'Whin I was Corp'ril--I was rejuced aftherwards--but, as I say, _whin_
I was Corp'ril, I was a divil of a man.'

He was silent for nearly a minute, while his mind rummaged among old
memories and his eye glowed. He bit upon the pipe-stem and charged
into his tale.

'Eyah! They was great times. I'm ould now; me hide's wore off in
patches; sinthrygo has disconceited me, an' I'm a married man tu. But
I've had my day--I've had my day, an' nothin' can take away the taste
av that! Oh my time past, whin I put me fut through ivry livin' wan
av the Tin Commandmints between Revelly and Lights Out, blew the froth
off a pewter, wiped me moustache wid the back av me hand, an' slept
on ut all as quiet as a little child! But ut's over--ut's over, an'
'twill niver come back to me; not though I prayed for a week av Sundays.
Was there _any_ wan in the Ould Rig'mint to touch Corp'ril Terence
Mulvaney whin that same was turned out for sedukshin? I niver met him.
Ivry woman that was not a witch was worth the runnin' afther in those
days, an' ivry man was my dearest frind or--I had stripped to him an'
we knew which was the betther av the tu.

'Whin I was Corp'ril I wud not ha' changed wid the Colonel--no, nor
yet the Commandher-in-Chief. I wud be a Sargint. There was nothin' I
wud not be! Mother av Hivin, look at me! Fwhat am I _now?_

'We was quartered in a big cantonmint--'tis no manner av use namin'
names, for ut might give the barricks disrepitation--an' I was the
Imperor av the Earth to my own mind, an' wan or tu women thought the
same. Small blame to thim. Afther we had lain there a year, Bragin,
the Colour Sargint av E Comp'ny, wint an' took a wife that was lady's