Smithy and Nobby Series: 6 Book Collection with 90+ Stories in One Volume

This carefully crafted ebook: 'Smithy and Nobby Series: 6 Book Collection with 90+ Stories in One Volume' is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Edgar Wallace (1875 - 1932) was an English writer. As well as journalism, Wallace wrote screen plays, poetry, historical non-fiction, 18 stage plays, 957 short stories and over 170 novels, 12 in 1929 alone. More than 160 films have been made of Wallace's work. Table of Contents: Smithy (1905) Army Reform Opinions of Private Smith (1906) Smithy Aboard (1909) Smithy and the Hun (1915) Nobby or Smithy's Friend Nobby (1916) Smithy, Nobby & Co. (1904 - 1918) The New Officer The Clairvoyant The Photographer Bertie Erudition Nobby's Part The Chef The New Rules Employing the Soldier Private Clark's Will The Faith of Private Simpson Uncle Joe's Tract Nobby and His Letters Jam for the Enemy Nobby on Getting Commissions...

This carefully crafted ebook: "Smithy and Nobby Series: 6 Book Collection with 90+ Stories in One Volume" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.
Edgar Wallace (1875 - 1932) was an English writer. As well as journalism, Wallace wrote screen plays, poetry, historical non-fiction, 18 stage plays, 957 short stories and over 170 novels, 12 in 1929 alone. More than 160 films have been made of Wallace's work.
Table of Contents:
Smithy (1905)
Army Reform Opinions of Private Smith (1906)
Smithy Aboard (1909)
Smithy and the Hun (1915)
Nobby or Smithy's Friend Nobby (1916)
Smithy, Nobby & Co. (1904 - 1918)
The New Officer
The Clairvoyant
The Photographer
Bertie
Erudition
Nobby's Part
The Chef
The New Rules
Employing the Soldier
Private Clark's Will
The Faith of Private Simpson
Uncle Joe's Tract
Nobby and His Letters
Jam for the Enemy
Nobby on Getting Commissions...

Échantillon de lecture

12. The New Officer Table of Contents "The officer," said Private Smithy, of the 1st Anchesters, "is a new officer. It isn't the new kind of uniform, or the new Salvation Army cap, or the new silly way of wearing his shoulder sash. He's a changed officer, if you understand. He don't look no different, and in many ways he's not altered a bit. He still plays polo an' bridge - what's bridge?"

I explained.

"Well, he still does all these things just about as much as ever he did, but I tell you 'e's an astounding blighter in many ways."

"It ain't so long ago," reflected this monunment of the First Army Corps, "when officers used to come on parade at 10 a.m. - Commanding officers' parade drill order - and we used to look at 'em hard to discover whether we'd seen 'em before. They used to troop down from the officers' mess buttoning up their brown gloves and hooking on their swords under their patrol jackets. They'd stand about for a minute or two yawnin' their blankey 'eads orf an' then the bugled sound 'Officers come and be blowed,' an' they'd fall in.

"Well, the colour-sergeant was always waitin' for 'em.

"'What's on this mornin',' says me fine captain.

"'Battalion drill, sir,' says the flag.

"'Oh, dash battalion drill,' sez the captain, walkin' round an' inspectin' the company. Take this man's name, colour-sergeant, for wearing his pouoh on the right side.'

"'Beg pardon, sir,' sez the flag, 'they're wore on the right side.'

"'So they are,' sez the intelligent captain, givin' a casual glance along the line. 'Well, take his name for 'aving a dirty belt.'

"'Right, sir,' sez the colour-sergeant.

DRILL - OLD STYLE

"When the inspection was over the officer would draw his sword and read the writin' on it, and draw noughts and crosses with it on the ground; then fall in six paces ahead of the centre of his company. Bimeby he'd see something 'appening to the company ahead of his.

"What's gain' on there, "colour-sergeant'?' he'd ask.

"'Formin' fours, sir, sez the colour-sergeant.

"'Oh, I forgot all about, that, sez his nibs. 'Company! Form fours!' an' not a man moves

"'You 'aven't numbered 'em, sir,' sez the colour-sergeant.

"'Hey?' sez the captain, gettin' red. 'Then why the dickens ain't they numbered when they fall in? Number off from the right, an' be quick about it.'

"Then comes the battalion drill," continued Smithy, with a sad, reminiscent smile. "The colonel shouts something.

"'Wbat's that he saad, colour-sergeant,' sez the officer.

"'Into line, right form, sir,' sez the flag.

"'What do I do?' sez the captain.

"'Turn half-right, sir, and wait for the word "march,"' whispers the flag.

"And right through the drill it was the same. Sometimes the captain was right, sometimes he was wrong. Sometimes he had the whole company jumbled up in horrid confusion, and the colonel would come prancing atong and say things he was probably sorry for afterwards.

"Well, an hour of this sort of thing went on, and then it was 'Right turn - Dismiss,' and the officer would run away and change his sword an' uniform for a Sunday suit an' a panamar hat, and we didn't see him again till tomorrow."

CONVERTED OFFICERS

Smithy raised himself on his elbow and addressed the orderly man staggering tentward with a big kettle of steaming tea.

Would the orderly man be so kind as to give Smithy a basin of tea and save him the trouble of coming to the tent for it. Without checking his career, the orderly man remarked, "Oh, yes, why not, not 'arf. Would Smithy like him (the orderly man) to drink it for him (Smithy)? Did he want waiting on? Should he fetch it in a feeding bottle?" and sundry other ejaculations of a bitterly satirical character.

Whereupon Smithy, realising that the enemy was rapidly getting out of range, delivered a rapid feu