“Well, sir, ask all on ’em. I can fight, and lick any of the lot here. Oh, I can fight, and so can they.”
“Hum—ha,” said Roy, marching slowly round them, while the men drew themselves up and seemed to grow a couple of inches taller each under the inspection of the young captain. “What do you think, sergeant?” he continued; “think you can make artillerymen of ’em?”
Ben saluted, and took a few steps forward to march up and down the party, slapping their chests, feeling their arms, and pounding them heavily.
“Got some bone and muscle in ’em, sir,” he said, respectfully, as his report. “Might try if they mean it.”
“Take them across then to the armoury, measure them, and their names can be enrolled.”
The men drew deep breaths of relief, and then grew nervous, for there was a short command or two given, a couple of the troopers stepped to their head, Ben and the corporal came up behind, and the little group of sturdy fellows was marched across into the guard-room, and afterwards into the armoury, to stand gaping at the weapons of war.
“Did I do that right?” said Roy, afterwards.
“Right, sir. The very thing. Those sort judge by what they see. They came to us half ready to laugh, but they soon saw how serious it all was; and they’ll go away back to the mill to-night, and I’ll be bound to say, Master Roy, if you followed ’em, you’d find they’d got a dozen other fellows about ’em, talking to ’em and boasting and bragging about how grand everything is, and showing ’em their uniforms and steel caps. This has about done it. You’ll see we shall get as many men as we want now.”
“But I felt all the time as if I were acting,” said Roy.
“What? Look here, Master Roy, don’t you go and say such a thing as that again. You weren’t acting, and so I tell you; only doing your duty to your king and country, and your father and mother into the bargain. You can’t do fighting without a bit of show along with it to brighten it up. You ask a man whether he’d like to wear a feather in his cap, and a bit o’ scarlet and gold on his back, he’ll laugh at you and say that such things are only for women. But don’t you believe him, my lad; he won’t own it, but he likes it all the same.”