, and when he spoke, his words were abrupt and colourless. He took his place at the end of the file of men, and as he did so, the man in front of him, a fringe-haired, quick-eyed youth with a muffler round his neck, turned and greeted him. "'Illoa, myte!" he said with the cheery friendliness of the East End. "You come too, eih?" Gilbert answered, "Yes, I thought I might as well!" "Well 'ave to wyte a 'ell of a time," the Cockney went on. "Some of 'em's bin 'ere since six this mornin'. Gawblimey, you'd think they was givin' awy prizes. I dunno wot the 'ell I come for. I jus' did, sort of!..." Some one standing by, turned to a recruiting sergeant and whispered something to him, pointing to the guttersnipes in the queue. "Fight!" said the recruiting sergeant. "Gawd love you, guv'nor, they'd fight 'ell's blazes, them chaps would!" Henry tried again to induce Gilbert to fall out of the queue and wait until there was more likelihood of being enlisted quickly, but Gilbert would not be persuaded. "You'll have to get something to eat," Henry urged. "They'll never get near you until this evening, and if you've got to fall out to get food, you might as well fall out now!" "I think I'll wait," Gilbert repeated. "Perhaps," he went on, "you'll get me some sandwiches. Get a lot, will you. This chap in front of me doesn't look as if he'd brought anything!" "You could get a commission, Gilbert, easily," Henry said. "I don't think I should be much good as an officer, Quinny.... Go and get the sandwiches like a decent chap!" Henry went away to do as Gilbert had bidden him, and after a while, he returned with a big packet of sandwiches and apples. "I shan't wait, Gilbert," he said. "I can't stand about all day. I'll come back when the rush is over...." "But why, Quinny?" "I'm going to join, too, with you!..." "You're going to join?... That's awf'lly decent of you, Quinny!" "Decent! Why? It isn't any more decent than your joining is!" "P'raps not, but I always think it's very decent of an Irishman to fight for England. If there doesn't seem any chance of my getting in to-day, I'll come back to tea. There's a fellow here says this is the second day he's been waiting!" Henry went away. He walked along the Embankment towards Blackfriars, and when he had reached the Temple, he turned up one of the steep streets that link the Embankment to Fleet Street. "I'll go and see Delap," he said to himself. Delap was the editor of a weekly paper for which Henry had sometimes written articles. Delap, however, was not at the office, but Bundy, the manager of the paper, who was also the financier, was there.