"Well, it's a good long go anyway." Then when Tiny really could not think of any more, he made the Junior Subaltern learn by heart the Sorry Song he and Baby had written in Moonland; and after that he made him stand on the Fort-wall and sing it; which he did--not very nicely. And when that was finished, Tiny said, "That'll do for the present, thank-you." So the Junior Subaltern scrambled off the wall, saying to himself out loud, "Jolly good job too," and ran off to find the Boy. 29 So Tiny came to the whitewash shed, where the Fellows were now, eating more and complaining louder than ever. Then when Tiny had counted them, he said, "But where's the Colonel?" So the brown Captain answered, "In bed--bad with shock." And all the Fellows said in a sort of a chorus, "Bed--bad with shock." And some said it was one thing; and some said it was another; and a good lot said it was neither. But they all agreed that Cooey had come from the Castle in the dawn with a writing, and had fluttered up to the Colonel, who was helping the Boy soap Goliath; and that after reading the writing the Colonel had taken to his bed without a word. Then Tiny, who loved the Colonel, because he was so red and round and thought nice of everybody, ran up the ladder to the loft: for the Colonel always lives above the shed in that Army to be handy. And when Tiny had undone the trap-door, and peeped through, there lay the dear old Colonel in bed in the dark corner under the cobweb, quite quite bald. And his knees were cocked up, and his arms round them, and his little nose laid on his knees skew-wise. And he was saying to himself in a weak voice, "I am the Colonel. I love evewybody, and evewybody loves me. And evewything's always as nice as nice can be in our dear Countwy. Only I've had a bit of a shock--that's all." Then Tiny climbed out on to the floor, and came towards the corner on his toes. And when the Colonel saw him coming, he let his knees down, and went back on the pillow, and said rather faintly, "Ah, my dear dear boy!--how are you?--how's Baby?" for next to animals, the Colonel loved Baby best in all the world. Then Tiny shook hands and said, "I'm awfully sorry to hear of this, Sir." And he pulled a truss of straw up to the bed and sat on it, and said very gently, "Would you care for me to tell you about me and Baby and Moonland, Sir?--and the landlady, and the lake, and the fish there was supposed to be there, and that?" For Tiny began to understand a little about illness now: for Baby taught him. Only he thought he understood a lot more than he did, which was rather a favourite thing of Tiny's. But the Colonel shut his eyes, and said, "Thank-you, my dear boy, thank-you. Some day I want to hear _all_ about it--not just now though. Twuth is I've had wather a shock. So've you, my poor boy. So've we all. Only p'w'aps it's worse for you and my little Marwy than for the others."