They are doing splendid work, and if the War Office authorities can but
take a lesson to heart, the next war we go into we shall have five
hundred of them and not a single transport animal. They would cost
money, no doubt, but they would eat nothing and drink nothing; they
would only require to be oiled and cleaned occasionally to keep them in
order, and when they were wanted they would do the work without our
having to hunt the world over for transport animals. They would save
their cost in one war; there would be a thousand drivers and stokers
instead of twenty thousand camp followers; it would not matter whether
the country was burnt up dry or deep in grass, they would drag their
fuel with them; and would save the artillery horses by dragging the guns
till they were in the neighbourhood of an enemy. It might not look so
pretty or picturesque as the present system, but it would be enormously
more useful, and in the long run vastly more economical. I should like
to see Kitchener put at the War Office with authority to sweep it out;
Hercules in the Augean stable would be nothing to it."
Chris laughed at the earnestness and vehemence with which the commander
spoke.
He went on. "I am an old army man, and have been as staunch a believer
in army traditions as any man, but I tell you fairly that I am disgusted
at the amount of routine work, delay, and, if I may use the word,
priggism, that I see going on.
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