The Sergeant went out to find that none of his men were there. One finally ran up, panting heavily.
"Sorry, sir! I can explain, you see I had a date and it ran a little late. I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I'm here."
The Sergeant was very skeptical about this explanation but at least he was here so he let the man go. Moments later, eight more soldiers came up to the Sergeant panting. He asked them why they were late. They all had the same story.
"Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I'm here."
The Sergeant eyed them, feeling very skeptical but since he let the first guy go, he let them go, too. A ninth soldier jogged up to the Sergeant, panting heavily,
"Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but..."
"Let me guess," the Sergeant interrupted, "it broke down."
"No sir," said the Private, "there were so many dead horses in the road, it took forever to get around them."
