{"product_id":"2940013043220","title":"Midnight Webs","description":"STORY ONE, CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub.  Just one soft beat given by the boys in\u003cbr\u003efront--the light sharp tap upon their drums, to mark the time for the\u003cbr\u003emarch--and in heavy order there we were, Her Majesty's 156th regiment of\u003cbr\u003eLight Infantry, making our way over the dusty roads with the hot morning\u003cbr\u003esun beating down upon our heads.  We were marching very loosely, though;\u003cbr\u003efor the men were tired, and we were longing for the halt to be called,\u003cbr\u003eso that we might rest during the heat of the day, and then go on again.\u003cbr\u003eTents, baggage-wagons, women, children, elephants--all were there; and\u003cbr\u003ewe were getting over the ground at the rate of about twenty miles a day,\u003cbr\u003eon our way up to the station, where we were to relieve a regiment going\u003cbr\u003ehome.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don't know what we should have done if it hadn't been for Harry Lant,\u003cbr\u003ethe weather being very trying--almost as trying as our hot red coats and\u003cbr\u003eheavy knapsacks and flower-pot busbies, with a round white ball like a\u003cbr\u003echild's plaything on the top; but no matter how tired he was, Harry Lant\u003cbr\u003ehad always something to say or do; and even if the colonel was close by,\u003cbr\u003ehe'd say or do it.  Now, there happened to be an elephant walking along\u003cbr\u003eby our side, with the captain of our company, one of the lieutenants,\u003cbr\u003eand a couple of women in the howdah; while a black nigger fellow, in\u003cbr\u003eclean white calico clothes, and not much of 'em, and a muslin turban,\u003cbr\u003eand a good deal of it, was striddling on the creature's neck, rolling\u003cbr\u003ehis eyes about, and flourishing an iron toasting-fork sort of thing,\u003cbr\u003ewith which he drove the great flap-eared patient beast.  The men were\u003cbr\u003ebeginning to grumble gently, and shifting their guns from side to side,\u003cbr\u003eand sneezing, and coughing, and choking in the kicked-up dust, like a\u003cbr\u003eflock of sheep, when Captain Dyer scrambles down off the elephant, and\u003cbr\u003etakes his place alongside us, crying out cheerily: \"Only another mile,\u003cbr\u003emy lads, and then breakfast.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079170310384,"sku":"2940013043220","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013043220_p0.jpg?v=1763576020","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013043220","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}