CHAPTER II
PADRE MONTY AND MAJOR HARDY COME ABOARD
§1
Doe and I have often looked back on our first glimpse of Padre Monty and wondered why nothing foreshadowed all that he was going to be to us. We had entered the Transport Office on one of the Devonport Quays, to report according to orders. Several other officers were before us, handing in their papers to a Staff Officer. The one in a chaplain's uniform, bearing on his back a weighty Tommy's pack, that made him look like a campaigner from France, was Padre Monty. We could only see his back, but it seemed the back of a young man, spare, lean, and vigorous. His colloquy with the Staff Officer was creating some amusement in his audience.
"Well, padre," the Staff Officer was saying, as he handed back Monty's papers, "I'm at a loss what to do with you."
"The Army always is at a loss what to do with padres," rejoined Monty pleasantly, as he took the papers and placed them in a pocket. "However, you needn't worry, because, having got so far, I'm going on this blooming boat."
"But I've no official intimation of your embarking on the Rangoon."
Padre Monty picked up a square leather case and, moving to the door, said:
"No, but you've ocular demonstration of it."
And he was gone.