the other trumpeters beyond
the confines of the camp, and was there set to work at the calls. His
work was by no means light. He was at once sent into the riding-school,
and he found it a very different thing to satisfy the riding-master and
his sergeants than it had been to learn to sit a horse at home. However,
his previous practice in that way rendered the work much easier for him
than it would otherwise have been, and he was not very long in passing
out from the squad of recruits. Then he had two or three hours a day of
practice with the trumpet, an hour a day at gymnastics, and in the
afternoon two hours of school. The last item was, however, but child's
play, and as soon as the instructor saw that the lad could without
difficulty take a first-class, he employed him in aiding to teach
others.

The evening was the only time he had to himself; then, if he chose to
take the trouble to dress, he could go out into the town or stroll
through the camp or take a walk. If disinclined for this there was the
cavalry canteen, with a large concert-room attached, where
entertainments were given by music-hall singers brought down from
London. The trumpeters and bandsmen had a barrack-room to themselves.
Edgar, who had a healthy appetite, found the food of a very different
description to that to which he had been accustomed. Although up at six
o'clock in the morning, even in the winter, as it was, there was nothing
to eat until eight. Then there was a mug of a weak fluid called tea, and
an allowance of bread. The dinner, which was at one, consisted of an
amount of meat scarcely sufficient for a growing boy; for although had
the allowance consisted entirely of flesh, it would have been ample, it
was so largely reduced by the amount of bone and fat that the meat was
reduced to a minimum. However, when eked out with potatoes and bread it
sufficed well enough.

Tea at six consisted, like breakfast, of a mug of tea and bread. Edgar
found, however, that the Spartan breakfasts and teas could be
supplemented by additions purchased at the canteen. Here pennyworths of
butter, cheese, bacon, an egg, a herring, and many similar luxuries were
obtainable, and two pence of his pay was invariably spent on breakfast,
a penny sufficing for the addition to his tea.

He found that he soon got on well with his comrades. It was like going
to a fresh school. There was at first a good deal of rough chaff, but as
soon as it was found that he could tak