A SURPRISE VISIT.
THE KING AND THE SOLDIER. Ax amusing incident occurred on the occasion of a recent journey of His Majesty the King. His Majesty, having breakfasted before eii»ht o'clock in the morning in tho Royal saloon, as it lay in a railway siding, left the saloon, and. accompanied by a l.aval officer, strolled along the railway line and came to a sand-bag fort. The sentry challenged the two naval officers—His Majesty was in naval uniformand they passed round the blockhouse. Outside, in the cold wind and drizzling rain, a soldier in shirt and trousers was bending with the solicitude of an old campaigner over the contents of a frying-pan at a glowing brazier.
The happy Tommy scarcely glanced up as he became conscious of the presence of strangers, and spared only sufficient attention from the contents of the fryingpan to realise that they were two naval officers Apparently trie cooking process had reached a critical stage. " Well, and how are you liking the work here ?" The question was put by the King. ''We're slickin' it all right, sir," was the reply. "We ain't grousin' a little bit, we ain't." " Food all right?'' was His Majesty's next question. " I should smile'." was the answer. And the pan. was swung from the blaze and brought over for inspection. " Just look at that, sir-, there ain't better steaks in this 'ere 'amlet this day, nor better cooked, neither." "It looks all right. It is very satisfactory," ccwMicJited the King.
The visitors- moved away. A few paces distant they encountered a sergeant.
The Tommy, chancing to glance up, saw the sergeant at the salute, and caught the words,: "Your Majesty." The pan with " tV'e finest steaks in this 'ere 'amlet " fell to- the ground with a clatter, as the enthusiastic cook realised that he had been tailing to the King. And for hours afterwards (says a correspondent of the Scott, man) there was a soldier in a sand-bag X'ort racking his memory in an effort to discover how many unauthorised adjectives he- might have been using in the course of .the conversation, " me not knowing who I was speakin' to]"
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19150424.2.93
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)
Word Count
358A SURPRISE VISIT. New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the New Zealand Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence . This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries and NZME.
Log in