shed in proportion."

The colonel was taken somewhat aback, and did not reply immediately,
though by some significant nods towards the major, he indicated that he
thought the question very reasonable. After a few moments' reflection,
he replied, "It must, I think, be allowed that your pay was calculated
from sunrise to sunrise; there was no specification of what the interval
should be. Your pay will continue as before. England can afford it."

A buzz of approval burst involuntarily from all the men, but military
discipline and the respect due to their officers kept them in check from
any boisterous demonstration of their satisfaction.

"And now, corporal, what is your business with me?" asked Major
Oliphant.

"We want to know whether, as the days are only six hours long, we are to
have but two meals instead of four?"

The officers looked at each other, and by their glances agreed that the
corporal was a man of sound common sense.

"Eccentricities of nature," said the major, "cannot interfere with
military regulations. It is true that there will be but an interval of
an hour and a half between them, but the rule stands good--four meals
a day. England is too rich to grudge her soldiers any of her soldiers'
due. Yes; four meals a day."

"Hurrah!" shouted the soldiers, unable this time to keep their delight
within the bounds of military decorum; and, turning to the right-about,
they marched away, leaving the officers to renew the all-absorbing game.

However confident everyone upon the island might profess to be that
succor would be sent them from their native land--for Britain never
abandons any of her sons--it could not be disguised that that succor
was somewhat tardy in making its appearance. Many and various were the
conjectures to account for the delay. Perhaps England was engrossed
with domestic matters, or perhaps she was absorbed in diplomatic
difficulties; or perchance, more likely than all, Northern Europe had
received no tidings of the convulsion that had shattered the south. The
whole party throve remarkably well upon the liberal provisions of the
commissariat department, and if the officers failed to show the same
tendency to _embonpoint_ which was fast becoming characteristic of the
men, it was only because they deemed it due to their rank to curtail any
indulgences which might compromise the fit of their uniform.

On the whole, time passed indifferently well. An Englishman rarely
suffers from _ennui