"You think so," said Flanagan, "but you'd soon change your mind. I spent two months in hospital, then I was sent to a convalescent camp. But my shoulder wouldn't mend; you know I got it in the shoulder. I couldn't raise my arm; something was dislocated. But that didn't matter.... The convalescent camp was a damned nice place, near Brighton and beside the sea. There was an old sergeant-major, a rheumaticky old fellow who talked through his nose. But a good fellow all the same. We called him Nick Nock. He had no end of trouble with us, the Old Sweats, and he was always on the look-out for me. Got my name into his head somehow, and maybe I was not easy-going enough for a rheumaticky old man. He must have been about sixty-five. "We slept in huts. Nick Nock would come to the door of our hut in the early morning. 'Are yer all in bed yet?' he would shout. (Flanagan gave an imitation of a man speaking through his nose). 'Are yer never goin' to get up? Where's Flanagan?' "'Close the door, Nick Nock,' someone would say. 'It's too blurry cold. Close the door, will yer?" "'I'll not close the door,' the old man would answer. 'I'll get every man of you out o' bed 'fore I leave 'ere. They're up in all the huts bar this'n.' "'Oh! Close the door,' one would say, rising up in bed and lighting a cigarette. "'I'll not close the door,' the sergeant would answer. 'Wot I want to know is this: where's Flanagan?' "'Dead,' one would say. 'Gassed in the knees.' "''E's 'angin' on the wires,' from another. "''Is bed wasn't slept on last night,' from Nick Nock. 'When I see 'im, 'e'll be for it. And you'll all be for it if ye're not out o' kip when I come back 'ere in ten minutes from now. Mind that.' "'Close the door, Nick Nock,' the hut would shout, as the sergeant turned to go out. "'I'll not shut the door.' "'Leavin' it like that and it so cold,' all would expostulate. 'Please shut the door.' "'I'll not shut the door,' from Nick Nock. 'One would fink that the whole damn caboosh is out on a Sunday School treat.' "Then the old man would go out, closing the door behind him. Time for me to appear then. I would come out from under the table where I had hidden. I had been out all night and just got into the hut before Nick Nock." "Was Nick Nock ever out here?" asked Bowdy. "Sixty-five and rheumaticky, what could he do?" said Flanagan. "But he felt it. Once he said to us, 'You know, boys, I feel out o' place 'ere. You fellows 'ave been out an' fightin', and 'ere when you come 'ome, I'm bossin' ye. It's not fair.' "Ah! but another time he gave us a lecture, and this was how he began:-- "'Boys, there 'as been great changes in the harmy of late years. When I joined, it twasn't as good as it is now, but after I came things improved, and at the present day a man cannot do better than roll up an' become a soldier.'" "Damn Nick Nock," said Bowdy Benners. "Tell me something about yourself. What did you do after you left the convalescent camp?"