Category: Historical Novels
No doubt you have seen, in the highways and byways, a lot of youths in khaki with white bands round their caps. These ‘boys’ are called cadets, and are usually men home from the front to train for commissions. In Sandhurst they are officially styled gentlemen cadets; but appar...
‘A precious lot of psychology we’ll get in this school. They know as much about it as they do about Mars. I’m fed up with these army lecturers. They make me sick. They’re parrot...
20. CHAPTER XX.When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy. Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad. Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, a...
13. CHAPTER XIII.If we thought a lot of our school, and did our best to keep up its good name, this was due not to a swelling admiration of the military system, but mainly to a sense of patrioti...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.‘Well, boys, in another week we shall have one pip on our sleeves, and be wearing Sam Brownes. Heigh–ho, my lads, for a jolly time! No more guards, no more fatigues, no more sch...
8. CHAPTER VIII.It all started in a simple way. We were sitting about the hut, smoking and reading, when Beefy blew in with the information that he had managed to get the company officer to cha...
6. CHAPTER VI.In peace or war we cannot do without the ladies. They brighten this weary world, cheer us when we are in the depths, and tend us ‘when pain and anguish wring the brow.’ Our moth...
3. CHAPTER III.The old ‘com.’ fairly caught me out at the ‘prelim.’ We had a general knowledge paper set—a fairly easy thing. I finished mine in about half–an–hour; then, getting bored waiting...
12. CHAPTER XII.Sandwurse is a very wonderful place. It has produced some exalted men, but, like all institutions, it occasionally throws out a prig. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it...
17. CHAPTER XVII.This was excellent news. Leave is our greatest joy in the army. At once we commenced to plan out days of fun and nights of glory. All were rather secret about their arrangements...
21. CHAPTER XXI.‘It is a good thing, gentlemen, to cull the best from the past, and never to ignore it,’ said Captain Cheerall at another lecture. ‘If our fathers frequently blundered through,...
16. CHAPTER XVI.‘The New Army Officer is the finest production of the twentieth century,’ said Captain Cheerall at one of his lectures. ‘He is as fascinating as, frequently, he is irritating, f...
15. CHAPTER XV.You will have noticed ere this what a dear old soul my mater is. How tender her love! How trusting in all things! To an artist she is a dream–picture. So quaint, yet so dignifie...
2. CHAPTER II.Cadet schools are not perfect military academies; nevertheless, they are interesting resorts. This school was not only a fount of learning, but a school for manners and—in a way...
4. CHAPTER IV.No doubt our military dons believed that after drill we swotted Haking, Needham, Infantry Training, and Stonewall Jackson, not forgetting _Notes from the Front_, and all the pam...
14. CHAPTER XIV.Do not believe that we of the New Army are blood–thirsty Bernhardis, always talking about offensives and what not. Not a bit of it! Ninety–nine per cent. of us loathe the whole...
19. CHAPTER XIX.One thing the school, the war, and my regiment developed; that was a love of my comrades—’The Boys.’ What a delightful term! So human! So reminiscent of youth and fun and joy! E...
11. CHAPTER XI.The best way to understand war is to grasp the thoughts and the feelings of the soldier in action. Our newspaper correspondents have attempted to interpret the soldier’s feeling...
1. CHAPTER I.No doubt you have seen, in the highways and byways, a lot of youths in khaki with white bands round their caps. These ‘boys’ are called cadets, and are usually men home from the...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.The worst of being in a cadet school is the number of inspections you have. Inspectors for trench warfare, gas, bayonet–fighting, administration, general training, &c., &c., kee...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.There was no mock hilarity on the final morning. We had too much to do. Kits had to be packed, books returned, the hut scrubbed out, and everything left shining and in order, fo...
10. CHAPTER X.Adela’s last letter certainly made me feel a silly ass. Somehow, it upset my usual happy trend of thought. I couldn’t work, and my soul was torn with conflicting emotions. One m...
22. CHAPTER XXII.The extraordinary thing in our hut was that the quietest and most decent member of our little society was, in reality, the most powerful. This was Billy Greens, generally known...
5. CHAPTER V.One evening I was seeking for something to read, when my eye lighted on a strange–looking newspaper with American sort of headings. I picked it up. It was _The Shack Valley Time...
9. CHAPTER IX.Dear Sir,—We are specialists in pedigrees, family crests, and armorial bearings. Since the raising of the New Armies we have furnished no fewer than 25,385 officers with Family...