were
asking for sweets. The bigger boy hands him the cigarette. He knows
quite enough not to put the lighted end in his mouth, and in a second is
puffing so vigorously that the cigarette burns away like a furnace; when
his brother sees this he makes a desperate effort to recover it, but the
fat baby pushes him off with one hand, while he clings to the cigarette
with the other, and, turning away his head, smokes harder than ever.

We are both reduced to fits of laughter by this time, and the family on
the platform are enjoying the joke too. Seeing that there are likely to
be difficulties, I solve them by producing another cigarette for the
elder boy, and the fat baby is left in full possession of the first one.
The last sight we have of him is as he violently resists a grown-up
sister who is trying to take away the stub!

CHAPTER XXII

THE KING'S REPRESENTATIVE

[Illustration: THE GOVERNMENT SERVANT.]

We are lucky! No sooner have we returned to the hotel than a gorgeous
man, over six feet high, dressed in white, with a red sash, in which is
stuck a tasselled dagger, greets us. He is a _chuprassie_, or messenger,
and has come from Government House with a note inviting us to a
garden-party there this afternoon. What a day of it! This is the result
of my having been up there yesterday to write our names in the book kept
for the purpose, while I left you to rest. That is the way people do
here instead of leaving cards, so that His Excellency the
Lieutenant-Governor may know who has come to the country. I thought
perhaps he would take some notice of us, because his younger brother was
my great friend at the 'Varsity, but this is very prompt. I am glad you
will have a chance of seeing something of Government House, as most
people in England have not an idea how things are run here. Burma is
counted as one of the provinces of India, and is under the Viceroy of
all India, but within his own borders the Lieutenant-Governor is the
ruler and representative of the King.

It is about four o'clock, when, having had a rest and made ourselves as
smart as we can, we crawl up the long drive leading to Government House
in one of the ridiculous small ticca-gharries which are the only
conveyances one can get.

We are one of a long procession of vehicles going at a foot's pace,
stopping and starting again. Some are private carriages, there are a few
motors, a few dog-carts, and ours is not the only little box on wheels.
Lea