“Hooray!” exclaimed Dick; “that beats all—I likes them better than mutton chops.”
“Yes,” replied the sergeant; “they are all very well in their way; but you know, if a man wants to rise in the army, he must be steady.”
“Steady, boys! stea—dy!” shouted Dick
I don’t know how far the sergeant was justified,
morally, in thus holding out the prospect of riotous living to these hungry men, but I think, all things considered, it was an improvement on the old system of the pressgang, which forced men into the navy. These lads were not bound to believe the recruiting sergeant, and were not obliged to enter into a contract with Her Majesty. At the same time, the alluring prospects were such that if they had been represented as facts in the commercial transactions of life, such is the purity of the law that they would have given rise to much pleading, multifarious points reserved, innumerable summonses at Chambers, and, at least, one new trial.
“Now,” said Jack Outofwork, “I tell yer what it is—I don’t take no Queen’s shilling, for why? it ain’t the Queen’s—it belongs to the people—I’m for a republic.”
‘“Well,” said the sergeant, “I always like to meet a chap that calls himself a republican, and I’ll tell you why. This country is a republic, say what you like, and is presided over by our gracious Queen. And I should like to ask any man in this country—now, just listen, lads, for this is the real question, whether—”
“Now, order,” said Lazyman, “I never ’eerd nothing put better.”
“Let’s have order, gentlemen,” said Harry; “chair! chair!”
“All ’tention, sergeant,” said Dick.