At this the laugh turned against Jack; but at boarding-school he had been too used to that to take any notice. So with some cabbage, which Hodson, in defiance of his superior, gave him, and with a lump of bread which another trumpeter offered him, he made a very good dinner, for there was plenty of meat on the bone.
Napper was in a bad humour, and after he had finished his dinner, lighting up his pipe, he said to Jack, ‘You’ll just understand that I’m in charge here and you’ll do as you’re told.’
‘Certainly.’
‘Don’t answer me.’
Jack made no reply, for he saw at once that Napper was a bully, misusing the little authority he had, and that the majority of the trumpeters found it paid them to toady a little to one much older and stronger than themselves. On his part Jack determined to feel his feet before he tackled Bandsman Napper, for he felt assured before long they would come to grips.
Seeing Jack stood without speaking, Napper said, ‘You’ll help Brown to wash up and tidy the room. You’ve got to work here, and the sooner you begin the better.’
Jack helped to wash up the plates, knives, and forks, the hot water being got from the cook-house. Then the table was washed down and the floor swept.
By that time all the trumpeters, except one who was cleaning up his kit for guard the next day, had gone off to practice. Jack looked across at him, and saw he was busy burnishing a pair of spurs. This trumpeter, whose name was Parkes, was a stolid-looking lad, who took no notice of Jack till the latter went up to him and in a cheery voice said, ‘I say, can I help you?’
Parkes looked up from his work. ‘No good trying to borrow off me, chummy. I’m broke,’ he said.
‘I don’t want to borrow anything. Sooner or later I’ve got to learn to do what you’re doing. I hate doing nothing. Show me how, and I’ll help you.’