And, I recollect with sorrow, I was as bad as any of them.
"Our colonel was an easy-going old soldier, who had been a wild blade himself once, and held that it was little use looking too sharply after us, so he didn't look after us at all; and we in consequence did just as we pleased.
"Sometimes we invited all the gentry round to feast with us at mess, and pledged our pay months in advance to load the table with the most costly delicacies.

At other times we would sally forth, and out of sheer mischief organise a riot in the town, and end the night with broken heads, and now and then in the lock-up.

And when we were tired of this, we got up I know not what gaieties to pass the time.
"As I said, I was as bad as any of them--worse perhaps.

For I had had a good home and careful training, and knew all the time I was joining in the excesses of my comrades that I was a fool and a prodigal, and a traitor to my better self.

And yet I went in, and might have gone on to the end of the chapter, had not an event happened to me which served to pull me up short.
"One evening that winter our festivities culminated by a grand entertainment given by the officers of our mess to all the countryside.
Compared with this, our former efforts in the same direction had been mere child's play.