"'Awkins yelled back:
"'Wants to know where 'e h'is? What bloody cheek! Tell 'im 'e's bloomin' well in Sam Isaac's fish 'ouse down Totten'am Court Road, a-waitin' fer 'is order o' fish an chips.'
"This brought out a blinkin' roar from the Tommies on me starboard an' port beams.
"I got sort er riled, an', Yank, 'avin' a-visited New York, I tried to come aboard with some o' that Yankee swank, somethin' like this;
"'Aw cut it up. Quit yer kiddin'. Yer brains are dusty. What's the matter, am I wounded?'
"The R.A.M.C. man, with that smile still a-shinin' from 'is port-'oles, which made me feel kind o' shamed like at me resentment, awnswered:
"'Naw, myte, you h'ain't wounded. You just 'appened to fall down in the bloomin' road an' one o' those blinkin' tanks crawled over you.'
This scared me a little, an' I sort er pleaded:
"'Cawn't you please tell me; what is the matter with me?'