He said as much to the corporal of the[95] pioneers, who helped the quartermaster-sergeant4 in rigging out recruits.
‘Too large?’ replied the corporal, contemptuously. ‘Wait till you’re at the extension motions, or at club drill, and you’ll wish they were more than twice as big.’
‘But my trousers are too long, and—’
‘It’ll be longer before you get another pair. Besides, you ain’t done growing yet. Two months on full rations5, and you’ll be as tall as a hop-pole. How do you think your legs ’d look then? Showing half a yard of sock above the high-lows, and the captain ’d be safe to put you down for a new pair of bags.’
‘And these boots are far too loose. I can’t feel the sides even.’
‘You’ll feel something else afore long, I can tell you, and not half so soft as leather. Them boots! Why, flash Alick Nokes wore[96] them till he went “out”—and it ’d take a dozen Johnny Raws like you to make half a soldier such as him.’
Yet Herbert had really some reason to be discontented with his personal appearance. Always a trim and dapper youth, his patroness, Lady Farrington, had loved to see him neatly6 dressed, and had cheerfully paid his tailor’s bills when at Deadham school. But now, speaking exactly, he was not dressed at all; his figure was only concealed8 with clothes. His jacket was baggy9 at the back; the arms were so long that the cuffs10 came as far as his knuckles11; his trousers, if they had been tied in at the ankle, would have suited a Janissary Turk; his forage-cap—it was before the days of smart glengarries—not yet ‘blocked’ and set up, fell like a black pudding-bag, over one forehead and one ear. His boots were[97] quite amorphous12, quite without form, and they might have been void were it not probable they encased a pair of feet shaped like wedges of Cheshire cheese. So deteriorating13 was the effect of these incongruous habiliments, that Herbert Larkins seemed to lose his erect14 bearing and springy step; and as he reached the barrack-room, to which he was presently marched, carrying his kit15-bag full of cleaning utensils16 under one arm, and his new knapsack under the other, he hung his head and looked utterly17 ashamed of himself.
‘Oh! it’s you is it?’ said the sergeant in charge of the room, who took him over from the corporal of the pioneers.
Herbert recognised the sergeant with whom he had had the colloquy18 at the barrack-gate.
‘So you got past the gate, did you?[98] Mind you stop, now you’ve got in. Don’t try and run off again with your bounty19 and kit.’
The suspicious sergeant scented20 a probable deserter.
‘I shouldn’t have come in if I’d wanted to go out directly afterwards,’ Herbert plucked up courage to say; but the scene was so new, and he felt so forlorn in his loneliness and his strange new clothes, that he had not much spirit left in him.
‘Don’t answer me with cheek,’ cried the sergeant, very sharply. ‘I want none of your slack jaw21 or back jaw. Hold your tongue, that’s what you’ve got to do, and do as you’re bid.’
‘Now look here,’ he went on, after a pause; ‘there’s your bed, and that’s your shelf; mind you keep them clean and proper. Don’t you try to lie down on the one before the right time, nor put what ain’t[99] authorised on the other. You’ll be for recruits’ drill at six sharp to-morrow; don’t let me have to tell you twice to turn out, and mind you don’t get straying away so that you can’t answer your name at tattoo22 roll-call to-night. Mind, too, what your comrade says; I’ll tell you off to Boy Hanlon because you’re much of an age; mind him and what he tells you, and he’ll keep you straight. Lads’—this to the room—‘have any of you seen “the Boy”?’
‘No, sergeant, not these hours past. He’s in the usual place, I’ll go bail23.’
‘The canteen?’
Some of the men laughed and nodded, and the sergeant went off in search.
No one took any notice of Herbert, as he sat upon the edge of his iron cot at the far end of the room. Everybody seemed busy with his own affairs.
[100]
But presently some one near the door shouted, ‘Why, here’s “the Boy”! Duke’s Own! “’Tchun,”’ giving the word of command as though an officer was approaching.
It was only a wizened24 little man, who might have been fifty or barely five. He hadn’t a hair on his fresh coloured cheeks, but they were much wrinkled as though he were prematurely25 aged26.
Boy Hanlon was one of the oldest soldiers in the regiment2. He had been in it all his life from the time they had picked him up like a waif or stray on the line of march between Exeter and Plymouth till now, when he had upwards27 of twenty years’ service, and was growing grey-haired. He had begun as a boy in the band, thence he went to the drums; by-and-bye he became a bugler28, from which, although barely of[101] the standard height, he had been passed into the ranks. Now, as a veteran who knew his rights and what was due to himself, he gave himself great airs. No one was half so well acquainted as he was with professional topics. He could tell you the names of all the officers past and present, in the Duke’s Own; he was a keen critic upon drill from his own point of view—somewhere in the rear rank of one of the central companies; he could pipeclay belts to perfection, and had not his equal with brass29 ball, heel ball, boot-blacking, button stick and brush. But the chief source of his pride were his confidential30 relations with Colonel Prioleau, the present commanding officer. The two had ‘soldiered’ together all these years, in every clime, and knew each other thoroughly31. More, they had stood side by side at the battle of Goojerat,[102] where the Duke’s Own had fought remarkably32 well, and they were the only two survivors33 of that glorious day. ‘Boy’ Hanlon—he got his soubriquet of course from his insignificant34 size—traded a good deal on that battle of Goojerat. He was perpetually celebrating the victory. For one single battle it had an extraordinary number of anniversaries. Whenever ‘the Boy’ was thirsty—and with him drought was perennial—he turned up at the orderly room and told the colonel it was a fine morning ‘for the day.’
‘What day?’ old Prioleau would ask with pretended ignorance, although he knew and really enjoyed the joke.
‘The great day, of course, colonel; the day of Goojerat.’
‘Why, it was that only three weeks ago; surely—’
[103]
‘Well, sir, we’re the only two Goojeraties left, you know, sir, and I’d like to drink your health.’
It always ended in the same way—the transfer of half-a-crown from the colonel to ‘the Boy;’ the speedy exchange of the whole sum into liquor, the most potent35 description preferred, a free fight, for ‘the Boy’ was quarrelsome in his cups, a temporary relegation36 to the guard-room, from which he was sure to be immediately released by the officer of the day. When Hanlon misconducted himself he always got off scot free. Colonel Prioleau would never punish ‘the Boy.’
‘Where’s my towney?’ Hanlon asked directly he entered the room.
They pointed37 to where Herbert sat disconsolate38; and the dapper little soldier, who was still trim in figure, and straight as a[104] dart39, walked over to the lad and gave him a friendly pat on the back.
‘Now, young chap, you must brush up, brush up, and show yourself a man. We’ve to be comrades, you and I, and it won’t suit me to consort40 with a chap as is given to peek41 and pine. What do you call yourself?’
This was delicately put. Recruits do not always enlist42 under their own names; so Hanlon asked, not what Herbert was called, but what he called himself.
‘Herbert Larkins.’
‘Good; and not a bad looking chap either. Too tall—leastwise I’m afraid you’re going to grow—’
Hanlon, like many little men, hated those whose inches far exceeded his own. In the days when there had been grenadiers, it was his favourite pastime, when at all the[105] worse for liquor, to beard the giants in their own barrack-room. He called them ‘hop-poles,’ ‘sand-bags,’ ‘wooden ramrods,’ and other opprobrious43 names, and his onslaughts generally ended in his being carried, bodily, to the guard-room, under some stalwart soldier’s arm. Now that the grenadier company was abolished, he disseminated44 his dislike, and abused every private who was more that five feet six in height.
‘Too tall, unless you stop as you are. Gin perhaps’d do it; or whiskey; or perhaps “four” ale—if you took enough of it. Fond of “four” ale, eh?’
Hanlon’s eyes glistened45 with a toper’s joy as he mentioned his favourite fluid.
‘Ah! there’s nothing like “four” ale. I’m under stoppages myself,’ he went on, meditatively46, ‘or I’d stand treat. But you’ll[106] have got your bounty, and the money for your “coloured” clothes. You ain’t got the price of a glass about you?’
Herbert admitted readily enough that he had the price of several. He had lost none of his schoolboy freehandedness, and he had moreover the wit to see that his new comrade might, if propitiated47, prove an uncommonly48 useful friend.
Hanlon first made Herbert swallow some piping hot tea which was brought in just then, and gave him the whole of his ‘tea’ bread; Hanlon’s own appetite was indifferent; and then the two, amid the winks49 and jeers50 of the rest, strolled over to the canteen. The place was not over full. Nothing stronger than ale and porter could be sold in it, and the Duke’s Own generally preferred the Triggertown taverns51. So would Hanlon, but he knew that a newly[107] enlisted52 recruit would not be permitted to leave barracks.
They had a quart ‘of the best;’ Hanlon called for it—and drank it, all but a glass; a second quart followed, and a third; and as the little veteran became more and more steeped in liquor he grew more and more communicative. He told Herbert all about the regiment; who were the chief personages in it; he spoke53 with awe54 of the sergeant-major, but of the colonel as a familiar friend. He described the ways of the officers, the habits and customs of the regiment, the chances there were of promotion55 for a smart lad who’d had any schooling56 and knew how to keep himself straight. ‘Can you read? good—and write? better still. If you can only cipher57 and do accounts you won’t have long to wait for a lance stripe. I’ll get it for you, aye and[108] more too. I’ll get you put in the orderly-room as a clerk, or perhaps the pay office. You shall be a colour-sergeant before you’re many years older; who knows, perhaps you’ll be sergeant-major afore you die. All through Joe Hanlon; poor old Joe Hanlon—Letshavesmoreale.’
From Hanlon drunk to Hanlon sober there was a great distance. The big promises he made so freely in his cups were all of them forgotten next day. Yet the little man was, in his way, a good friend to Herbert Larkins. In the days, arduous58 and often wearisome, of the recruit’s novitiate, the old soldier acted always as mentor59 and adviser60. He taught Herbert all he knew. He helped him with his exercises, rehearsing the manual and platoon in the privacy of the citadel61 ditch, so that Herbert soon won especial favour with the[109] drill instructor62 of his squad63; he took a pride in Herbert’s personal appearance, arranged a ‘swop’ for the misfitting jacket and highlows, contracted with one of the regimental tailors to alter the baggy trousers in his spare hours.
‘I’ll make you the smartest soldier in the Duke’s Own,’ said ‘the Boy’ enthusiastically. ‘You’re the right stuff; you’ve got it in you; you’re a soldier born, every inch. I don’t ask no questions. I don’t want to know who you are, or where you comes from, but you’ve got soldier’s blood in you; you come of a soldier’s stock, I’ll wager64 a gallon of the best four ale. I like you, lad. You’re free handed and open spoken, and you’ve got an honest mug of your own. I like you, and I’ll stick to you through thick and thin.’
The advantages of Boy Hanlon’s counsel[110] and protection were soon apparent. Herbert, thanks to Hanlon’s coaching, but aided not a little by his own native intelligence, and the excellent education he had received, proved an apt scholar in the military school. He soon learnt his drill, and was passed for duty much more quickly than was usually the case with recruits. Mr. Farrington, who had commenced drill at the same time, but who enjoyed the officer’s privilege of taking it easy, and who was somewhat slow of apprehension65 to boot, was still at company drill when Private Larkins, fully7 accoutred, and admirably ‘turned out,’ took his place in the ranks on guard, mounting parade.
It was with a beating heart that he found Mr. Wheeler, the adjutant, in making his minute and critical inspection66, pause just in front of him.
[111]
‘Fall out,’ said the adjutant curtly67; and Herbert scarcely knew whether to expect praise or blame.
‘Colonel’s orderly. Report yourself at his quarters after parade.’
Here was an honour indeed! To be selected on his first guard-mounting parade, as commanding officer’s orderly—a post which, apart from the privileges it brought of immunity68 from ‘sentry go’ and a sure night’s rest in bed, every private soldier in the regiment coveted69 and esteemed—was a compliment which Herbert, and Hanlon also, appreciated to the full.
What befell the young orderly at Colonel Prioleau’s quarters must be reserved for another chapter.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
civilian
|
|
| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
regiment
|
|
| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
rations
|
|
| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
baggy
|
|
| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
cuffs
|
|
| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
knuckles
|
|
| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
amorphous
|
|
| adj.无定形的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
deteriorating
|
|
| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
kit
|
|
| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
utensils
|
|
| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
colloquy
|
|
| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bounty
|
|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
tattoo
|
|
| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bail
|
|
| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
wizened
|
|
| adj.凋谢的；枯槁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
prematurely
|
|
| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
upwards
|
|
| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
bugler
|
|
| 喇叭手； 号兵； 吹鼓手； 司号员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
survivors
|
|
| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
potent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
relegation
|
|
| n.驱逐，贬黜；降级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
disconsolate
|
|
| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
dart
|
|
| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
consort
|
|
| v.相伴；结交 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
peek
|
|
| vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
enlist
|
|
| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
opprobrious
|
|
| adj.可耻的，辱骂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
disseminated
|
|
| 散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
glistened
|
|
| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
meditatively
|
|
| adv.冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
propitiated
|
|
| v.劝解，抚慰，使息怒( propitiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
48
uncommonly
|
|
| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
winks
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
jeers
|
|
| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
taverns
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
enlisted
|
|
| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
promotion
|
|
| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
schooling
|
|
| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
cipher
|
|
| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
arduous
|
|
| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
mentor
|
|
| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
adviser
|
|
| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
citadel
|
|
| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
instructor
|
|
| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
squad
|
|
| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
apprehension
|
|
| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
immunity
|
|
| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
coveted
|
|
| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |