He bellowed at him to go and
search for it, and with wicked delight we watched the duffer going back
over the route, peering from side to side of the road in his vain
search.
The journey was a nine-mile trot and he covered more than half the
distance, endeavoring to find the precious container, and when he came
back in a couple of hours without it, the poor devil thought he was
going to be licked, such was the anger of the men at missing their rum
rations, because they sorely needed it; none but those who have been
there can and do appreciate how sorely it is needed in that region of
the world.
I make no apology or attempt to excuse myself as an accessory after the
fact. It is an unwritten law among the men that the only crime involved
in stealing liquor is--using an Irishism--not to steal it.
The only men in the section that night who had a ration of the treasured
fluid were Dick Snow, Reynolds and myself, and in the midst of our
conviviality we prophesied that if Hambone survived this disaster, he
was immortal.
Toasting the health of the King, the army, the navy and our loved ones
at home, we retired in blissful consciousness of a good job well done.
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