The fare was Spartan, indeed, but, for a short holiday, tolerable.

The prospect of seeing some real fighting excited him pleasurably, for he was no coward.

Here, before his eyes, lay the coast of France; the actual forts and guns with which his imagination had so often played.
What a tale he would have to tell on his return! And, by the way, how his poor Trojans must be suffering in his absence, without news of him! He pictured that return.

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