198 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



bardine's remark that in so grave a case 

 General Clements must consult Lord 

 Kitchener, the men expected the Ser- 

 geant's sentence to be Death. 



They were of a subdued aspect when, 

 next day, Lord Tullibardine reported 

 that he had been interceding with the 

 Commander -in -Chief, who had yielded 

 to a plea for mercy. The sentence was 

 five years. A sigh of relief ran through 

 the ranks. 



Then the Officer Commanding an- 

 nounced that on the morrow he would go 

 on to men much worse than the non-com- 

 missioned officers, who, after all, had been 

 little more than insubordinate, and might 

 only have been reduced had their com- 

 rades not behaved as silly children. Had 

 they really, he asked, thought that they 

 could score off him ? Had they imagined 

 that he was to be beaten by his own men ? 

 Perhaps at that moment some of them 

 were thinking of their arrangements to 

 discredit him at home? Well, had 

 they never heard of the "Tress Censor ? 



