"I don't care for that tree at A 29.b.5.8"," you say to the
telephone. "It's altogether too crooked (or too straight). Off with
its head!" and, hey presto! the offending herb is not. Or, "That
hill at C 39.d.7.4" is quite absurd; it's ridiculously lop-sided. I
think we'll have a valley there instead." And lo! the absurd
excrescence goes west in a puff of smoke.
Our Albert Edward spent a most enjoyable week altering the geography
of Europe to suit his taste. Then one morning he made a trifling
error of about thirty degrees and some few thousand yards and removed
the wrong village.
"One village looks very much like another, and what are a few
thousand yards this way or that in a war of world-wide dimensions?
Gentlemen, let us not be trivial," said our Albert Edward to the
red-hatted people who came weeping to his O. Pip. Nevertheless some
unpleasantness resulted, and our Albert Edward came home to shelter
in the bosom of us, his family.
The unpleasantness spread, for twenty-four hours later came a chit
for our Albert Edward, saying if he had nothing better to do would he
drop in and swop yarns with the General at noon that day? Our Albert
Edward made his will, pulled on his parade boots, drank half a bottle
of brandy neat, kissed us farewell and rode off to his doom. As he
passed the borders of the camp The O'Murphy uncorked himself from a
drain, and, seeing his boon-companion faring forth a-horse, abandoned
the ratstrafe and trotted after him.
A word or two explaining The O'Murphy. Two years ago we were camped
at one end of a certain damp dark gully up north. Thither came a
party of big marines and a small Irish terrier, bringing with them a
long naval gun, which they covered with a camouflage of sackcloth and
ashes and let off at intervals. Whenever the long gun was about to
fire the small dog went mad, bounced about behind the gun-trail like
an indiarubber ball, in an ecstasy of expectation. When the great
gun boomed he shrieked with joy and shot away up the gully looking
for the rabbit. The poor little dog's hunt up and down the gully for
the rabbit that never had been was one of the most pathetic sights I
ever saw. That so many big men with such an enormous gun should miss
the rabbit every time was gradually killing him with disgust and
exasperation.
Meeting my groom one evening I spoke of the matter to him, casually
mentioning that there was a small countryman of ours close at hand
breaking his heart because there never was any rabbit. I clearly
explained to my groom that I was suggesting nothing, dropping no
hints, but I thought it a pity such a sportsman should waste his
talents with those sea-soldiers when there were outfits like ours
about, offering all kinds of opportunities to one of the right sort.
I again repeated that I was making no suggestions and passed on to
some other subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account