Badcock's stomach, I discovered this to be his
rough-and-ready method of demanding an _encore_.
"The commandant proved to be a _virtuoso_. Persons of that
temperament (as you may have remarked) are often unequal to the life
of the camp with its deadening routine, its incessant demand for
vigilance in details; and, as a matter of fact, he was on the point
of being superseded for incompetence. His recall arrived, and for a
short while he was minded to make a parting gift of us to his late
comrades-in-arms, sharing us up among the three regiments that
composed the garrison and endowing them with a _mascot_ apiece; but
after a sharp struggle selfishness prevailed and he carried us with
him to the mainland. There for a week or two, in an elegant palace
behind the _Darsena_, we solaced his retirement and amused a select
circle of his friends, till (wearying perchance of Badcock's
minstrelsy) he dismissed us with a purse of sequins and bade us go to
the devil, at the same time explaining that only the ingratitude he
had experienced at the hands of his countrymen prevented his offering
us as a gift to the Republic.
Pages:
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566