" At even the Mavericks might
have been mistaken for mutineers by one so unversed in their
natures as Mulcahy. At dawn a girls' school might have learned
deportment from them. They knew that their
colonel's hand had closed, and that he who broke that iron
discipline would not go to the front: nothing in the world will
persuade one of our soldiers, when he is ordered to the north on
the smallest of affairs, that he is not immediately going
gloriously to slay Cossacks and cook his kettles in the palace of
the Czar. A few of the younger men mourned for Mulcahy's beer,
because the campaign was to be conducted on strict temperance
principles, but as Dan and Horse Egan said sternly, "We've got the
beer-man with us. He shall drink now on his own hook."
Mulcahy had not taken into account the possibility of being sent
on active service. He had made up his mind that he would not go
under any circumstances, but fortune was against him.
"Sick-you?" said the doctor, who had served an unholy
apprenticeship to his trade in Tralee poorhouses. "You're only
home-sick, and what you call varicose veins come from over-eating.
A little gentle exercise will cure that." And later, "Mulcahy, my
man, everybody is allowed to apply for a sick-certificate once.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92