On Foreign Service; Or, The Santa Cruz RevolutionJeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
General
On Foreign Service; Or, The Santa Cruz Revolution
Jeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction; Seafaring life -- Fiction; South America -- Fiction
My head was buzzing, and I don’t mind telling you that I felt a jolly
sight more comfortable inside than outside—just then. The little
President and all his staff went away, and I heard their horses
clattering over the drawbridge. Before he went away, my fat little pal
came along and held out his cigarette case through the gratings. I
bowed and smiled and took one cigarette; but he shook his head, he
wanted me to empty it. I did this and then had a brilliant inspiration.
My cigarette case was a pretty decent one, so I offered him mine.
’We change cigarette cases—for remembrance—I shall always remember,’ I
said.
The kind-hearted little chap seemed quite pleased, took mine as I took
his, bowed, said ’_Adios_! I also shall remember,’ and went after the
others as fast as his spurs and his sabre and his fat little legs would
let him.
I sat down on my cartridge-box and wondered what the dickens ’Old Tin
Eye’ was doing and what had become of Bob and the Angel, smoked one of
my pal’s cigarettes, examined the cigarette case—it was an oxydised
silver one with black enamel work, probably made in Paris—and watched
some black convicts with chains round their ankles filling in three
graves under the wall opposite.
Phew! there might have been four if I hadn’t remembered about the 9.2’s
and the thirty kilometres. I shivered and felt jolly sick, and wished to
goodness I was back again in the _Hector’s_ gun-room.
*CHAPTER IV*
*The Rescue of the Sub*
_Written by Midshipman Bob Temple_
’Cut along to the Club and find the Skipper,’ Billums had sung out as we
slid down from that window at the Hotel de L’Europe, and when we jumped
to the pavement we saw all the soldier chaps—dozens of them—pouncing on
him. They didn’t pay any attention to us, and it was no good stopping
there, so my chum, the Angel, and I scooted away as fast as we could go.
We wormed our way round the corner, out of the square all right, and
then we lost ourselves, and were wedged in among an awful crowd of
people, carts and mules, cavalry and artillery all jumbled up together,
jostling and shoving and cursing. We could hardly move at all, or see
where we were going.
We did get along presently, and kept looking down the side streets to
try and see all those flags over the Club gate, but we’d forgotten
exactly which turning it was. We’d work our way to the outside of the
crowd and dart down a side street, looking for the flags and those two
sentries, and dart back again into the main street, holding on to each
other so as not to get separated, and push and push till we got to the
next side street. It was awfully hot work; we couldn’t find it and I
simply felt terrified about Billums, when we ran into those four
_Hercules_ mids. whom we’d upset in the morning. I’d never been so glad
to see any one before.
’Hello! Coal lighters! What’s the hurry?’ they sang out. ’Looking for
coal?’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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