And now Mr. Trueman had to pause, for this mention of their dire
enemies brought the grey house down.
"It may be--it can be, if you will," he went on. "Every man has it in
him to do royal work. 'The people that know their God shall be strong,
and do exploits.'
"Fight the fight, Christian!
Jesus is o'er thee.
Run the race, Christian!
Heaven is before thee.
Thee from the love of Christ
Nothing shall sever:
Mount when thy work is done,
Praise him forever."
The grey figure bowed and disappeared behind the curtain amid great
cheering.
"Good for you, Old Put!" cried Magnus heartily. "You see," he explained
to his companion, "True's just the same (or a trifle better) in
barracks than he is at prayer-meeting. That's how he won his name.
Nothing but treachery could have put the old fort in the hands of the
enemy,--and that failed. I believe," said Mr. Kindred, turning bright
eyes on his companion, "that if Arnold had carried out his plan, the
rocks on the hillside would have risen up and fought back the invaders."
Miss Cray looked at him.
"You're very patriotic, aren't you, Mr. Kindred?"
"Rather," Magnus answered with dry emphasis.
"I've been abroad so long," said the pretty girl, "I get puzzled. I do
know about Arnold. There's his tablet in the chapel, you know. But who
were Grant and Sherman, anyway? Didn't they figure in the last war,
somehow?"
"Some people thought they did," said Cadet Kindred, with a face that
had no expression whatever. And then, happily, the curtain drew up.
But how shall I give any idea of the performance to one who has never
seen the like? Hits at officers, burlesques of unpopular orders,
take-offs of the girls, with jibes and chaff at each other that would
have made anybody but cadets just savage. Being cadets, they caught
the fun, stood the jeers, and laughed--roared--till the Mess Hall rang.
With all this, songs--often very good; or a charming bit of "silent
manual"; and scenes and situations sometimes true, always possible,
and very droll. Then some mock machinery that one wondered how they
ever found time to make; unheard-of problems and discoveries worked
out in most ingenious ways, with just enough flavour of this or that
instructor's style to "adorn the tale"--whether any moral came in or
not.
Enter a donkey, carefully compounded of four plebs within--and I cannot
guess what without. Ears and tail of the proper length, hide of the
proper colour. He is slightly jerky and uncertain about his first
coming in; but that is all in keeping for a descendant of the donkey
"what wouldn't go"; and there is no hitch whatever in the performance.
I believe one of the legs fainted as time went on; but the little
beast (I mean the donkey), being skilfully pulled by the tail, beat a
masterly retreat upon the other three.
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