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Charge! - A Story of Briton and Boer, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 32. Denham Shivers |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. DENHAM SHIVERS I wanted to dash off--not from fear, but to indulge in a hearty roar of laughter--for Denham's countenance at that moment wore the drollest expression I have ever seen upon the face of man. "I--I--I beg your pardon, Colonel," he stammered at last. "For backbiting me, sir," said the Colonel shortly. "I could not help hearing your last sentence, for you raised your voice and forced it upon me. Now, if you please, I am one of the--what?" "I was--I was only telling Moray here, sir, that you were--er--er--very passionate, and that if--" "Passionate, am I?" "Yes, sir," stammered Denham. "No, no; I beg your pardon, sir. I didn't mean to say that." "I presume you are saying what you consider to be the truth, Mr Denham," said the Colonel coldly. "Now, pray go on: and that if--" "If he came to you with--with a message, sir, that he has just received, you would kick him out of your presence." "Humph!" said the Colonel sternly. "Just this minute, sir, you said of me what you believed to be the truth; but now you have been saying what you must know to be false.--Pray, what was the message Moray?" he added, turning to me. There was only one thing to do, and I did it, giving Moriarty's message to the end. "The insolent, conceited idiot!" said the Colonel scornfully. "You need not go back to him with my answer; but if you come across him again and he asks what I said, you can tell him this: that at the first opportunity I shall hand him over to my superior officers, as one of Her Majesty's subjects found with arms in his hand fighting against the British force after taking service with her enemies, and doing his best to impress Englishmen to serve in the same ranks.--Mr Denham, I should like a few words with you in the morning." He turned upon his heel and strode heavily away, with his spurs clinking loudly and the guard at the end of his scabbard giving a sharp _chink_ every now and then, as, field-glass in hand, he climbed to the top of the wall to take a look round at the positions of the enemy before the evening closed in. "Well," said Denham at last, looking the while as if all the military starch had been taken out of him, "you've done it now." I could keep back my laughter no longer. "Somebody has," I cried merrily. "Yes," he said dolefully; "somebody has. Oh, I say, Val, you oughtn't to have told tales like that." "What?" I cried. "How could I help it?" "Well, I suppose you couldn't," said my companion. "But there never was such an unlucky beggar as I am. What did he want to come upon us just at that moment for? Oh dear! oh dear! and I got to face him to-morrow morning! I say, can't we do something to put it off--something to make him forget it?" "Impossible," I said. "Oh, I don't know; try and think of a good dodge--a sortie, or doing something to make the Boers come on to-night. If we had a jolly good light he'd forget all about it, and I shouldn't hear any more about the miserable business. Here, what can we do to make the Boers come on? I might get killed in the set-to, and then I should escape this awful wigging." "Who ought to go and see the doctor now?" I said. "Who's going mad?" "I am, I believe, old fellow; and enough to make me. It's enough to make a fellow desert. Here, I know; I'll do something. It's all the fault of that miserable renegade. I'll go in and half-kill him--an insolent, insulting brute!" Just then Denham, who was as fearless as any man in the ranks when out with the corps, started violently in his alarm; for a hail came from high up on the wall in the Colonel's familiar voice; and upon looking up, there he was, glass in hand, looking down at us. "Denham," cried the Colonel, "run to the Major. Tell him to come here to me at once, and bring his glass." "Yes, sir," cried my companion.--"Come with me, Val. My word! He gave me such a turn, as the old women say; I thought he'd heard me again. Hurrah, old fellow! there's something up, and no mistake. I shan't get that tongue-flogging after all." _ |
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