'I used to get into enough trouble just for nicking boots,' said Nobby. 'More robust times, Nobby.'
'You ever met a Klatchian, sarge?' said Nobby, as they began to pace the length of the quiet street. 'I mean one of the wild ones.'
'Well, no... but you know what? They're allowed three wives! That's criminal, that is.'
'Yeah, 'cos here's me and I ain't got one,' said Nobby. 'And they eat funny grub. Curry and that.' Nobby gave this some thought. 'Like... we do, when we're on late duty.'
'Weelll, yerss – but they don't do it properly–'
'You mean runny ear–wax yellow with peas and currants in, like your mum used to do?'
'Right! You poke around as much as you like in a Klatchian curry and you won't find a single piece of swede.'
'And I heard where they eat sheep's eyeballs, too,' said Nobby, international gastra–gnome. 'Right again.'
'Not decent ordinary stuff like lambs' fry or sweetbreads, then?'
'That's... right.' Colon felt that he was being got at in some say. 'Look, Nobby, when alls said and done they ain't the right colour, and there's an end to it.'
'Good job you found out, Fred!' said Nobby, so cheerfully that Sergeant Colon was almost sure that he meant it. 'Well, it's obvious,' he conceded. 'Er... what is the right colour?' said Nobby. 'White, of course!'
'Not brick–red, then? 'Cos you–'
'Are you winding me up, Corporal Nobbs?' "Course not, sarge. So... what colour am I?'
That caused Sergeant Colon to think. You could have found, somewhere on Corporal Nobbs, a shade appropriate to every climate on the disc and a few found only in specialist medical books. 'White's... white's a state of, you know... mind,' he said. 'It's like... doing an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, that sort of thing. And washing regular.'
'Not lazing around, sort of thing.'
'Right.'
'Or... like... working all hours like Goriff does.'
'Nobby–'
'And you never see those kids of his with dirty clo–'
'Nobby, you're just trying to get me going, right?' You know we're better'n Klatchians. Otherwise, what's the point? Anyway, if we're going to fight 'em, you could get locked up for going around talking treachery.'
'Are you going to fight them, Fred?' Fred Colon scratched his chin. 'Well, as a hexperienced milit'ry man, I suppose I'll have to.. .'
'What' re you going to do? Join a regiment and go to the front?'
'We–ell... my fore–tay lies in training, so I reckon I'd better stay here and train up the new recruits.'
'Here at the back, you might say.'
'We all have to do our bit, Nobby. If it was down to me I'd be out there like a shot to give Johnny Klatchian a taste of cold steel.'
'Their razor–sharp swords wouldn't worry you, then?'
'I should laugh at them with scorn, Nobby.'
'But s'posing the Klatchians attack here? Then you'll be at the front and the front will be at the back.'
'I'll sort of try for a posting in the middle. . 'The middle of the front or––'
'Gentlemen?' They looked round to find that they had been followed by a man of medium height but with an extraordinary head. It wasn't that he had gone bald. He had quite a lot of hair, which was long and curly and reached almost to his shoulders, and his beard was large enough to conceal a small chicken. But his head had simply risen through his hair, like a kind of intrusive dome. He gave them a friendly smile. 'Am I by any change addressing the heroic Sergeant Colon and the–' The man looked at Nobby. Expressions of amazement, dread, interest and charity passed across his otherwise sunny countenance like storm–driven clouds. 'And the Corporal Nobbs?' he finished. 'That is us, citizen,' said Colon. 'Ah, good. I was very specifically told to find you. It's quite amazing, you know. No–one had even broken into the boathouse, although I must say I