Old miscellany days : a selection of stories from Bentleys Miscellany online

and who can tell but what you may rise to be a general some
day ?'

' I'd toss up vor't,' remarked Giles, ' but I ain't got a fardin'
left— who'll lend m' a penny ?'

' Won't a shilling do as well ?' asked the sergeant, placing the
coin in his hand, and winking to his men.

' Now,' cried Giles, unconsciously receiving the King's money,
' here gwoes ! Ycads I gwoes vor a zowldyer — tayls, I dwon't !'

He tossed the shilling in the air, and it came down 'heads !'

' Bravo !' exclaimed the sergeant. ' Good luck always attends



33^ GILES CHAWBACOX.

a brave man. Come, let's have a quart of ale, and drink success
to your new profession.'

The drum and the fife struck up ; and the sergeant placing him-
self at their head with the air of a brigadier major, the party
marched off to their quarters.

The next morning Giles, and about a dozen of his fellow clod-
poles, with colours %ing in their hats, and each with a stick and
a bundle, were marching for the Metropolis. Their subsequent
drillings in Bird Cage Walk ; their shipment for the Peninsula ;
and the battles in which the}^ were engaged, form no portion of
the present story ; but as military men of all ranks nowadays
write their memoirs, we should not marvel to see ' The
Adventures of Giles Chawbacon in the Peninsula ' advertised in
the daily papers during the publishing season.




.;^J^.^



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