’But your Mr. Leggatt he had to make and mend
tyres all our watch below. It trarnspired she
had been running on the rim o’ two or three wheels,
which, very properly, he hadn’t reported till
the close of the action. And that’s the
reason of your four new tyres. Mr. Morshed was
of opinion you’d earned ’em. Do you
dissent?’
I stretched out my hand, which Pyecroft crushed to
pulp. ‘No, Pye,’ I said, deeply moved,
‘I agree entirely. But what happened to
Jules?’
’We returned him to his own Navy after breakfast.
He wouldn’t have kept much longer without some
one in his own language to tell it to. I don’t
know any man I ever took more compassion on than Jules.
’Is sufferings swelled him up centimetres, and
all he could do on the Hard was to kiss Lootenant
Morshed and me, and your Mr. Leggatt. He
deserved that much. A cordial beggar.’
Pyecroft looked at the washed cups on the table, and
the low sunshine on my car’s back in the yard.
‘Too early to drink to him,’ he said.
‘But I feel it just the same.’
The uncle, sunk in his chair, snored a little; the
canary answered with a shrill lullaby. Pyecroft
picked up the duster, threw it over the cage, put
his finger to his lips, and we tiptoed out into the
shop, while Leggatt brought the car round.
‘I’ll look out for the news in the papers,’
I said, as I got in.
‘Oh, we short-circuited that! Nothing trarnspired
excep’ a statement to the effect that some Territorial
battalions had played about with turnips at the conclusion
of the manoeuvres The taxpayer don’t know all
he gets for his money. Farewell!’
We moved off just in time to be blocked by a regiment
coming towards the station to entrain for London.
‘Beg your pardon, sir,’ said a sergeant
in charge of the baggage, ’but would you mind
backin’ a bit till we get the waggons past?’
‘Certainly,’ I said. ’You don’t
happen to have a rocking-horse among your kit, do
you?’
The rattle of our reverse drowned his answer, but
I saw his eyes. One of them was blackish-green,
about four days old.
The Four Archangels,
so the legends tell,
Raphael, Gabriel, Michael,
Azrael,
Being first of those
to whom the Power was shown,
Stood first of all the
Host before The Throne,
And when the Charges
were allotted burst
Tumultuous-winged from
out the assembly first.
Zeal was their spur
that bade them strictly heed
Their own high judgment
on their lightest deed.
Zeal was their spur
that, when relief was given,
Urged them unwearied
to fresh toil in Heaven;
For Honour’s sake
perfecting every task
Beyond what e’en
Perfection’s self could ask....
And Allah, Who created
Zeal and Pride,
Knows how the twain
are perilous-near allied.
