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At the subaltern's order the blacks prodded the walls with their bayonets and hammered the floor with the butt ends of their rifles, but no suspicion of the existence of a concealed "funk-hole" was to be traced. "Precious little here," commented Wilmshurst. "I'll have to keep the place open for the colonel's inspection, I suppose."

They did not come in contact with the enemy, and no outstanding incident impressed itself upon the Subaltern's mind. The heat had abated with dramatic swiftness. A wind that was almost chilly swept the plains, driving grey clouds continually across the sun. The summer was over.

The Subaltern's Platoon was to guard the back edge of a wood, and as he established his supports in a farm, most of his men were able to fill their water-bottles, have a wash and brush up, and generally prepare themselves for whatever the next move might be.

"You may be sure of that," he at length ejaculated; when, certain of his light, he proceeded to tell the whole story, stopping occasionally to puff, lest he should lose the "vantage ground" he had just obtained. "What d'ye think of half-a-dozen strings of red onions, for one item in a subaltern's stores!" My grandfather grunted again, in a way that might very well pass for a laugh.

"Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional world of ours watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he had a chance he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern's tower, and make a little heap of dust of it.

Khem Singh would sit on his own cushion at the Subaltern's feet, drinking heavy, scented anise-seed brandy in great gulps, and telling strange stories of Fort Amara, which had been a palace in the old days, of Begums and Ranees tortured to death aye, in the very vaulted chamber that now served as a Mess-room; would tell stories of Sobraon that made the Subaltern's cheeks flush and tingle with pride of race, and of the Kuka rising from which so much was expected and the foreknowledge of which was shared by a hundred thousand souls.

"No, sir," cried the Major; and the subaltern's brow puckered up in his disappointment. "And I can't spare you," continued the Major. "But under the circumstances I must, for I can spare no one else. Of course there will be a sergeant and a corporal and a nice state we shall be left in here! You, Dallas, take my advice. If you really mean to go, leave all the preparations to the Doctor.

"What," said he, "throw away money upon a subaltern's commission, and be under the command of a parcel of scoundrels, who have raised themselves above me by the most infamous practices. No, I love independency too well to sacrifice my life, health, and pleasure, for such a pitiful consideration."

No one answered, the men hurriedly following the speaker at the double; but the young private who had replied to the subaltern's questions, having fallen back to where he was running with a companion in the rear, looked over his shoulder, and then, startled by the feeling that the boy had not passed through the clump, he stopped short, his companion imitating his example and replying to the eager question addressed to him: "I dunno, mate.

Followed a great commotion in which the luckless subaltern's shouts mingled with the terrified bleating of a goat. "Help us out, you fellows," cried Laxdale in desperation. "I've a whole menagerie for company by the feel of it." "You'll scare every lion within five miles of us, laddie," expostulated MacGregor, kneeling at the edge of the pitfall and peering into the darkness within.