Here Blue Breeches, overcome by the reproof of his fellows, began to weep.
“I didn’t tell,” he roared. “My big bruvver he knew when he saw them go up the road…”
“Never mind! Never mind, old man,” said Bayley soothingly. “I’m not fighting to-day. It’s all right.”
He rightened it yet further with sixpence, and left that band loudly at feud over the spoil.
“Oh, Vee! Vee the strategist,” he chuckled. “We’ll pull Vee’s leg to-night.”
Our freckled friend of the barriers doubled up behind us.
“So you know that my battalion is charging down the ground,” Bayley demanded.
“Not for certain, Sir, but we’re preparin’ for the worst,” he answered with a cheerful grin. “They allow the Schools a little blank ammunition after we’ve passed the third standard; and we nearly always bring it on to the ground of Saturdays.”
“The deuce you do! Why?”
“On account of these amateur Volunteer corps, Sir. They’re always experimentin’ upon us, Sir, comin’ over from their ground an’ developin’ attacks on our flanks. Oh, it’s chronic ’ere of a Saturday sometimes, unless you flag yourself.”