“The two individuals thus addressed were just in the act of conveying a tray of glasses and a spiced round of beef for supper into the mess-room; and as I may remark that they fully entered into the feelings of jealousy their respective masters professed, each eyed the other with a look of very unequivocal dislike. “‘Arrah! you needn’t be pushing me that way,’ said Pat, ‘an’ the round o’ beef in my hands.’ “‘Devil’s luck to ye, it’s the glasses you’ll be breaking with your awkward elbow!’ “‘Then, why don’t ye leave the way? Ain’t I your suparior?’ “‘Ain’t I the captain’s own man?’ “‘Ay, and if you war. Don’t I belong to his betters? Isn’t my master the two liftenants?’ “This, strange as it may sound, was so far true, as I held a commission in an African corps, with my lieutenancy in the 5th. “‘Be-gorra, av he was six--There now, you done it!’ “At the same moment, a tremendous crash took place and the large dish fell in a thousand pieces on the pavement, while the spiced round rolled pensively down the yard. [Illustration: THE RIVAL FLUNKIES.] “Scarcely was the noise heard when, with one vigorous kick, the tray of glasses was sent spinning into the air, and the next moment the disputants were engaged in bloody battle. It was at this moment that our attention was first drawn towards them, and I need not say with what feelings of interest we looked on. “‘Hit him, Pat--there, Jem, under the guard! That’s it--go in! Well done, left hand! By Jove! that was a facer! His eye’s closed--he’s down! Not a bit of it--how do you like that? Unfair, unfair! No such thing! I say it was! Not at all--I deny it!’ “By this time we had approached the combatants, each man patting his own fellow on the back, and encouraging him by the most lavish promises. Now it was, but in what way I never could exactly tell, that I threw out my right hand to stop a blow that I saw coming rather too near me, when, by some unhappy mischance, my doubled fist lighted upon Tom O’Reilly’s nose. Before I could express my sincere regret for the accident, the blow was returned with double force, and the next moment we were at it harder than the others. After five minutes’ sharp work, we both stopped for breath, and incontinently burst out a-laughing. There was Tom, with a nose as large as three, a huge cheek on one side, and the whole head swinging round like a harlequin’s; while I, with one eye closed, and the other like a half-shut cockle-shell, looked scarcely less rueful. We had not much time for mirth, for at the same instant a sharp, full voice called out close beside us-- “To your quarters, sirs. I put you both under arrest, from which you are not to be released until the sentence of a court-martial decide if conduct such as this becomes officers and gentlemen.’ “I looked round, and saw the old fellow in the queue. “‘Wolfe Tone, by all that’s unlucky!’ said I, with an attempt at a smile.