WHY HE DIDN'T RUN

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 20, 20 May 1909, Page 37

WHY HE DIDN'T RUN

A battalion of volunteer infantry were drilling in a field when a regiment of regular cavalry rode by. The colonel of the cavalry halted his men to watch the volunteers, and, getting into conversation with the colonel of the latter, he criticised their drill unfavorably, especially their want of steadiness.

The volunteer colonel was a fierce fellow, and he cried, hotly :

• My men are as steady as any regiment of regulars.' 'I do not think so,' retorted- the cavalryman; 'and if you'll draw up your men in order to receive cavalry, FIJ prove it.'

The challenge was 'accepted, and the cavalrymen charged down upon the citizen soldiers, who awaited them in the usual way.

Now, regular cavalry can charge to within a few feet, or even inches, of infantry, at full gallop, and then, at the word of command,' pull up short.

The volunteers, however, lost their nerve when they saw the huge horses thundering down upon them, showing no sign of stopping, and when a few yards off they fled, all but one man, who remained on his knee with bayonet levelled.

His colonel, enraged at the others' flight, approached the hero, and, tapping him on the back, cried : ' You're the only brave man in "the regiment ! You scorned to run.' ~.

'Yes, sir,' gasped the hero; 'I had my fut stuck in a hole, or I shouldn't have waited.'