That was long ago. I've seen the Fleet Reserve and a few
paddle-steamers, hired for the day, land twenty-five thousand Volunteers
at Bantry in four hours--half the men sea-sick too. You've no notion what
a difference that sort of manoeuvre makes in the calculations of our
friends on the mainland. The Continent knows what invasion means. It's
like dealing with a man whose nerve has been shaken. It doesn't cost much
after all, and it makes us better friends with the great European family.
We're now as thick as thieves."
"Where does the Imperial Guard come in in all this gorgeousness?" I asked.
"You're unusual modest about yourselves."
"As a matter of fact, we're supposed to go out and stay out. We're the
permanently mobilised lot. I don't think there are more than eight I.G.
battalions in England now. We're a hundred battalions all told. Mostly on
the 'heef' in India, Africa and so forth."
"A hundred thousand. Isn't that small allowance?" I suggested.
"You think so? One hundred thousand _men_, without a single case of
venereal, and an average sick list of two per cent, permanently on a war
footing? Well, perhaps you're right, but it's a useful little force to
begin with while the others are getting ready. There's the native Indian
Army also, which isn't a broken reed, and, since 'no Volunteer no Vote' is
the rule throughout the Empire, you will find a few men in Canada,
Australia, and elsewhere, that are fairly hefty in their class.
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