in together, looked at him, then at one
another, and one of them said--

"I'm glad you've joined."

"We've been thinking it over, and we're going to see if we can't work up
some better music now. Never you mind about Wilkins; his bark's worse
than his bite."

"And he likes to show off," said another. "Wants people to think what a
clever one he is. We'll have some quiet practices together, if you
like."

"I shall be very glad," said Dick eagerly.

"That's right, and you can give us a few hints. Wilkins turned nasty
through that snubbing he got over yonder, at the mess-room, but he'll
soon come round. I'm sorry, though, about old Jones."

"So am I," cried Dick; "I quite felt for him this afternoon."

"Yes, he never ought to have been put to music. I hope he won't turn
nasty," said the first speaker, "for he's got a temper of his own. But,
there, you needn't mind him."

"No," thought Dick, "I need not mind him; but I don't like making
enemies, all the same."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

DICK FINDS A PUPIL.

"No one would know me now," said the recruit to himself one morning as
he glanced at his face in a piece of looking-glass, for the military
barber had been operating upon his head, and had--as the _Punch_ man
said in the hot weather in allusion to his hair--"cut it to the bone."

For the first time Richard Frayne dressed in his tightly-fitting, stiff
uniform.

"Hallo, Flutey!" said one of the men; "I was looking for you. Got 'em
on, then?"

"Yes," said Dick, smiling. "Do they fit?"

"Oh, yes, pretty tidy. Feel all right?"

"No; I don't think I can get my hand up level with my mouth, and the
tunic feels as if it would split up the back, and the buttons go flying,
the first time I move."

"Oh, that'll be all right. Sure to feel a bit stiff at first. I say,
he has padded you out well in the chest and over the shoulders."

"Yes, far too much."

"Not a bit of it. Makes you look broader-chested and
square-shouldered--more of the man. But, here, Lieutenant Lacey wants
you up at his quarters. Sent that chuckle-headed Joe Todd, his servant,
to fetch you directly."

"What does he want?" cried Dick, aghast with the idea that something had
been found out.

"Go and ask him."

"But I must change first."

"Nonsense! Go as you are. You've got to wear the red now," added the
man, with a grin.

Dick went down into the barrack yard, to find the lieutenant's servant
waiting, and followed him,