"No, sir," agreed the coxswain. "Quite an enjoyable little picnic."
CHAPTER XX
The Blimp and the Skate
During the initial stages of the life of the R.A.F. Marine Training Depot there was one thing missing. No doubt there were others, but this one, in the eyes of the C.O. and officers, was of great moment. The men would fall in on parade smartly and rapidly; the colours would be hoisted at nine in the morning with éclat; there were sentries posted to pay proper compliments to officers; and a superb gun-metal bell tolled out the hours and half-hours in correct ship's time.
But there was no bugler; nor was there a bugle even if a bugler had been forthcoming. And a bugler capable of blowing a loud-sounding bugle was a desideratum. He would become the coping-stone of the building of efficiency.
The Major did his level best to obtain some Boy Scout buglers from Fisherton, but, false to their precepts, the youngsters were not prepared to use their breath for two shillings a day on behalf of the R.A.F. when they could earn thrice that amount elsewhere.
It looked as if Sableridge Depot would fail to attain that degree of pomp and circumstance when fate, in the guise of the Drafting Officer at Blandborough Depot, played into its hands. Amongst a batch of new arrivals was a gem, a priceless jewel—a man who could blow a bugle.
He was a short, tubby individual with watery-blue eyes and a flat, rubicund nose. Quiet and unassuming, his arrival was hailed with acclamation. Had he asked for a silver trumpet and a pair of wings of a slightly different type to those worn by airmen no doubt the delighted officers would have done their level best to accede to his request. As it was they subscribed and purchased a trumpet, the sounds of which floated across the parade-ground in a manner calculated to raise the martial spirit of all ranks well above boiling-point.
Morning, noon, and night the clarion-like notes made the welkin ring. From Réveillé to Retreat and Last Post, and whenever circumstances demanded, there was the depot bugler with his highly-polished and tasselled trumpet.