"It already has."
"But look at this!" Tex held up a can marked: Old Plantation Hotcake Flour. "This won't be spoiled-hotcakes for breakfast, troops. I can hardly wait."
"What good are flapjacks without syrup?"
"All the comforts of home-half a dozen cans of it." He produced one marked: Genuine Vermont Maple Syrup, unadulterated.
Tex wanted to take some back with them. Oscar vetoed it, on both practical and diplomatic grounds. Tex suggested that they remain in the ship, not go back. "Presently, Tex,; presently," Oscar agreed. "You forgot about Lieutenant Thur-! low." -
"So I did. Close my big mouth."
"Speaking of Mr. Thurlow," put in Matt, "you've given me an idea. He won't touch much of that native hash, even when he seems to come pretty far out of it. How about that sugar syrup? I could feed it to him from a drinking bladder."
"It can't hurt him and it might help," decided Oscar. "We'll take half the syrup back with us." Tex picked the cans up, Matt tucked a can opener in his pouch, and they went outside.
Matt was pleased to find Th'wing on watch in Thurlow's room when they got back; she would be easier to deal with than the other nurses. He explained to her what he had in mind, in polite circumlocutions. She accepted a can Matt had opened and tasted, beforehand, and turned her back apologetically while she tasted it.
She spat it out. "Art thou sure that this will not harm thy ailing mother?"