e the worse.

I was eager to see how far we had dropped down the river; but at the end
of ten minutes I was back in the cabin, flushed, hot, and excited, to
find the door unfastened this time, and Captain Brace unpacking and
arranging such articles as he wanted on the voyage.

"Hullo!" he cried; "not so well?"

"Oh, it's horrid!" I cried excitedly. "How can people be so stupid!"

"Why, what is the matter?"

"I felt quite ashamed of myself," I cried. "I had no sooner got on deck
than the men began to cheer. I did not know then that it was meant for
me, but directly after the captain came up and shook hands with me."

"Very civil of him," said my brother-officer, drily.

"Oh yes, if he had only meant it civilly; but then the chief officer
came up, and a lot of passengers, and they all shook hands, and there
was quite a crowd, and before I knew what was going to happen, I found a
pack of ladies had come up, and one, a very stout little woman, called
me her dear boy, and kissed me, and two others took out their
handkerchiefs and began to cry."

Captain Brace laughed unpleasantly, and I grew hotter.

"Why, you are quite the hero of the day, Vincent," he said grimly.

"It's horrid!" I cried pettishly. "I declare I wouldn't have done it
if I had known what they meant to do. Such nonsense!"

"Ah, you are talking nonsense, boy. Bah! take no notice. They'll
forget it all in a few hours. People soon get over these hysterical
displays."

I sat down sulkily on one of my cases, while he went on coolly arranging
his shaving tackle, night things, and the boots and shoes.

"I like him less and less," I said to myself, as I sat and watched him,
while, as I fancied, he treated me in the most cavalier of ways, only
speaking now and then; but when he did speak it was to ask me some
question about myself, and each time he made me think how young and
inexperienced I was, for he appeared to be getting to know everything,
while he was still quite a stranger to me.

"Yes," he said at last, "I have heard of Colonel Vincent--a
brother-officer of mine once met him at dinner somewhere up the country.
I was in quite a different part."

"Then you have been out in India before?" I cried eagerly.

"I?" he said, with a faint smile. "Oh yes. I was out there seven
years--quite an apprenticeship. I was just such a griffin as you when I
went out first, but a couple of years older."

"Griffin!" I thought; and I felt I dislik