Cameron, but Mr. Levitt, of the Sixth
District, is actin' as senior officer on the ground this Saturday. Most
likely Mr. Levitt is commandin'."
"How many corps are there here?" I asked.
"Oh, bits of lots of 'em--thirty or forty, p'r'aps, Sir. But the whistles
says they've all got to rally on the Board Schools. 'Ark! There's the
whistle for the Private Schools! They've been called up the ground at the
double."
"Stop!" cried a bearded man with a watch, and the crews dropped beside the
breech wiping their brows and panting.
"Hullo! there's some attack on the Schools," said one. "Well, Marden, you
owe me three half-crowns. I've beaten your record. Pay up."
The boy beside us tapped his foot fretfully as he eyed his companions
melting among the hillocks, but the gun-team adjusted their bets without
once looking up.
The ground rose a little to a furze-crowned ridge in the centre so that I
could not see the full length of it, but I heard a faint bubble of blank
in the distance.
"The Saturday allowance," murmured Bayley. "War's begun, but it wouldn't
be etiquette for us to interfere. What are you saying, my child?"
"Nothin', Sir, only--only I don't think the Guard will be able to come
through on so narrer a front, Sir. They'll all be jammed up be'ind the
ridge if _we_'ve got there in time. It's awful sticky for guns at the end
of our ground, Sir."
"I'm inclined to think you're right, Moltke.
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