!Tention Part 61

"Look here, boys," he said, "we have heard something about your adventures while you were away from your regiment. Now, stories grow in telling, like s...o...b..a.l.l.s. Do you understand?"

"Oh yes, sir," said Punch, "I know that;" and, apparently not in the slightest degree abashed by the presence in which he found himself, the boy eagerly scanned each officer in turn, before examining every item within the tent, and then letting his eyes wander out through the open doorway.

"And you, my lad?" continued the officer, for Pen had remained silent.

"Yes, sir," said the lad quietly.

"Well," said the officer, "we want the plain, simple account of where you have been, without any exaggeration, for I am afraid one of you--I don't know which, but I dare say I shall make a very shrewd guess before we have done--has been dressing up your adventures with rather a free hand."

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Pen quietly, "my comrade here, Punchard, has told nothing but the simple truth, and I have only answered questions without the slightest exaggeration."

"Without the slightest exaggeration?" said the officer, looking searchingly at Pen, and there was a touch of irony in his tone. "Well, that is what I want from you now."

Pen coloured and remained silent while the officer asked a question or two of Punch, but soon turned to the elder lad, who, warming as he went on, briefly and succinctly related the main points of what they had gone through.

"Very well said! Well spoken, my lad," said the aquiline-nosed officer; and Pen started, for, warming in his narration, Pen had almost forgotten his presence. "How long have you been a private in the --th?"

"A year, sir."

"Where were you before you enlisted?"

"At Blankton House School."

"Oh, I thought they called that College."

"Yes, sir, they do," said Pen, smiling; "but it is only a preparation place."

"Yes, for the sons of gentlemen making ready for the army?"

"Yes, sir."

"And how come you to be a private in his Majesty's Rifle-Regiment?"

Pen was silent.

"Speak out, comrade," put in Punch. "There ain't nothing to be ashamed of."

"Silence, sir!" cried the officer. "Let your comrade speak for himself." Then turning to Pen, "Your comrade says there was nothing to be ashamed of."

"There is not, sir," said Pen gravely.

"Well, then, keep nothing back."

"It was this way, sir," said Pen. "I was educated to be an officer, and then by a death in my family all my hopes were set aside, and I was placed in a lawyer's office to become a clerk. I couldn't bear it, sir."

"And you ran away?"

"No, sir. I appealed again and again for leave to return to my school and finish my education. My relative refused to listen to me, and I suppose I did wrong, for I went straight to where they were recruiting for the Rifle-Regiment, and the sergeant took me at once."

"H'm!" said the officer, looking searchingly in the lad's eyes. "How came you to join so quiet-looking a regiment?"

Pen smiled rather bitterly.

"It was because my relative, sir, always threw it in my teeth that it was for the sake of the scarlet uniform that I wanted to join the army."

"H'm!" said the officer. "Now, look here, my lad; I presume you have had your eyes about you during the time that you were a prisoner, when you were escaping, and when you were with the _contrabandista_ and had that adventure with the Spanish gentleman whom you suppose to be the King. By the way, why did you suppose that he was the King?"

"From the behaviour of his followers, sir, and from what I learned from the smuggler chief."

"H'm. He was a Spaniard, of course?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you speak Spanish?"

"No, sir. We conversed in French."

"Do you speak French fluently?"

"Pretty easily, sir; but I am afraid my accent is atrocious."

"But you should hear him talk Latin, sir!" cried Punch eagerly.

"Silence, boy!" snapped out the grey-haired officer; and the chief gave him a look and a smile.

"Well, he can, sir; that's quite true," cried Punch angrily. "He talked to the old father, the _padre_, who was a regular friend to us."

"Silence, boy!" said the aquiline-nosed officer sternly now. "Your comrade can say what he has to say modestly and well. That is a thing you cannot do, so do not interrupt again."

"All right, sir. No, sir; beg pardon," said Punch.

"Well," continued the officer, looking keenly and searchingly at Pen, "you should have been able to carry in your mind a pretty good idea of the country you have pa.s.sed through."

"He can, sir," cried Punch. "He has got it all in his head like a map."

"My good boy," said the officer, biting his lip to add to the severity of his aspect, "if you interrupt again you will be placed under arrest."

Punch closed his lips so tightly that they formed a thin pink line right across the bottom of his face.

"Now, Private Gray, do you think that you do carry within your recollection a pretty good idea of the face of the country; or to put it more simply and plainly, do you think you could guide a regiment through the pa.s.ses of this wild country and lead them safely to where you left the French encamped?"

"I have not a doubt but that I could, sir."

"In the dark?"

"It would be rather harder in the dark, sir," replied Pen, "but I feel confident that I could."

"May I take it that you are willing to try?"