“Rajah!” I exclaimed, surprised but not surprised, for I had half expected some such proposal, but of course only in a very minor form.
“Look here, Vincent,” he continued, bending forward, and speaking excitedly. “When I came to your barracks as a humble syce, it was to learn everything about your guns, and the way in which the horse artillery was trained. In those days, beaten, kicked, trampled upon, I always had you in my mind, and I watched you, how quick, how clever, and how brave you were. My heart warmed to you even then; but as I have grown to know you better and seen what you are in the field in action with your men, I have said again and again that there could be no one better for my trusted friend and general.”
I laughed, though a curious feeling came over me that the man who would make me such a proposal must be mad.
“Why do you laugh?” he said. “Are you pleased at what I propose?”
“Pleased? No,” I said frankly. “You are laughing at me—making fun of me.”
He frowned.
“Is it so trifling a thing, that I should laugh over it?”
“No, it is not a trifling matter; but it seems to be trifling with me to propose such a thing. You cannot be in earnest.”
“I am in earnest, and it is wise,” he said sternly.
“But it is an appointment for an old, experienced man, and I suppose that I am a mere boy.”