"Ah! Well, what is your plan, if it is a fair question? Excuse me, old chap, I'm not asking out of mere vulgar, impertinent curiosity, but at the dinner table to-night somebody mentioned that you are working your passage out to South Africa. What do you propose to do when you arrive there?" "Heaven only knows; certainly I do not," answered Dick with a lugubrious smile. "When I step ashore on the wharf at Port Natal I shall not know in what direction to turn my steps, or where to look for a meal or a night's lodging. Also the whole of my available capital will consist in the wages which I shall take up when Captain Roberts gives me my discharge, amounting, probably, to a couple of shillings." "What?" ejaculated Grosvenor incredulously. "Oh, I say, my dear chap, you are not in earnest, surely?" "Indeed I am, then, in deadly earnest," answered Dick. "But I am not worrying. I am strong and more than willing to work, and I mean to take the very first job that comes to hand, let it be what it will. I believe that if a chap is willing to work he can always get something to do, though it may not be precisely the kind of work that he would like. And when once I have secured the means of providing myself with board and lodging I shall be able to look round for something better." "Yes--yes, of course you will," responded Grosvenor, a little dubiously. "I say, old chap," he continued admiringly, "you are a `gritty' beggar, and no mistake! I wonder if you would mind telling me your story?" "No, not at all," answered Dick; "there is nothing in it that I need be ashamed of." And forthwith he proceeded to give his new-found friend a brief yet clear account of the circumstances which had resulted in his being reduced to his present plight.