Still the mid-day gun explodes.

But the sound which echoes loudest

Is the sound I never knew

Till I lunched (the very proudest)

With the Staff at A.H.Q.

'Twas a scene of peace and plenty,

Plates a-steam and-spoons a-swoop;

'Twas a sound of five-and-twenty

Hungry Generals drinking soup.

J.M.S.