fe
again,--to scuffle, swear, gamble, and love light loves with his
fellows; to take ship and know the sea once more, and by her beget
pictures; to talk to Binat among the sands of Port Said while Yellow
'Tina mixed the drinks; to hear the crackle of musketry, and see the
smoke roll outward, thin and thicken again till the shining black faces
came through, and in that hell every man was strictly responsible for
his own head, and his own alone, and struck with an unfettered arm. It
was impossible, utterly impossible, but--

'"Oh, our fathers in the churchyard,
She is older than ye,
And our graves will be the greener,"
Said The Men of the Sea.'

'What is there to hinder?' said Torpenhow, in the long hush that
followed the song.

'You said a little time since that you wouldn't come for a walk round
the world, Torp.'

'That was months ago, and I only objected to your making money for
travelling expenses. You've shot your bolt here and it has gone home. Go
away and do some work, and see some things.'

'Get some of the fat off you; you're disgracefully out of condition,'
said the Nilghai, making a plunge from the chair and grasping a handful
of Dick generally over the right ribs. 'Soft as putty--pure tallow born
of over-feeding. Train it off, Dickie.'

'We're all equally gross, Nilghai. Next time you have to take the field
you'll sit down, wink your eyes, gasp, and die in a fit.'

'Never mind. You go away on a ship. Go to Lima again, or to Brazil.

There's always trouble in South America.'

'Do you suppose I want to be told where to go? Great Heavens, the only
difficulty is to know where I'm to stop. But I shall stay here, as I
told you before.'

'Then you'll be buried in Kensal Green and turn into adipocere with the
others,' said Torpenhow. 'Are you thinking of commissions in hand? Pay
forfeit and go. You've money enough to travel as a king if you please.'

'You've the grisliest notions of amusement, Torp. I think I see myself
shipping first class on a six-thousand-ton hotel, and asking the third
engineer what makes the engines go round, and whether it isn't very warm
in the stokehold. Ho! ho! I should ship as a loafer if ever I shipped at
all, which I'm not going to do. I shall compromise, and go for a small
trip to begin with.'

'That's something at any rate. Where will you go?' said Torpenhow. 'It
would do you all the good in the world, old man.'

The Nilghai saw the twinkle in Dick's