"Then you can jest do what ye darn please; the 'ole three of us 'll be orf dooty together."
So he related to me in a fragmentary manner, halting now and again and blowing clouds from his pipe as if to assist his ruminations, the strange history of Trooper Jones, almost word for word as I have set it down. He began:—
"It was in May that we got orders to embark.... I can remember turning out at four in the mornin' to march to the dockyard, and 'ow the green lanes was all a-sproutin' and a-shinin', and 'ow the sky was that pink and streaky, for all the world like a prime rasher. But that's neither 'ere nor there.... We 'ad been billeted in the villages nigh Portsmouth for several days, and my comrade, James Jenkins, and I 'ad been quartered at an inn kept by Jones' father and 'is sister—a strappin' girl, and as like her brother as one bullet's like another. They was twins, them two—with top-knots the colour o' carrots, mouths as wide as oyster-shells, allus grinnin', and a power of freckles that made their faces as yeller as speckled eggs. But Jenny Jones was a stunner, she was; she served at the bar, and gave the boys as good as they gave—'ot sauce for the cheeky and a clout o' the 'ead if need be when mi lady's blood was up. Woman-like, she was that contrary, wi' a tongue as sharp as a razor for some o' us, and all butter and honey and eyes like a sucking-calf whenever Jenkins so much as showed 'is nose. And 'e, 'e was that sweet on 'er as though she'd been a Wenus cast in sugar."
The old fellow blew a mighty whiff from his pipe, a whiff that was akin to a sigh, and for a few moments he became apparently fogged by the retrospective haze that surrounded him. He seemed disinclined to relate more, but as I remained silent he presently resumed:—
"I won't tell you of all the 'arrowin' sights of that there mornin', the women—mothers and wives and sweethearts—a-snivellin' and a-sobbin', the men lookin' all awry, as though they'd swallered a chemist shop and couldn't get the taste out o' their mouths. All this wi' shoutin' of orders, and noise of the 'orses bein' slung up the ship's side and let down the main 'atchway into the 'old, and the playin' of the band, and the cheerin' of the crowd in the dockyard, and the crews in the 'arbour, and the youngsters on the Victory—old fellers they must be now—a-roarin' fit to split 'emselves from the yards and riggin' so long as we 'ad ears to 'ear.
"I, bein' som'at of a bachelor by instink, 'ad no gal to wish me God-speed; but Jenkins, poor chap, was in the same boat. Jenny Jones 'ad not put 'erself about to see 'im nor 'er brother orf, and as they stood alongside one another looking that solemn and glum, I couldn't 'elp thinkin' o' the 'eartlessness of wenches in general and that there in pertikilar.
"But soon I thought no more on the subjec', for there was other things to mind. There was dinner, and givin' out of sea kit and gettin' our ration of grog—three parts water it was to one o' rum then, but it grew to 'alf a gill and a gill a day later on."
"About Jenkins?" I reminded, seeing that his brain reeled with the reminiscence of bygone potations.
"Oh, I didn't see 'im at that time. We went below to the stable; our beasts was stood wi' heels to the ship's sides and their sorry 'eads a-facin' of each other. They was awful bad, and mighty funky of the lurchin's of the ship. I found Jones down there—'e was a-bathin' of 'is 'orse's nose with water and vinegar, and a-cheerin' of 'im up to eat, which he wouldn't do for all the coaxin'. 'Carrots' spent all 'is spare time at that there game, givin' short answers and cursin' freely now and agin. But 'e did 'is work right enough—cleaned stalls, polished and burnished 'is saddle and accoutrements like the best of us—though whenever I looked at 'im there was some'at shifty in his eye and an odd turn o' the 'ead, as though 'e'd been a-sneakin' rum, or a-doin' somethin' as was contrary to regilations. And one day he turns on me savage like:—
"'What the —— are you lookin' at me for? Can't you mind your own bloomin' business,' sez 'e. So I ups and sez what came to me all of a flash:—