Snowy nodded ruefully. ‘The tan’s a dead giveaway,’ he remarked. ‘And I still can’t get used to long trousers after years of jungle fatigues.’ He ran a finger around the rather too tight collar which had fitted him at twenty-one, but was not so good at twenty-three. ‘And this perishin’ shirt is a deal too small round the neck.’

‘Aye, but it’s free,’ the man observed. Snowy grinned at him and the other grinned back, a gleam of white teeth in his deeply tanned face. ‘You goin’ all the way to Lime Street?’

‘That’s right,’ Snowy said. ‘I’ve not told a soul when I’ll be back because I wanted it to be a surprise.’ He glanced up at his kitbag lying on the string rack above his head. ‘I’ve got presents for everyone in there – the sort of thing you get in the bazaar – but right now I’d swap the lot for a drink. Is there a buffet car on the train? If so we might go along and get ourselves a beer.’

The other man shook his head. ‘No buffet car. I walked along the platform checking before I got aboard,’ he said. ‘But this perishin’ train stops at every little station; next time one of us can nip down and buy a bevvy while the other keeps our seats.’ He grinned again, a trifle self-consciously. ‘Only it’ll have to be you what gets the beer because of me leg.’ He pointed, and for the first time Snowy realised that his new friend’s left leg was encased in plaster to the knee.

‘Suits me,’ Snowy said just as the engine announced its approach with a shrill whistle and the train drew up alongside a small country platform. He stood up, then pointed at the plaster cast. ‘Where did you get that lot then?’

‘I’d like to say I got it on jungle patrol – I probably shall say that when I get back to me girlfriend’s anxious embrace – but in fact I were hospitalised with a bout of jungle fever, and on my way to the canteen one day I slipped at the head of a flight of stairs, took ’em in one graceful swoop and ended up wi’ this.’ He tapped the cast just as the train ground to a stop, a porter began shouting the name of the station, and Snowy departed on his mission.

During the rest of the journey, Snowy and his new friend, Tappy Arbuthnot, told each other their life histories. Tappy described his girl in glowing terms and then asked, ‘Well, what’s your girl like? Bet she’s a corker!’

Snowy smiled and nodded. ‘Blonde, curvy . . .’ He stopped short, shocked at himself, but fortunately Tappy simply nodded understandingly.