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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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His temper was displayed with more clearness by the way in which he managed his horse. He jerked and wrenched savagely at his bridle, stop- ping the hard-breathing animal with a furious pull near the colonel of the regiment. He im- mediately exploded in reproaches which came unbidden to the ears of the men. They were suddenly alert, being always curious about black words between officers. "Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what an awful bull you made of this thing!" began the officer. He attempted low tones, but his indignation caused certain of the men to learn the sense of his words. "What an awful mess you made! Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hun- dred feet this side of a very pretty success! If your men had gone a hundred feet farther you would have made a great charge, but as it is --what a lot of mud diggers you've got any- way!" The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyes upon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair. The colonel was seen to straighten his form and put one hand forth in oratorical fashion. He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon had been accused of stealing. The men were wiggling in an ecstasy of excitement. But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed from that of a deacon to that of a Frenchman. He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well, general, we went as far as we could," he said calmly. "As far as you could? Did you, b'Gawd?" snorted the other. "Well, that wasn't very far, was it?" he added, with a glance of cold con- tempt into the other's eyes. "Not very far, I think. You were intended to make a diversion in favor of Whiterside. How well you succeeded your own ears can now tell you." He wheeled his horse and rode stiffly away. |
