登陆注册
15452900000052

第52章 II(1)

Now I made as bad a soldier (except at heart) as Raffles made a good one, and I could not say a harder thing of myself. My ignorance of matters military was up to that time unfathomable, and is still profound. I was always a fool with horses, though I did not think so at one time, and I had never been any good with a gun. The average Tommy may be my intellectual inferior, but he must know some part of his work better than I ever knew any of mine. I never even learnt to be killed. I do not mean that I ever ran away. The South African Field Force might have been strengthened if I had.

The foregoing remarks do not express a pose affected out of superiority to the usual spirit of the conquering hero, for no man was keener on the war than I, before I went to it. But one can only write with gusto of events (like that little affair at Surbiton) in which one has acquitted oneself without discredit, and I cannot say that of my part in the war, of which I now loathe the thought for other reasons. The battlefield was no place for me, and neither was the camp. My ineptitude made me the butt of the looting, cursing, swash-buckling lot who formed the very irregular squadron which we joined; and it would have gone hard with me but for Raffles, who was soon the darling devil of them all, but never more loyally my friend. Your fireside fire-eater does not think of these things. He imagines all the fighting to be with the enemy. He will probably be horrified to hear that men can detest each other as cordially in khaki as in any other wear, and with a virulence seldom inspired by the bearded dead-shot in the opposite trench. To the fireside fire-eater, therefore (for you have seen me one myself), I dedicate the story of Corporal Connal, Captain Bellingham, the General, Raffles, and myself.

I must be vague, for obvious reasons. The troop is fighting as I write; you will soon hear why I am not; but neither is Raffles, nor Corporal Connal. They are fighting as well as ever, those other hard-living, harder-dying sons of all soils; but I am not going to say where it was that we fought with them. I believe that no body of men of equal size has done half so much heroic work. But they had got themselves a bad name off the field, so to speak; and I am not going to make it worse by saddling them before the world with Raffles and myself, and that ruffian Connal.

The fellow was a mongrel type, a Glasgow Irishman by birth and upbringing, but he had been in South Africa for years, and he certainly knew the country very well. This circumstance, coupled with the fact that he was a very handy man with horses, as all colonists are, had procured him the first small step from the ranks which facilitates bullying if a man be a bully by nature, and is physically fitted to be a successful one. Connal was a hulking ruffian, and in me had ideal game. The brute was offensive to me from the hour I joined. The details are of no importance, but I stood up to him at first in words, and finally for a few seconds on my feet. Then I went down like an ox, and Raffles came out of his tent. Their fight lasted twenty minutes, and Raffles was marked, but the net result was dreadfully conventional, for the bully was a bully no more.

But I began gradually to suspect that he was something worse.

All this time we were fighting every day, or so it seems when I look back. Never a great engagement, and yet never a day when we were wholly out of touch with the enemy. I had thus several opportunities of watching the other enemy under fire, and had almost convinced myself of the systematic harmlessness of his own shooting, when a more glaring incident occurred.

同类推荐
  • 续诗品

    续诗品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 历代名画记

    历代名画记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝投简符文要诀

    太上洞玄灵宝投简符文要诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 万斯同先生传

    万斯同先生传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 浴佛功德经

    浴佛功德经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 传承之戒

    传承之戒

    诸神之战再次开启这是传承者之间的战争而他,一个苦逼的学生却意外的获得了修罗神的传承,从此踏上巅峰之路,无人可挡,所有的人都将成为他的踏脚石.......
  • 乱世英雄旷世情

    乱世英雄旷世情

    原名《侠侣降魔传》。他尚未出世,就祸从天降,流落异国他乡,误入唐人谷,被日本臭名昭著的黑龙会盯上了,陷入人生危机;王五识破了黑龙会的阴谋,与其母商议后,与其毅然回国........她,一个自幼失去母爱的女孩,不仅见识广泛,而且机灵乖巧,竟然在除夕来临之际,偷走了父亲的心爱之物——鱼肠剑,人送外号“降魔花”,日伪人员都怕,与人赌咒发誓皆说:“谁要不凭良心,让谁出门就碰上降魔花!”而来自异国的另一个她却说:“大砍刀、鱼肠剑是用来降魔的,而我不是侵略者,不是魔,是朋友!这一辈子,我跟定你了!哪怕你与她结婚了,我也不放弃!绝不!”——面对种种感情纠葛,面对邪恶与正义,该如何面对?面对着种种魔难与屈辱,在亲情,友情,家仇国恨面前,又该怎么办?是妥协?是抗争?是为了爱?是为了恨?爱恨二字,千古谁能说得清楚?另一部《北斗师徒历险记》正在连载,请光临!
  • 十字契

    十字契

    你,本来就是王,无论在哪里你的专属骑士总会把你找到你,本来就是主宰,无论你在哪里世界总为你而存在你,本来就是希望,无论你在哪里光明总会到达那里你,本来就是梦魇,无论你在哪里噩梦总会挥之不去“当光明到来时,别再为我悲伤。因为,天亮了,我也该走了。”——白黎“我既然属于黑暗,就不应该奢香希望。”——玖玫(坐看傻白甜崛起,女王归来,驯服天下)
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 边婚边爱:老公,正经点

    边婚边爱:老公,正经点

    他是翩翩公子,豪门继承人,她不过是个无依孤女,人人都说她能嫁给他是走了狗屎运,可她却给了他一个惊喜。盛大的婚礼上,新娘逃婚不知所踪,新郎成了笑柄!所有人都跳出来咒骂她的时候,他搂着她的肩高调宣布:“谁敢侮辱我的妻子,我就让他消失。”她一心想逃,他不惜一切手段,只为将她留在他身边。“白初,你要你叔叔安然无恙,来求我啊。”“你为什么逃婚?不愿嫁我?可你这辈子都只能是我的女人。”
  • 青松尤安:浅阳尚早

    青松尤安:浅阳尚早

    有个地方,四季青葱。松如战卫,林幽安逸。有番日出,生机蓬勃,浅晖更煦,万里艳阳。初入高中,安昆相遇何方杰,阳光帅气的他是不少女孩的心上人。高二开始,他辍学,她初恋,两人从此仿佛再无交集,而又在时间的蹉跎下再次重逢。初逛校园,尚萱浅偶遇郑早阳,一颗芳心暗许,却倍受折磨。高二开始,他遇见更好的人,而她远至上海,偶然间在时间的牵引下旧情复燃。每个人都有不同的相遇,愿你比我珍惜。
  • 启迪学生思考人生的故事全集:为自己的生命喝彩

    启迪学生思考人生的故事全集:为自己的生命喝彩

    人生仿佛是四季的轮回,生命的状态便是这四季的写照。每个人都有属于自己的春、夏、秋、冬,不必为沐浴春风而得意,也不必为置身冬季而叹息,人生中的每一个季节都是我们必经的过程,生命中的每一个时刻都是值得我们珍藏的记忆。
  • 逃妻难追:休掉冷清总裁

    逃妻难追:休掉冷清总裁

    六年时光,她的陪伴换来他的一句,我要结婚了!六年时光,怎么可以白白浪费!嫁不了他,她就嫁给他哥,当他的大嫂!生不了他的孩子,她就生下他的侄子!然而,这时,他却对她说:跟我走吧,我们重新开始。她这才发现,一切早已回不到当初……
  • 逃爱小蛇妻,就要吃了你

    逃爱小蛇妻,就要吃了你

    对于一个怕蛇的女孩来说,穿越不可怕,可怕的是穿越重生成为一条蛇。她不敢照镜子,不敢喝水,做好了随时把自己吓死的心理准备。更可怕的是,她也不知道什么什么惹恼了一个天敌——丹顶鹤!他最喜欢的事便是踩着她的七寸,或是叼着她把她往树上甩。可她最爱的青蛙哥哥却对她爱答不理。在这里,蛇爱上青蛙,丹顶鹤爱上蛇,老虎与兔子是一对,萤火虫和苍鹰双宿双飞。精怪的世界我们不懂。
  • 剑鼎阁

    剑鼎阁

    原本平和的世间被一段古史搅的有些混乱,门派纷争不断,野心不断膨胀,谁能在纷乱中立足于仙,仙不全是仙?