"
"The corps is now attached to our army, Colonel; you were good enough to
order them to be rationed before, but I have now an order from the general
for them to draw pay and rations the same as the British troops."
"That is all right," the colonel said, examining the document; "I will
take a copy of it, but as it is a general order you must keep the original
yourself. I see that you have now adopted the uniform of the staff. It is
certainly a great improvement upon that of an infantry officer, and
appearances go for a good deal among these Portuguese. I see, by the way,
that you have got your step in our army."
"Yes, Colonel, the general was good enough to recommend me. Of course I am
glad in one way, but I am sorry that it has put me out of the regiment
that I have been brought up with. But, of course, it was necessary, for I
could not have gone over other men's heads in it."
"No, when a man gets special promotion it is always into another regiment
for that reason. You will be glad to hear that your men have been behaving
extremely well in your absence, and that I have not heard of a single case
of drunkenness or misconduct among them. I have been down there several
times, and always found them hard at work drilling; they seem to me to
improve every time I see them."
On leaving the colonel's quarters Terence rode to his cousin's.
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