Page:Devonshire Characters and Strange Events.djvu/914

 thought it necessary to send you out to supersede me in my duties. I hoped that I was giving satisfaction, but——"

"There is some mistake, Sir Edward," was the reply. "I am Captain ——, of the —— Castle."

"Oh! Then why the devil do you deck yourself up in that rig?" roared out the Chief Transport Officer. "If that is all you are, you can wait till I've finished my letter."

Bored on another occasion by some officer over a trumpery affair, he burst out, "Look here, sir! you are sent out to South Africa to kill Boers, and not to kill time. Anyhow, you shall not kill mine."

Mr. Douglas Story tells the following: An anæmic officer came to Sir Edward one day during the Boer war, and demanded attention.

"H'm, what do you want?" growled the Chief Naval Transport Officer.

"Food, sir, for my men."

"Well, haven't they got any? What are they living on?"

"Biscuits, sir; beastly dry biscuits."

"Can't they live on biscuits? The Navy men manage to subsist on them."

"They are used to 'em; our Tommies are not. Theirs is a better stomach for biscuits than that of the men in the army."

"Aye, and they have a d——d better stomach for fighting, too!" roared the Captain, and resumed his work.

When the Devon Volunteers landed in South Africa, Sir Edward saw to their disembarkation, and also saw them leave for the front. One of the Barnstaple men relates that as they moved away Sir Edward put his hands to his mouth, funnel-wise, and shouted: "Mind,