IN THE BULL RING

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3159, 10 August 1917, Page 5

IN THE BULL RING

THE WHEEL OF CIRCUMSTANCE

[By "Wi."]

When Peter was a little boy his big! cousin Jim used to lift him by tho slack ot his pants, and put him on the top of a high post fill lio would promise to bo good. But that was a long time before the war. Peter had grown into a burly youth by the time tho Kaiser made up his mind to give the Junkers a run for' their' money. They're still running; but that is by the way. Anyway, when the call came, Peter went away with theMain Body as an orderly-room sergeant,, and by throwing in his lot with Headquarters and pushing his ba.-roiv intoevery opening that ho saw he finally became a stall'-sar'-major, grew a fierce' moustache, and kowtowed to nothing: under one star, and even that lesser' luminaTy was made to feel that the l homage was the favour of tho giver. With other fearsome, awe-inspiring dignitaries of similar rank, Peter assisted' to lick into shape—otherwise scare seven bells out of—the newly-arrived con-' tingents at Sling Camp. Now, when an overseas reinforcement reaches Sling Camp it is introduced without delay to the British system of military discipline. The introductory cere- : inoiiy lasts for about threo weeks, and' during its varying phases the newcomers discover why the men who'have been there call it tho Bull Ring. They discover, also, that tlie staff-sar'-major at Sling Camp is a, coulless something without bowels of compassion, fearfully jealous of Ihe prestige of the Bull Ring, tho ctficiency of the Army, and the dignity of his high calling. By-and-by, when the new-chum leaves for the front, ho feels that ho has acquired tnat distinctive attribute of efficient pugaaciousness which is aptly described as "ginger," but during these first few weeks o£ his novitiate his attitude of mind to-wards-the staff-s.v'-major is entirely anarchistic, a favourite theme being the assassination by- some fonn of slow torture, like boiling oil, of the tvrant of the Bull Ring. Two years after Peter left, cousin im was "pulled" in the ballot, and Time, Tide and the British Eailway Transport Service dropped him at the latter end in tlie Bull Ring. Before he left with his reinforcement his undo wrote a line to Peter telling him that Jim w<is coming along, and asked him to give him a friendly lift along the ladder of fame. It was a good grain of seed, and sprouted something, as Jim will tell you. He wrote out:—

"Well," ho said, "here we are in the old Bull Ring. We just dodged a submarine coming across, but during the first week of it hero I wished wo hadn't and frosty. It's C.B. for-this and C.B. for Hint, till you spring to attention wheu you catch a sight of four own shadow. I suppose it's all in Ihe gtme. w'o landed here at two o'clock one morning, and were looking forward to having a bit of a look round before we settled down to it. Nothing doing. At firo next morning they_ had us by tho hair, and we've been going ever since. One morning two days after we got here we we were all loading up with our kit for parade, waiting for the bugle, when something with stripes on its arms and a voice like a ton o' coal stuck its head in tho door and roared: '"'Shun!' "I wish I had a gramophone record of that 'shun. You could scare kids with it. We all jumped to attention as if there was one wiro to the lot of us and somebody 'had pushed the button. "'Private Willis!' "Yours truly took one pace forward and also took a mental farewell of England, home and beauty. Taking face, voice, and general appearances into account, I came- to the conclusion that a month's C.B. was the least that was sticking out for me, I waited for the nest act.

'"Private Willis! You're wanted at Headquarters!' says the ton o' coal. "I dropped my kit and doubled for Headquarters without stopping to argue the point. I'd just got to the door when something else with stripes on its arm stopped me. '"Halt!" he said. "Bet your life I halted. There was another jolt comiug to me. " 'How dare you come to. Headquarters with your belt off!' "I' didn't argue the point with that one either, but doubled back and got my belt. When I finished the return trip, still doubling, there was another of theso S.S.M. ■ terrors filling the passago with his voice and Eocking it into some poor unfortunate inside. After he had spoken his piece he turned round on me. "'Here—why, hullo Jim!' "Blest if it wasn't little Peter! 1 tell you I was real pleased to see him. " 'Sav Peter/' I said, after we'd shook hands "and nil the rest of it, 'What do they want me for?' *"Ek?' he said. "'l've just about busted my boiler obeying somebody's orders to' report at Headquarters.' Who wants me.' "Peter laughed. Toil silly old he 6aid. 'It was me that wanted you. "HE wanted me, mind you. HE! Tho kid I used to—well, what d'ye think o' that? You know the chap in the song, who says: 'E dunno' where 'e are!' Well, that's me at the time of writing."