“I think I did,” returned the exciseman; “but I’ll make them pay for that through the nose, please the pigs.” The orderly officer now entered the guard-room, and directed the Sergeant to take three men of the guard, and to conduct the exciseman safely home across the mountain; for which the latter returned thanks. The party set out immediately, and the orderly officer returned to his quarters; while Corporal Callaghan took a snooze in the Sergeant’s chair, during his absence. ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE; OR, GONE TO SEA IN A COACH. Ay; now we see it, And there’s the coach!---- _Southey._ In many, if not in most, of the regiments of our army, there is to be found a sort of officer who is a privileged oddity,--who takes liberties with all his brethren of the mess with impunity, and who pockets every thing short of a blow with the best possible humour. In general, the individuals of this description are designated in the mess-room vocabulary, “_Good-tempered Old Stagers_,” and “_Old Stickers_,” meaning thereby, that they can “go” at the bottle, and “stick” at the table till “all’s blue.” One of these, a Quartermaster of infantry, with a nose of the genuine Bardolph complexion, a rosy and eternal smile, a short figure, and a big head, having dined with a party of brother officers at the _Three Cups_, Harwich--the day on which his regiment marched into the barracks of that town--was in the best possible spirits: so much so, that he gave the bottle no rest until about eleven o’clock; and became “glorious,” just as the company broke up--right or wrong he _would_ go along with three of the youngest subalterns to ramble by the sea-side in the moonshine, having been “_so long i’ the sun_.” They permitted him reluctantly; perhaps, indeed, because they could not prevent him; but when the party got down to the place where passengers and goods are usually embarked, the Quartermaster became totally overpowered, and sank senseless into a snore. The officers whom he accompanied could not think of carrying his _corpus_ back to the inn; nor were there any persons near whom they could employ for the purpose: one of them, therefore, opened the door of a private carriage which stood near, “unshipped” from the wheels--ready for embarkation, and in a moment the sleeper was bundled into it, where he was left to his repose with the door fast shut upon him. Next morning at daybreak (about three o’clock) the coach, with its contents, was put on board the Hamburg packet, and stowed away at the very bottom of the hold: in half an hour after this, the vessel put to sea.