"
"Very good, your Honour," replied the trooper, and went and posted
himself.
What the commanding officer really meant was, not to allow cattle and
transport animals to dirty the water before the horses came down to
drink; but he did not express himself very clearly.
Shortly after the sentry had taken up his beat a string of horses,
headed by a gorgeous being in a scarlet uniform, appeared, making for
the pond.
"Hullo! you there, where are you going?" shouted the sentry.
"Going?" repeated the gorgeous being, superciliously. "Why, to water my
horses, you stupid fool."
"No you don't," said the sentry; "no one waters here till the Guides
have finished with it."
The gorgeous person nearly fell off his horse with astonishment, and
when he found speech he replied: "Cease prattling, son of an impure
mother! These are the Great Lord's horses, and can of course water where
and when they choose."
"I don't care a quarter of an anna whose horses they are, but they don't
water here. So, out of this, you mis-begotten son of a red-coated ape,
or I'll give you something to help you along." And the sentry quietly
pulled out a cartridge, and began leisurely fitting it into the breech
of his carbine.
This was not at all to the red-coated gentleman's liking. To trot behind
his Lord, richly caparisoned and splendidly mounted, was one thing; but
to meet an infernal fellow who deliberately fitted a cartridge into his
carbine to defend his post, was a matter not lightly to be undertaken.
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