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Blank Cartridges | Ian Hay | |
Shooting Straight |
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Page 5 of 12 |
And leaving Bobby and his infant class to practise this new and amusing pastime, Captain Wagstaffe strolls away across the square to where the painstaking Waddell is contending with another squad. They, too, have a landscape target--a different one. Before it half a dozen rifles stand, set in rests. Waddell has given the order: Four hundred--at the road, where it passes under the viaduct--fire! and six privates have laid the six rifles upon the point indicated. Waddell and Captain Wagstaffe walk down the line, peering along the sights of the rifles. Five are correctly aligned: the sixth points to the spacious firmament above the viaduct. "Hallo!" observes Wagstaffe. "This is the man's third try, sir," explains the harassed Waddell. "He doesn't seem to be able to distinguish anything at all." "Eyesight wrong?" "So he says, sir." "Been a long time finding out, hasn't he?" "The sergeant told me, sir," confides Waddell, "that in his opinion the man is 'working for his ticket.'" "Umph!" "I did not quite understand the expression, sir," continues the honest youth, "so I thought I would consult you." "It means that he is trying to get his discharge. Bring him along: I'll soon find out whether he is skrim-shanking or not." |
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The First Hundred Thousand Ian Hay |
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