"Where's my coffee? I'll wager you've not kept it warm for me!"
Indignant protests.
"See! There's your coffee. We've even kept a cigar for you. Would you like to begin with a couple of sardines?"
After which, his hosts add, pretending to shiver with cold—
"Careful, all the same, you're wet through. Don't stir, or you'll upset everything in the room."
At eight o'clock' dinner is over. Each man cleans his plate and his knife and fork with a piece of bread.
Preparations for the night. Two are going on watch duty and two to sleep; relieving one another every four hours. The two privileged ones, who are able to digest their meal at leisure, light their pipes, pass the bottle of spirits, and are speedily fast asleep.
The two sentries stand with their back's to the rain. They hide their pipes in the hollow of the hand.
"What weather!"