"Well, sir," he said, "they've been fast asleep in that garden all these years, with enough ivy over 'em to keep 'em warm in winter and the sun off 'em in summer; but, now they've been woke up, I believe they'll bark as loudly and bite as well as any dogs of their size. If they'd been cast iron, I should have been for putting a very light charge in 'em and standing a good way off when they were fired, but, seeing as they're regular good brass guns and not a bit worn, all they want is a good cleaning up, and then they'll be fit to do their work like--like--well, sir, like guns. What do you say, corporal?" "I say they're a fine and sound pair o' guns, sergeant, as'll do their work. We should like a night's rest first, but in the morning my two lads and me will give 'em a good scour up, and you won't know 'em again." "Right! If the captain says yes, you shall; but I want to be with you-- I'm armourer here." "Oh, of course, sergeant," said the trooper. "Don't you think we want to take your place." "I don't, my lad," said the old soldier, warmly; "and I'm only too glad to have three comrades out of the reg'lars to stand by me and help me to lick the recruits into shape." "Thank ye, sergeant," said the man. "We four can soon do that. They're the right stuff, and only want a bit o' training." Then, turning and saluting Roy respectfully, he went on: "Sir Granby give us all a talking-to, sir, and said he'd picked us out because we--I mean t'others--was the handiest fellows he knew in the regiment, and he hoped we'd do our best to get things in a good state of defence. And, of course, sir, we shall." The great, manly fellow spoke with a simple modesty that made Ben's eyes sparkle, and he nodded his head and remained silent when the man had ended, but gave vent to his satisfaction by bringing his hand down heavily upon the trooper's shoulder. "We'll see to the other guns now then," said Roy. "Yes, sir," said Ben, promptly. "Forward there to the sou'-east tower." The three men marched off at once in the direction pointed out, and Ben stopped back for a moment or two to whisper to Roy, in a quick, vexed manner-- "Don't go on saying we'll do this next, or we'll do that next, sir, as if you was asking a favour of us. You're captain and castellan, as they calls him. You're governor and everything, and you've got to order us to do things sharp, short, and strong." "But I don't want to bully you all, Ben," cried Roy. "Nobody wants you to, sir. You can't be bullying a man when you're ordering him sharply to do what's right. Of course, if you ask us in your civil way to do a thing, we shall do it, but it aren't correct." "I'll try differently, Ben." "Sergeant, sir!" "Ser-_geant_," said Roy. "But it's all so new yet, I can't quite realise it. And, of course, I'm so young to be ordering big men about."