Tell me all about it."
"I congratulate you most heartily," he said, when Chris had finished the
story. "Of course you have written a report of it?" "Here it is, sir. I
have made it very brief, merely saying that I had the honour to report
that, with Messrs. Peters, Brown, and Willesden, I succeeded in blowing
up, with two hundredweight of dynamite, the things I have mentioned to
you, destroying a large quantity of rolling stock, badly damaging five
locomotives, and destroying roads and sidings to such an extent that
traffic can hardly be resumed for a fortnight. Is the general here,
sir?"
"No, but he will be here this afternoon. Now, I will not detain you from
your friends. No doubt they saw you ride in, and will be most anxious to
hear of your doings. You will hardly know them again. When they came up
to join us they adopted the uniform of the corps, feeling that it would
be uncomfortable going about in a large camp in civilian dress. They
brought with them uniforms for you all, for they seemed very certain
that you would return alive."
"I am very glad of that, sir, for the soldiers all stared at us as we
came up here. I suppose they took us for sight-seers who had come up to
witness the battle."
As they left the tent they found the rest of their party, gathered in a
group twenty yards away, and the heartiest greeting was exchanged.
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