A brief interval follows, in which various mutterings are overheard by the signaller in the exchange, who smiles to himself as he continues to listen.
“Hullo! hullo!! Damn these young officers! Will they never learn to answer quickly? Slow, slow is not the word for it. Will have to go round and shake them up a bit. This is absurd. Hullo! there. Hullo! Is he never going to come? Exchange, can’t you get him?”
“Just a moment, sir.”
“Hullo! hullo!!”
“Yes, sir. So-and-so speaking.”
“What the devil are you firing at, young sir?”
“Well, sir, I was given permission to fire a few rounds——”
“Where?”
“At the cross roads, sir.”
“Seen any of them fall?”