"You are indeed a noble fellow." I spoke heartily and generously; when the facts come to this, between two brothers, how can there be either grudge or greed? "But you would only run through every penny, my dear brother. The wisest thing probably would be for me to secure for you some five-and-twenty." "You had better take larger views. But I leave you altogether to your own devices." He jerked a chair over, and put his heels upon the hob, and whistled to the modest fire, with his back toward me. "Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five," I said, "thank you heartily, my dear fellow, I call it very kind of you." He gave me a nod, without stopping his whistle, and that made me look into the jar again. "Well, there does seem to be a jolly lot. I have a great mind to go a little further down. In all probability, you would only waste it, Harold." He gave me two nods this time, as if to say--"I will not deny it, if you take that view." "Fifty would be quite as well, while one is about it. Forty, forty-five, fifty. Ah! you may not see me again for months, my dear fellow; even if I ever come back alive. I am going to the most dangerous part of the world, where they stick a thing into you they call a kinjal. Harold, we have always been fond of one another, although we are so different. Well, fifty then; but only as a loan, mind." "I tell you what," he said, turning round and looking at me with resolute authority, "I am your elder brother, George, and know more of the world than you do. In fact, you are nothing but a farmer; and even the Government, stupid as it is, can make game of a farmer. Now if you don't take a hundred pounds, as a gentleman and a brother should, you may go to the Devil, and how shall I ever see you again, while you are there? So take your choice, and have done with it." [Illustration: "_'I tell you what,' he said, turning round and looking at me with authority._"] How could I part with him on such terms? And it struck me suddenly, that if he were going to knock over all the human race, or at least the non-British branches of it, nothing could stand him in better stead than to be able to say that the first-fruits of his discovery had been used to set a true Briton upon his legs. With a grateful heart I left him at least a hundred and fifty pounds of his money, reminding him at the same time of that duty towards our parents, which he alone now would have the privilege of fulfilling. He promised to leave at least fifty pounds for that; and then he went into particulars about his "astrapebolia," as he called his discovery for visiting mankind with a human touch from heaven. This I could not understand, and therefore make no pretence to remember it; for my brain is not mathematical. Only I know that he pleased me by a promise that he would always keep behind the guns, when he sent them into action.