school, will remember,—) undertaken to produce me a pair of shoes by next morning under terror of the bastinado and bow-string, which the Sheik-el-Beled, or governor of the city, threatened duly to administer if he failed to do." "Well, major; and your next day’s march passed over in comfort?" asked Ronald, who had listened with impatience to this story. "Comparatively so. Another affair I could tell you of, in which Ludowick Lisle bore a part. It happened at the Diamond Isle. The Diamond Isle, you must know, is a place at the mouth of the new port of Iskandrieh, as the Arabs call the city of Alexander the Great. Old Ludowick and I——" "The baggage has all passed, major. You will scarcely overtake your command by sunset, if you wait to tell us _that_ story; it is very long, but nevertheless, very interesting. I have heard it some dozen times." "A good story," replied Campbell composedly, "cannot be told too often. Therefore, the Diamond Isle—" But I will not insert here the worthy major’s story, which he obstinately related, and with, all the tedious prolixity and feeling of entire self-satisfaction that every old soldier displays in the narration of some personal adventure. "By the by, Stuart," said he, as he concluded, "have you any thing in the pig-skin I see lying near the fire yonder?" "Not a drop; otherwise it should have been offered long ago. I am sorry ’tis empty; but not expecting visitors, the last drain was squeezed out last night." "_Carajo_! Well, Lisle, and how are all the depot? How’s old Inverugie, and Rosse of Beinderig,—the _Barba-Roxo_, as the dons used to call him?" "All well when I left." "Glad to hear so,—jovial old Egyptians they are; many a cask of Islay and true Ferintosh we have drunk together, and, through God’s help, many more I hope to drink with them. The very idea of the smoking toddy—the lemons and nutmeg, makes me confoundedly thirsty." "Doubtless, major, you had a morning draught at Merida?" "The devil the drop, Stuart; but very nearly a wame full of cold pewter,—and ounce balls are hard to digest." "How! What occurred?" "It was unluckily my turn to be field-officer of the guard over this infernal baggage, which, as we are retreating, moves of course in front of the column. We advanced as fast as possible to get into Merida, hoping to halt there and refresh. As we approached the bridge, I was drawing pleasant visions of the dark purple wine in the borachio skins at the wine-sellers in the Plaza, and was thinking of the long-gulping draught of the cool Malmsey liquor I would enjoy there; when bang—whizz, came a bullet from the carbine of a French vidette, who appeared suddenly before us at the bridge-end. My belt-plate turned the shot, or else there would be a majority vacant at this hour in the Gordon Highlanders. The same thing happened to me once in Egypt, when I was there with Sir Ralph. I will tell you how it was."