With Moore at Corunna | Page 3

drill and exercise were going on, he had
plenty of time to himself, he had got through a very large amount of
desultory reading, and, having a retentive memory, knew quite as much
as most lads of his age, although the knowledge was of a much more
irregular kind.
He was a general favourite among the officers and men of the regiment,
though his tricks got him into frequent scrapes, and more than one
prophesied that his eventual fate was likely to be hanging. He was great
at making acquaintances among the country people, and knew the exact
spot where the best fishing could be had for miles round; he had also
been given leave to shoot on many of the estates in the neighbourhood.
His father had, from the first, absolutely forbidden him to associate
with the drummer boys.
"I don't mind your going into the men's quarters," he said, "you will
come to no harm there, but among the boys you might get into bad
habits; some of them are thorough young scamps. With the men you
would always be one of their officers' sons, while with the boys you
would soon become a mere playmate."

As he grew older, Terence, being a son of one of the senior officers,
became a companion of the ensigns, and one or other of them generally
accompanied him on his fishing excursions, and were not unfrequently
participators in his escapades, several of which were directed against
the tranquillity of the inhabitants of Athlone. One night the bells of the
three churches had been rung simultaneously and violently, and the
idea that either the town was in flames, or that the French had landed,
or that the whole country was up in arms, brought all the inhabitants to
their doors in a state of violent excitement and scanty attire. No clew
was ever obtained as to the author of this outrage, nor was anyone able
to discover the origin of the rumour that circulated through the town,
that a large amount of gunpowder had been stored in some house or
other in the market-place, and that on a certain night half the town
would be blown into the air.
So circumstantial were the details that a deputation waited on Colonel
Corcoran, and a strong search-party was sent down to examine the
cellars of all the houses in the market-place and for some distance
round. These and some similar occurrences had much alarmed the good
people of Athlone, and it was certain that more than one person must
have been concerned in them.
"I have come, Colonel," Captain O'Connor said, when he called upon
his commanding officer, "to speak to you about Terence."
The colonel smiled grimly. "It is a comfort to think that we are going to
get rid of him, O'Connor; he is enough to demoralize a whole brigade,
to say nothing of a battalion, and the worst of it is he respects no one. I
am as convinced as can be that it was he who fastened that baste of a
bird in my shako the other day, and made me the laughing stock of the
whole regiment on parade. Faith, I could not for the life of me make out
what was the matter, there was a tugging and a jumping and a fluttering
overhead, and I thought the shako was going to fly away. It fairly gave
me a scare, for I thought the shako had gone mad, and that the divil was
in it. I have often overlooked his tricks for your sake, but when it
comes to his commanding officer, it is too serious altogether."
"Well, you see, Colonel, the lad proved clearly enough that he was out

of the way at the time; and besides, you know he has given you many a
hearty laugh."
"He has that," the colonel admitted.
"And, moreover," Captain O'Connor went on, "even if he did do this,
which I don't know, for I never asked him" ("Trust you for that," the
colonel muttered), "you are not his commanding officer, though you are
mine, and that is the matter that I came to speak to you about. You see
there is no one in whose charge I can leave him, and the lad wants to go
with us; he would enlist as a drummer, if he could go no other way, and
when he got out there I should get the adjutant to tell him off as my
soldier servant."
"It would not do, O'Connor," the colonel laughed.
"Then I thought, Colonel, that possibly he might go as a
volunteer--most regiments take out one or two young fellows, who
have not interest enough to obtain a commission."
"He is too young, O'Connor; besides, the boy is enough to corrupt a
whole regiment;