"So there were," said Hedley, "but there was only one upright when I arrived on the scene."
"What about the others, then? Come, Burton!"
"They weren’t far away. The fact is, I knocked ’em down, if you must have it."
"No, one after the other. You see, the captain gave me an opening, and I took it, that’s all."
The company were not satisfied with this far from lucid explanation, and pressed Burton with questions until the details were dragged out of him. He had to endure a flood of congratulations, until a diversion by Captain Adams, who had been meditating a tit-for-tat for Burton’s "chipping" on the occasion of his visit to the battery, brought welcome relief.
"Well," said the captain, slowly unfolding a copy of the _Times_, "Burton has been gassing a good deal, but what does it all amount to? The official account won’t shock his modesty. Listen! ’Last night we captured certain elements of the enemy’s first and second lines of trenches in the neighbourhood of ----, and are now consolidating our gains!’"
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
HERBERT STRANG’S STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR
A HERO OF LIÉGE (Belgium). FIGHTING WITH FRENCH (Flanders). FRANK FORESTER (Gallipoli). BURTON OF THE FLYING CORPS. THROUGH THE ENEMY’S LINES (Asia Minor).
WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN (Elizabeth). HUMPHREY BOLD (William III and Anne). THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY ROCHESTER (Anne). ROB THE RANGER (Wolfe In Canada). ONE OF CLIVE’S HEROES (Clive in India). BOYS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Peninsular War). BARCLAY OF THE GUIDES (Indian Mutiny). KOBO (Russo-Japanese War). BROWN OF MOUKDEN (Russo-Japanese War).
JACK HARDY: A Story of One Hundred Years Ago. PALM-TREE ISLAND (Adventure in the Pacific). SETTLERS AND SCOUTS (East Africa). THE ADVENTURES OF DICK TREVANION (Smugglers). THE AIR SCOUT: A Story of National Defence. THE AIR PATROL: A Story of the North-West Frontier. TOM BURNABY (the Congo Forest). SULTAN JIM (German Aggression in Central Africa). A GENTLEMAN AT ARMS (the Times of Elizabeth) SAMBA (the Congo Free State). THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN (Central Asian Mysteries).