The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mufti, by H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile

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Title: Mufti

Author: H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile

Release Date: March 29, 2008 [eBook #24945]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUFTI***

E-text prepared by Al Haines

MUFTI

by

HERMAN CYRIL McNEILE

("Sapper")

Author of

"No Man's Land," "Men, Women and Guns,"
"The Human Touch," "The Lieutenant and Others,"
"Sergeant Michael Cassidy," etc.

Hodder and Stoughton
London -- New York -- Toronto
MCMXIX

To P. B. D.

MUFTI

PROLOGUE

I

The officer lying back in the home-made chair tilted the peak of his
cap over his eyes and let his book slip gently to the ground. A few
moments later, after various unavailing waves of the hand, he pulled
out a handkerchief of striking design and carefully adjusted it over
his face. Then, with his hands dug deep in his pockets to remove even
a square inch of skin from the ubiquitous fly, he prepared to slumber.
And shortly afterwards a gentle rise and fall of the centre bulldog, so
wonderfully portrayed on the bandana, announced that he had succeeded.

To anyone fresh from England who desired to see War the scene would
have been disappointing. There were no signs of troops swinging down a
road, singing blithely, with a cheery smile of confidence on their
faces and demanding to be led back forthwith to battle with the Huns.
There were no guns belching forth: the grim Panoply of War, whatever it
may mean, was conspicuous by its absence. Only a very fat
quartermaster-sergeant lay asleep in the sun and snored, while an
ancient and dissolute old warrior, near by, was engaged in clearing out
a drain as part of his Field Punishment, and had just discovered a dead
dog in it. He was not singing blithely: he had no cheery smile of
confidence on his face: he was just talking--gently to himself.

The field was on a slight ridge. Above the camp there floated one of a
line of sausage balloons, and the cable to which it was attached
stretched up taut from some point near the farmhouse behind. A
triangular flag, like a b