Adventure Magazine Cover — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

4. Adventure going and did not settle to any one direc- tion. “They’ve gone,” agreed the sergeant. “We'd best go ourselves. The captain will want to know summat of this. Their patrols must be edgin’ in on us.” The three went out into the hot sunHght again, crossed the dusty field and tooksthe high road in the direction of Senlis. of The road in this section went through the forest, skirting the western edge, all the way from Compiégne. The main force, a brigade of cavalry, to which the regiment that had sent out this patrol belonged, had left their ‘bivouacs in Compiégne and recon- noitered in the direction of Amiens. The dim recesses of the great Forest of Compiégne had bothered the British com- mand, but they had contented themselves with sending patrols along the roads that traversed the western section, none of which went father east than Carrefour du Moulin and Puits du Roi, where a number of intersecting roads made a kind of wheel. The patrol marched at a walk with no interval between the troopers. This moved the Yank to speech. “Sergeant,” he began, ‘it’s none of my business, but don’t you think we’d better open up a bit, have a little more distance between troopers, in case we’re fired on?”’ The sergeant looked at the Yank soberly. “By rights I ought to check you,” said he, “but I won’t as I know you means well. If there’s henemy troops amongst these trees, they’ll come at us at the charge, an’ we'd best stick together an’ not scatter about. In South Africa it was different.’’ The Yank held his peace after that. He felt humbled. “This is real cavalry warfare,” he told himself, ‘and I’ve been taught so long that the first thing cavalry must do in a fight js dismount that I don’t recognize real cavalry tactics when I see them.” THEY came presently to the road that branches off to Saint Sauveur. They went past it and then halted and took the horses into the woods. “Now,” began the sergeant, “‘we’d best ‘ave a look down this lane. There may be summat down there as we should know about. Larcom, ’old the ’orses. Yank, come with me.”’ The two went back to the road fork and sat down in the ditch, the sergeant facing so that the could see one road and the Yank the other. “Yank,” began the sergeant, “you’re one of them as joined while I was recruitin’; | don’t know you. Where did you learn to ride? You never got that seat in our riding- school. I don’t wish for to pry into you: affairs, an’ no offense meant nor none taken I ’ope, so if you don’t please to tell me, all well and good.”’ The Yank laughed. “I never had any service, sergeant,” said he, “‘but once upon a time I had hopes of a commission in the American cavalry. I lost them, together with my citizenship, and that’s why I’m in the British army. I’ve never amounted to a all my life and I figured that this was as good a way to round out a useless career as taking carbolic acid or jumping off Waterloo Bridge.” The Yank saw the startled look in the sergeant’s: eyes at the mention of loss of citizenship. ee “Don’t be alarmed,. sergeant,” he said, laughing louder yet. -.-‘{It wasn’t for treason or anything like that. . Let’s see, yes, I can give you the exact: language of the court: “In that Cadet So and So did, on or about, direct Cadet Somebody Else, Fourth class, to sing the words of a song entitled “Mary Had a Little Lamb,’ thereby as- suming unwarranted authority over the person of said Cadet Somebody Else, Fourth class. Findings, Guilty; Sentence, to be dismissed.’ ue “There you have it,.all in a nutshell.” The sergeant said nothing after that, but produced a black and evil-smelling pipe from his tunic, which he sucked noisily, for want of tobacco to put therein.. “Yes,” he observed finally, “this is a fine war to get killed in. There’ll be a big action before the fortnight’s up. Six days of retreatin’. It’s time we was puttin’ our backs to the wall an’ not to the enemy. I think we'll be doin’ it right soon now. That officer ’e was from the Cherubims. They sent ’im out to round up the patrols and bring ’em in. We was to rejoin at Verberie, but ’e gives me word to rejoin at that other place—Rocquemont, wa3 itp— which means a change of plans an’ a fight probably.” | “What do they call that regiment the Cherubims for?” asked the Yank. The sergeant grinned. “In peace times they wears cherry cConiclbool< o(CO)