Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-04
Without Court Martial

1t was half-paSt six on winters
evening. and four or five fellows were
sitting in the mess gathered around
the ante-room fire. They were dis
cussing life in general and young Of
ficers in particular, and as they could
all speak with from eight to fifteen
years experience the general tone
kindly contempt.
They don't get the shaping they
used to-" said the senior subaltern
meditatively. pressing the bell.
mo, that they don't, one of the
others agreed; mot in these days OF
unbridled license for the half-penny
press and consequent searching war
office inquiries. Why, 1t Is more than
a regiments life is worth to fall back
on the old methods for shaping young
blood"
Cad! / remember when joined"
the senior subaltern continued-"Gin
and btters, waiter Have another,
Major? AS you we're? Bring two,
waiter'-When l joined the regiment
was at Pindi, and old Billy Murphy
was senior subaltern. l didn't do q
lot of bucking my first twelve months,
can tell you!"
"Ah. that was abroad" said Major
Murphy, slipping his drink, where
we could just have a quiet subalterns'
court-martial and settle things in a
gentlemanly manner. 1t didn't take
three years Of successive bad conf
Dental reports to get rid of a fellow
then. No, by'-he stopped short. for
at that moment a youth Of about 20
came into the mess.
The newcomers appearance might
be mildly described as "jaunty." His
cap was pulled over one eye; he wore
a long coat slit we'll up the back and
partitioned off by small checks into
many colors; he had thrust both his
hands into the capacious side pock-
cts of his coat; from the one pocket
there protruded an evening paper,
from the other dangled a dog whip.
He edged his way through the group
by the fire and sat down on the high
leather fender facing them.
Can you reach the bell, Flint" he
asked
The senior subaltern obligingly
stretched himself and did what was
required. The youth pulled the even
ing paper from his pocket.
That cursed horse Zephir ran
second today and 1 only backed it for
a win." he said, addressing himself to
the room in general.
No one answered him, the original
conversation had stopped, and one or
two had taken up papers and were
reading them. The senior subaltern
fidgeted.
You rang, didn't you?" he said to
the youth, who Lad bent over his pa
per quite regardless Of the waiter
standing near him.
"Oh, yes. Any one have a drink
No one answered. Hello, every one
taking the cure? Bring me a cock
lail, waiter"
A silence had fallen upon the room
not just a lull in the conversation, but
a real awkward, embarrassing silence,
such as would have made any one not
endowed with the thickness Of skin
possessed by the Bog Rat (for this
was the name by which our young
friend was known among his brother
officers) strongly suspicious Of its
cause. But not he, or If he was sus-
picious he was equally Indifferent, for
he gayly broke the silence by reading
out the days winners, starting prices
and jockeys followed by his own de-
tailed forecast for events the next
day. He then finished his drink and
left the room, taking enroute Major
Murphys outstretched legs, over
which he stumbled.
How long has that been with us?'
asked a man in the corner, who had
only joined the regiment from service
abroad that evening.
Three months" said Flint, wear
BIT of a nut, isn't he? What has
he done? Won the National?"
NO as far as we have discovered
his only connection with sport, bar
ring his clothes and conversation
consists in a mongrel Dachshund,
growled Major Murphy from behind
his paper.
You have been neglecting his edu-
cation a bit, haven't you?' said the
Man from Abroad, whose name was
Warren, to Flint.
You are forgetting where you are
lid chap" said the senior subaltern
You are not in a hill station In India
you're within an hours train journey
Of
ready in an overwrought condition
from three Raging cases, ventilated
throughout the kingdom by the half
penny press
And who will assuredly break the
colonel and the adjutant Of the regi-
ment, to say nothing of all the subal-
terms that are concerned in the next
one" the major chimed in.
But can't you talk to him." said
the Man from Abroad.
Talk to him." the senior subalterr
echoed. I've crooned over him and
have shrieked at him till 1 am
hoarse. No, there Is more hair on his
heels than will ever come off with g
pair of clippers"
why not get rid of him." Warren
asked, still puzzled.
TRY" said the senior subaltern la
conically. why, only last week
held my face an inch off his ugly noz-
zle i'm this very room and told him tc
take himself and his tyke and all that
was his from out of the regiments
sight. and never come back again fol
anything except his own funeral.
The man opposite shrugged his
shoulders.
"Oh. our Bog Rat is a bit of a sea
lawyer" Major Murphy explained
He knows he's got three years on
probation before the war office car
clear him out, and that we had rather
whitewash the smudges he makes or
the regiments reputation than cause
public scandal by kicking him out
He knows well enough how he Is
placed You can only do that sort OF
thing when both parties to the con-
tract are agreeable to remain quiet.
1t had grown late. and the group
broke up to go to their quarters and
change for dinner. The Man from
Abroad thought deeply as he dressed
and finally pulled on his red mess
jacket with a vicious jerk that made
the three miniature war medals and
the small bronze cross "for valor'
iangle together as though echoing his
opinion of the breed Of Bog Rats.
Three months passed, and still the
Pog Rat stayed on, thorn in the hap