“Hullo!” he said, “you’ve not got much time.”
“No,” said I. “My own fault for getting up late. Got a case for the C.O. too. Is my watch right? I make it seventeen minutes past.”
“Nineteen, I make it.”
“Wish I hadn’t asked you,” I laughed. “No porridge, Lewis. Bring the eggs and bacon in at once. This tea’ll do. There’s no milk, though. What?”
Edwards had asked something. He repeated his question, which was whether I wanted Jim, the company horse, this afternoon. I thought rapidly, and the scent of the lilac decided me.
“Yes,” I answered. “Sorry, but I do.”
“Oh, all right; I expect I can get old Muskett to let me have one.”
Muskett was the transport officer.
“Righto,” said I. “Go teach thy Lewis gunners how to drill little holes in the chalk-bank.”
He clattered off over the cobbles of the garden path, and in a few minutes I followed suit, running until I rounded a corner and came into view of the orderly-room, when I altered my gait to a dignified walk and arrived just as the Colonel appeared from the opposite direction.