lie's, but for
his appreciation of social rank. It was obvious that it did Alister no
harm that he had a friend in an officer of her Majesty's Service, and a
comrade in the nephew of a sugar-planter of the uppermost level of
Demerara society.

We three held a fresh council as we sat with the young engineer. He and
Alister got on admirably, and he threw himself into our affairs with
wonderful kindness. One point he disposed of at once, and that was _my_
fate! There could be no question, he said, that my duty was to get back
to Halifax, "report myself" to Uncle Henry's agent there, and then go
home.

"You're ruthlessly dismembering the Shamrock, Willie," Dennis objected.

"I don't see that. _You're_ not to stay here, for instance."

"You're mighty positive," said Dennis, blushing.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't encourage you to waste sentiment anyhow; and
the West Indies is no latitude for boys, to go on with. And you know as
well as I do, that it's rather more than time the squire started you in
life. You must go home, Dennis!"

"If I do, I go with Jack. And what about Alister?"

The young officer tugged his moustaches right and left. Then he said,
"If I were exactly in your place, Auchterlay--"

"Well, sir?" said Alister, for he had hesitated.

--"I should--enlist in the Royal Engineers."

"Nothing like gunpowder," whispered Dennis to me. I kicked him in
return.

The pros and cons of the matter were not lengthy. If Alister enlisted in
any regiment, the two advantages of good behaviour and good education
would tell towards his advancement more rapidly and more certainly than
perhaps in any other line of life. If he enlisted into a scientific
corps, the chance of being almost immediately employed as a clerk was
good, very much of the work would be interesting to an educated and
practical man; the "marching, pipe-claying and starching," of which
Dennis sang, was a secondary part of "R.E." duties at any time, and
there were special opportunities of employment in foreign countries for
superior men. Alister was not at all likely to remain long a private,
and it was quite "on the cards" that he might get a commission while he
was still young. So much for "peace time." But if--in the event of--and
supposing (here the young engineer made a rapid diversion into the
politics of the day) there was a chance of "active service"--the Royal
Engineers not only offered far more than drill and barrack duties in
time of peace,