'They have now,'
he says, 'pinethrated as far us Pretoria,' he says, 'th' officers
arrivin' in first-class carredges an' th' men in thrucks,' he says, 'an'
ar-re camped in th' bettin' shed where they ar-re afforded ivry
attintion be th' vanquished inimy,' he says. 'As f'r us,' he says, 'we
decided afther th' victhry to light out f'r Ladysmith.' he says, 'Th'
inimy had similar intintions,' he says, 'but their skill has been vastly
overrated,' he says. 'We bate thim,' he says 'we bate thim be thirty
miles,' he says. That's where we're sthrong, Hinnissy. We may get licked
on th' battle field, we may be climbin' threes in th' Ph'lippeens with
arrows stickin' in us like quills, as Hogan says, into th' fretful
porcupine or we may be doin' a mile in five minyits flat down th' pike
that leads to Cape Town pursued be th' less fleet but more ignorant
Boers peltin' us with guns full iv goold an' bibles, but in th' pages iv
histhry that our childhren read we niver turned back on e'er an inimy.
We make our own gloryous pages on th' battlefield, in th' camp an' in
th' cab'net meetin'."
"Well, 't is all r-right f'r ye to be jokin'," said Mr. Hennessy, "but
there's manny a brave fellow down there that it's no joke to."
"Thrue f'r ye," said Mr.
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