peepla, some twenty miles or more out in the jungle, and wanted the 'Major burra sahib' to go out and rid their neighbourhood of the very dangerous visitor.

Perhaps it may seem odd that Major Hawkinsa renowned sportsman, and a fine hearty soldier, whose bronzed face and slightly grizzled hair told tales of many a tussle with men, wild-beasts, and wind and weather, while a deep scar on the right cheek and a slight limp were proofs that the mutinous Sepoys in 1857 had left their marks on the fighting major,' as he was called by the 'Verderers'-well, perhaps it was odd, that his countenance should fall on the receipt of what he had always hitherto regarded as excellent news; and his son Jack could not at all understand it. He could partially make out why his mother turned pale, rose from her seat in agitation, and kissed his forehead while she seemed to make an effort not to look miserable; for he knew that a mother who dearly loved her only son, as Mrs. Hawkins loved him, was sure to be fancying all sorts of horrors when sport was in the wind; but with his father it was very different-he was a soldier and a shikarhee, and should have, by rights, been in the same fever of delight that Jack was himself at the glorious news he brought in from the compound. Yet there was very good reason for his parents' anxious demeanour; and though Master Jack,

aged fifteen, failed to comprehend it just then in his excitement, perhaps you, my friend, whose blood is cool and your pulse calm as you read this in your own special snug corner at home, or private nook of the playground along with your particular 'chum,' will see the state of affairs in much the same light as did Major and Mrs. Hawkins, when I tell you why they were troubled, and why Jack was bubbling over with eager expectation.

It was thus: Jack had only been out in India a few months, and joined his parents at Neemuch, after a long absence in England necessary both for health and for educational purposes, full of life and spirits, and the brave energy he had picked up in the cricket-field and on the foot-ball ground at Rugby, where he had been under a headmaster who was, in every sense of the word, a 'muscular Christian' of the ablest type. A short time before the gaumwallahs had come in to say there was a tiger near their village, had been Christmas Day, and-bitter disappointment!-Jack's long-expected and hoped-for Christmas-box -a beautiful Arab galloway, coming up-country from Bombay-had been lost while crossing the river Nerbudda, through the carelessness of a native ghorawallah or keeper, and devoured by the huge muggers, as the alligators that infest Indian waters are called. This was, of course, a terrible blow to poor Jack, and many and bitter were the tears he

shed over it-secret tears, mind you; for he would not for worlds have had it known that a growing manly lad, as he was, gave way to such weakness. He had as great a contempt for a 'blubberer' as any of you could have; but still, you know, tears will sometimes come in private moments when there is a great weight at the heart and a great lump in the throat, and for my part, I, Captain Fred, do most solemnly avow, and am thoroughly in earnest when I say it, that I would not give 'tuppence' for a lad who is so hard by nature that he never cries to himself when there is legitimate cause for him to do so. I have seen bearded men cry! ay, and brave ones too, on whose breasts dangled medals that had been fiercely won, so I think we may well excuse Jack Hawkins for his silent sorrow. His father and mother, too, were greatly grieved for his disappointment, pitying the poor fellow all the more for the manly way in which he sought to, and nearly succeeded in concealing his sorrow; and they also especially felt for him in this particular loss because the only other boy in the cantonment at all near his own age-one Sam Muller, of whom I shall have more to tell by-and-by-took a pleasure in flaunting up and down past their bungalow at least a dozen times in the course of his morning and evening rides on a fine Deccanee pony-or small horse, rather-that Captain Muller had recently

bought for him. Hawkins do? before another suitable animal could be bought out of the stables in Bombay and sent up to Neemuch; and in the meanwhile Jack was dismounted and crowed over no little by his intimate, Sam Muller, on the Deccanee.

But what could Major and Mrs. It would take two or three months

'Tell you what it is, my boy,' said Major Hawkins, coming in to breakfast after parade on New Year's Day, and unbuckling his heavy brassscabbarded sword, 'I tell you what it is. You shall ask me for something, in the way the captive princess asks the jolly old fairy in the Christmas pantomimes now going on at home, and if I can, you shall have your wish; there!'

Jack had been sitting in the verandah trying to read, as down in the mouth as was ever any lad who had been left at school in vacation-time a day after the other fellows had gone off home. He brightened up at his father's words a bit, but still was not so eager as you would have been, my fine fellow, at a similar offer from your governor-for there are but few things to be had all of a sudden in an up-country station in India. Mrs. Hawkins smiled as she came out in the cool verandah; she knew there was not much to be bought in the bazaar, and thought her husband was having a joke with Jack-making a great cry, when there was very little wool to be got.

'Hullo!, bo-hoy!' shouted the major all across the compound to a servant, ‘Cha lao!' The major was thirsty, and wanted his cup of tea after his morning's work, and before he had his bath and dressed for breakfast.

tea.

Jack began to cheer up wonderfully as he thought and thought while his father drank the He remembered now a lot of things he would like, and began to feel very like the ass among, not two, but many bundles of hay. His mother, without appearing to watch him, looked on with an amused smile at the rapid changes in her son's face, pretending all the time to be examining some light fancy work her ayah had brought her.

'Well, what is it to be? Out with it, man!' half-said, half-laughed his father, as he gave his tea-cup to his dressing-boy.

And you really will promise me, papa?' questioned Jack, earnestly.

'Of course I will,' was the answer, as the major sat down and lit a cheroot from a smouldering charcoal brought him in a silver agdan by one of the servants; and when I promise, I never break my word, my boy, not if it was to kill me; and I know you will make the same rule for yourself, if you are my true son.'

'There, Jack! you have him bound fast, now,' said Mrs. Hawkins, laughing softly at the completion of the bargain.