n tire, and the fellows were prodding
about with their bayonets to discover you."

"And who 's to perform Captain Bubbleton?" asked I, venturing for once
to humor his absurdity.

"Eh? Oh I there's nothing for me; no marked feature, nothing strong,
nothing characteristic. That has been through life my greatest, my very
highest ambition,--that no man should ever detect, by anything in my
manner, my dress, or my style of conversation, that I was not John
Nokes or Peter Styles. You 'll meet me at a dinner party, Tom; you 'll
converse with me, drink with me; we'll sit the evening together, grow
intimate, perhaps you 'll borrow fifty pounds of me; and yet I 'd wager
another, you'd never guess that I rode a hippopotamus across the Ganges
after tiffin one day, to pay my respects to the Governor-Greneral. That,
let me tell you, Tom, is the very proudest boast a man can make. Do you
see that scar? It looks nothing now. That was a bite from a ferocious
boa: the villain got into my room before breakfast; he had eaten my
chokeedar, a fellow I was very fond of--"

"Ah, I remember you mentioned that to me. And now to come back to my
dull story, to which, I assure you, however dramatic you may deem it, I
'd prefer adding an act or so before it comes before the world. I intend
to leave this to-morrow."

"No, no; you mustn't think of it yet awhile. Why, my dear fellow, you
've a hundred pounds; only think of that! Twenty will bring you to
Paris; less, if you choose. I once travelled from Glugdamuck to the
Ghauts of Bunderamud for half a rupee; put my elephants on three
biscuits a day; explained to them in Hindostanee--a most expressive
language--that our provisions had fallen short; that on our arrival all
arrears of grub should be made up. They tossed up their trunks thus in
token of assent, and on we marched. Well, when we came to Helgie, there
was no water--"

"Very true," interrupted I, half in despair at the torrent of
story-telling I had got involved in. "But you forget I have neither
elephants, nor camels, nor coolies, nor chokeedars; I'm a mere
adventurer, with, except yourself, not a friend in the world."

"Then why not join us?" cried the ever ready captain. "We are to
have our orders for foreign service in a few weeks; you 've only to
volunteer; you 've money enough to buy your kit. When you 're fairly in,
it 's only writing to your brother. Besides, something always turns
up; that 's my philosophy. I rarely want anythi