Ordinarily, too, in such an emergency there would at once have arisen
a demand for the chaplain, who had come to be recognised as a great
standby in times of need such as this. To-night, however, everything
seemed changed. The mild suggestion of one of the men that the chaplain
should take the piano was promptly discouraged by the dissenting growls
of the others present. They knew well how their chaplain was feeling.
"What shall we do?" asked Major Bayne of Barry.
"Get Coleman to the piano. He is a perfect wizard," suggested Barry,
indicating a young lieutenant who had come to the battalion with the
recent draft, and who had done some accompaniments for Barry's violin
playing.
Lieutenant Coleman, on being called for, went to the piano, and began
to play. He was indeed a wizard as Barry had said, with a genius for
ragtime and popular music hall ditties, and possessed also of the
further gift of improvisation that made his services invaluable on just
such an occasion as this.
From one popular air to another he wandered, each executed with greater
brilliance than the last, but he failed to excite anything more than a
mild interest and approval.
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