“His trouble is not only the newness of it. It’s his utter helplessness.”
“Quite so. Absolutely nothing to be done. The—er—meeting was as orderly as possible. I walked right through it. They simply ignored me.”
“Oh yes, there’s no personal feeling. They all paraded this morning complete and regular.”
“That’s the end of it, I hope.”
“I think so. They came up to the Mess—three N.C.O.’s—a deputation, if you please. They brought a copy of the resolution that was passed.”
Neither could keep a straight face, but laughter did not matter because it was simultaneous. The Captain went on, finishing his drink:
“I believe the old man had a momentary feeling that he ought to crime some one—but our Adjutant—topping chap—met them in the passage and gave them a soft answer, and cooked up some sort of report, and sent it up. It pacified ’em.”
“Did they need it?”
“Not really. ’Pon me word, never saw anything more reasonable in my life, than what they had written out. It’s too bad, hanging ’em up for months and months, while other people get their jobs. They know what they want so much better than anyone else.”
“It’s impossible to please every one.”