s struck everyone out here, sooner or later, that it is easy enough
to do the thing if only one could know at the moment what is the thing
to do. Here was a sentry whose whole recent education had been devoted
to learning exactly how to deal with new and unwelcome arrivals. He was
furnished for that very purpose with a rifle having a carefully
sharpened bayonet at one end of it and a nice new bullet at the other.
There he was, all prepared to deal with an emergency, and there was the
emergency confronting him. Having had a good look at it, he contented
himself with saying "_Halt! wer da?_" adding as an afterthought a
threatening move forward.

On the other hand, here was our friend, young and vigorous, in full
possession of all his faculties, too surprised to be even alarmed. His
first tendency was to pass haughtily on or, at the most, to stop and
tell the man to be more respectful when addressing an officer. His
second was to call to mind, in a confused mess, all the brilliant and
dashing things a hero of fiction would, without a moment's hesitation,
have done in the circumstances. Lastly, it was borne in on him that this
was indeed a German; that all Germans were, under the new arrangement,
sworn to do in all Englishmen at sight, and that he himself was, beneath
his mud, one of the last-named. Being rather the quicker-witted of the
two, he had put in three thoughts to the other fellow's one; but the
position showed no improvement in the result, and the enemy's second
thought, slowly dawning, was obviously of a more practical and drastic
nature. His undecided fidgeting with his rifle made this abundantly
clear. No time was to be lost. Our friend realised dimly that at all
costs he must conceal his nationality. This promised to be a matter of
languages, never his strong point. But, there again, he was carefully
prepared with a series of useful phrases in various tongues, which he
had learnt up in small and inexpensive hand-books. The difficulty was to
get on to the right one; his mind, having got him thus far, refused
further assistance. Instead of furnishing him with the appropriate
remark, it merely suggested to him a clearly defined picture of the
outside of the text-book, particularly emphasizing the elegant but inept
phrase, "One Shilling net at all Booksellers." And what was the use of
that with the sentry's bayonet rapidly coming to the "On guard"
position?

It's a long story, Charles, and it ended by our friend