materially aided in doing so, by the efforts one of them made to get away from the other, so as to have a double chance of escape. But that other was not to be shaken off; he seemed determined that both or neither should be captured; and the more his comrade tried to separate, the closer he clung to him.

"By heavens you shall leave me!" yelled out the foremost. He stopped for a brief second; tried to trip his companion; and in doing so both rolled over on the ground. In a second Gordon was on them, griped each by the collar, and tried to keep them down by strength of wrist and leg, while he bellowed at the top of his voice for assistance. But in those days the few men off duty were far too tired and doneup to turn out for any cry but that of the sergeants or officers calling them to renewed work; and if any one did hear Gordon's cries, he paid no attention to them whatever. Suddenly one of the fellows managed to jerk himself on to his feet:

"Let go, will you! D'ye want to strangle me?" he hoarsely muttered; and Gordon, believing that he really might be injuring the man seriously, relaxed his hold for a second. Instantly he received a severe blow in the face that completely staggered him; the other miscreant seized the opportunity to spring to his feet, and for some moments there was a rough

and tumble fight. Two to one is tremendous odds in a fight with nature's weapons alone. In a very brief period the officer was beaten out of time, and with a final brace of violent blows on Gordon's unprotected face, that laid him sprawling on the ground, the two scoundrels were free, and tearing down the hill at a pace that speedily took them out of sight. Slowly Gordon Hastings picked himself up, half-stunned as he was, sat down again for a few moments to recover his scattered senses, and then made the best of his way in what he believed to be the direction of the blown-up hut of Mrs. Moran-a regimental button grasped in his right hand being the sole advantage he had gained by the conflict.

With considerable difficulty he found the hut on the ruins of which sat poor Ally Moran, weeping. bitterly, and calling on all the saints in heaven to pour down vengeance on the cruel ruffians who had so wantonly destroyed her little property: indeed her only possible shelter from the fearful rigours of that awful winter, and her means of livelihood. With great difficulty Gordon persuaded her that she had better return for shelter he would find for her in the Guard's camp for the night; and the two retired from the wreck of the den, fully determined to prosecute the matter to the uttermost the next morning-the

button he had so fortunately retained was that of the 'Royal Light Bobs;' the men's faces, he well knew, would be pretty plainly marked by his fists; and therefore neither of the strange pair doubted that the ruffians would easily be brought to justice.

But man proposes, and God, in His great mercy, disposes. On Gordon and Mrs. Moran presenting themselves at the head-quarters of the 'Light Bobs' the next day, they found there was no need for vengeance. The two unhappy youths had not been in their tents all night; but when daylight came, two dead bodies were discovered lying on the plain in front of the lines, shot dead, and on being brought in they were found to be Bolt and Dyver-the latter with the button of his coat, that Gordon held in his hand, missing. Whether or not they had intended to blow up Mrs. Moran in her hut, could now never be known; and whether they intended to desert to the Russians, to escape possible punishment for their crime, or merely lost their way, and got outside the lines by accident, must also ever remain a mystery.

Gordon Hastings took care that before many days were over Mrs. Moran's 'den' should be rebuilt almost exactly as it was before; and there she continued doing an excellent business until the close of the campaign, when she returned to England, and took a little shop

in Chatham, where she may still be found amongst her old friends the soldiers, to whom she often tells the tale of being blown up by the "only inimies, honey, I iver had!"

But before that happy event, she nursed Gordon Hastings, like a mother, through a most severe fever he fell a victim to; and the surgeons said that only for the care of Mother Moran the young Guardsman must have assuredly died.

SOOKA THE SYCE; OR, SEA

HORSES IN REALITY.

"NOW

or

CHAPTER I.

THE MERMAID'S CARGO.

WOW then, Jack Black! out of the way will you? sure you'll have your skull stove in with that cro'jack* tackle!" cried Pat Madden, mipshipman of the good ship Mermaid, a merchantman, then on her voyage from Bombay to China, with a cargo of army horses.

"The young sahib not break Sooka's skull, or him make complain," was the mild remonstrance of the head ghorawallah, who had daily, from the very commencement of the passage, suffered no little annoyance from the pranks of the four junior officers on board, and did not feel at all inclined to allow such conduct to continue during the whole of the long and anxious voyage.

"Faith, I wouldn't be bothered breaking your sooty

* Cross-jack, i.e., the lowest square sail on the mizzen-mast.