"Well, it might have been so," O'Grady said, in a more contented voice;
"and if I had been killed going up the hill, without even as much as
catching a glimpse of the Frenchies, I would niver have forgiven
them--niver!"

There was a roar of laughter at the bull.

"Phwat is it have I said?" he asked, in surprise.

"Nothing, O'Grady; but it would be an awful thing for the French to know
that after your death you would have gone on hating them for ever."

"Did I say that? But you know my maneing, and as long as you know that,
what does it matter which way I put it? Well, now, I suppose Sir Arthur is
going to take us tramping along again. Ah, it is a weary thing being a
soldier!"

"Why, you were saying yesterday, O'Grady, that your feet were getting all
right," Terence said.

"All right in a manner, Terence. And it is a bad habit that you have got
of picking up your supayrior officer's words and throwing them into his
teeth. You will come to a bad end if you don't break yourself of it; and
the worst of it is, you are corrupting the other lads, and the young
officers are losing all respect for their seniors. I am surprised, Major,
that you and the colonel don't take the matter in hand before the
discipline of the regiment is destroyed entirely."

"You draw it upon yourself, O'Grady, and it is good for us all to have a
laugh sometimes. We should all have missed you sorely had you gone down on