CHAPTER VI.

"THE CUSTOM OF WAR IN LIKE CASES."

2nd Lord.

Re-enter Soldiers with Parolles.

Hoodman comes! Porto tartarossa.

Ist Soldier. He calls for the tortures.

All's Well that Ends Well.

"I'm afraid," said Davidson, "you must have been kept a long time out in the cold. Why did you not come straight in?"

"I did not like to, sir."

"The fact is, you have arrived at a very important moment, that is why you were not noticed sooner. The," here he lowered his voice and spoke in a whisper,-"the general is here. The country is very unsettled, and he is obliged to travel by night, so that no one may be quite certain ever where he exactly is.

"Indeed, sir." Alured persisted in calling his new friend "sir," without observing the smile that the title, each time, elicited.

Yes; and he has come for a very sad

reason. Poor Cuthbert, you know Cuthbert, of the Fusiliers ?"

"No."

"Well, he is not a bad chap, but he is to be tried to-night by court-martial. Perhaps you

might like to be present?"

Frere said he should like it of all things. His father wished him to lose no opportunity of improving himself in military law and the practice of courts-martial.

"Ah, very proper," remarked Davidson, gravely. "This will be the very thing for you-a capital beginning."

As soon as Alured was ready, and had eaten the food brought over from the mess, they started for the court-house.

The scene about to be described had of course been improvised for Alured's especial benefit; but it was not the first mock trial that Ballybanagher barracks had seen. To while the long winter evenings, the wags of the depot were in the habit of sitting in judgment on their weaker brethren. The offences over which they assumed jurisdiction were rather One young fellow was tried for being

varied.

One

humour of the thing,

" greedy at dinner," and was sentenced to have no apple tart for three consecutive nights. Another was arraigned for spelling his name with two small ffs at the beginning; a third for absenting himself without leave from the society of his brother officers, and preferring gin and pipes in his own room. As a general rule the culprits fell in with the and sought by long and specious arguments to prove their innocence. Occasionally one, more than usually cross-grained, "cut up rusty"; but it did not help him much. He was handed over forthwith to the tormentors, who played "sacks at the mill" with him, or "made hay" in his room, or packed up his kit while he was on guard, and directed the boxes to his home, as a gentle hint that he might retire as soon as he thought fit.

Davidson told Alured that as the trial was conducted by special commission, the general himself in the chair, the court sat with closed doors. Permission, however, had been obtained for him to be present, but he must be first sworn to secrecy, and blindfolded before he was admitted. So they covered up his eyes, and led

him a dance round the mess-premises; now and then chains were rattled close to his ears, or the dish-covers were dropped, and one ensign with a weak painful voice was told off to groan at stated intervals during Alured's progress. At length he was ushered into the chamber of justice, after much parleying at the outer door, and when the bandage was removed from his eyes he found himself in a lofty room filled with smoke, and not entirely free from an aroma of spirituous drinks. At one end sat an imposing personage, tall, with a great hooked nose and high cheek-bones, the length and solemnity of his face being heightened by the drooping moustaches and sharp pointed imperial. He was on a species of raised dais (a few boards laid on chairs), and was clothed in wide flowing robes, suspiciously like window curtains. To his right and left sat two others similarly arrayed. In front of them, at a long interval, stood a man in his shirt-sleeves with arms tied behind his back with a rope; and near him, at a small table, was an old gentleman in a wig and long black gown. These five were the prominent figures in the room; but dispersed in

groups around, a number of young men in red jackets lounged and laughed, and from them came the smoke and odour of drink. There was no attempt at decorum among them. When Alured entered they were talking and laughing uproariously. But presently the chief man in the window-curtain spoke, and respectful silence followed.

"Who is this?" asked the general, in a deep and sonorous voice of Davidson, Alured's conductor.

"A newly joined officer, your excellency, who has obtained your permission to witness the proceedings.'

"I am aware of it. I would speak with the young man. Let him approach."

Alured was marched to the foot of the dais. "Your name, young man ?"

"Alured Frere."

"The date of your vaccination, a detailed account of your christening, with the godfathers and godmothers who stood, their names and calling, distinctive marks if any, approximate calculation of the united ages of your father, mother, aunts, grand-uncles, cousins german (if

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