It was not until there came a break, after the first company of the
third battalion, that the reason of this delay became apparent.
There was his servant on the far side of the road, and there was his
breakfast in the servant's hand, all standing to attention, as they
should do when a column of troops was passing....
The remainder of that Brigade suggested no agreeable thoughts to
Captain Jones. He saw nothing magnificent in the whole and nothing
attractive in any detail of it. It was in fact just a long and
tiresome sequence of monotonous and sheeplike individuals who really
might have chosen some other time and place for their silly walks
abroad. And as for the spirit of discipline exemplified in the
servant, who scrupled to defy red tape and slip through at a
convenient interval, this was nothing else but the maddening
ineptitude of all human conceits.
A wonderful servant is that servant of Captain Jones; but then they
all are. Valet, cook, porter, boots, chambermaid, ostler, carpenter,
upholsterer, mechanic, inventor, needlewoman, coal-heaver, diplomat,
barber, linguist (home-made), clerk, universal provider, complete
pantechnicon and infallible bodyguard, he is also a soldier, if a very
old soldier, and a man of the most human kind.
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