ght.

"Your friend Trumpeter Smith is reported as unfit for duty, my dear,"
Major Horsley said to his wife.

"Is he! I am sorry for that," the lady said. "Is there anything we can
do for him in the way of sending him some soup, or anything of that
sort? He is not seriously ill, I hope?"

"I am afraid he is beyond your skill, Emma," Major Horsley said; and
then, seeing that his wife looked seriously grieved, went on, "don't be
alarmed, he has only been fighting again."

"Oh! is that all? I was afraid it was fever, or something of that sort.
Who has he been fighting with? He doesn't look quarrelsome at all."

"He has been fighting with a man named North, who was a corporal in his
troop, and who, as I hear, has been persecuting him a good deal. The
fellow got drunk the other day and was reduced to the ranks, and young
Smith lost no time in challenging him to fight. I hear most of the men
thought he was a fool for doing so, for North is five years older than
he is, and a stiff-built young fellow too. I hear that it was a very
hard fight, and lasted nearly an hour and a half. After the first
half-hour it seemed to every one that Smith would have to give in, for
the other man had all the best of it, knocking him down every round; but
he stuck to it, and at last North was so beaten he could not come up to
time. The sergeant says both of them are terribly knocked about, Smith
worst. He can hardly see out of his eyes, and it will be fully a week
before either of them can take their places in the ranks. I hear it was
the longest fight that there has been in the regiment for years, and the
sergeant-major tells me the men are quite enthusiastic over the pluck
with which the young one fought. You see, he is not seventeen yet, and
for a lad of that age to stand up against a man--and one too who, as I
hear, is accustomed to use his fists--is a feather in his cap. It will
do him good in the regiment. I have no doubt some of the men are rather
jealous of the position he gained from his play at cricket, and from
that affair of yours."

"It was very mean of them, then," Mrs. Horsley said warmly.

"Perhaps so, my dear; but favourites are not often popular. Anyhow, this
will do him good, and will give him a better standing in the regiment
than even his cricket could do; and, at any rate, those who don't like
him are likely after this to keep their opinion to themselves."

"I wish we could do something for him, Robert. You see, we ha