back.

Apologising for this necessary digression, we return to Joe Corney.

"The fact was," said he, "that we had had a fearful time of it that
winter--blowin' great guns an' snow nearly every night, an' what wi'
heat at the fires an' cowld i' the streets, an' hot wather pourin' on us
at wan minnit an' freezin' on us the nixt, a'most every man Jack of us
was coughin' an' sneezin', and watherin' so bad at our eyes an' noses,
that I do belave if we'd held 'em over the suction-pipes we might ha'
filled the ingins without throublin' the mains at all. So the doctor he
said, says he, `Lads, I'll send ye a bottle o' stuff as'll put ye
right.' An' sure enough down comes the bottle that night when we was
smokin' our pipes just afther roll-call. It turned out to be the best
midcine ever was. `Musha!' says I, `here's the top o' the marnin' to
ye, boys!' Baxmore he smacks his lips when he tastes it, opens his
eyes, tosses off the glass, and holds it out for another. `Howld on;
fair play!' cried Jack Williams, so we all had a glass round. It was
just like lemonade or ginger-beer, it was. So we sat down an' smoked
our pipes over it, an' spun yarns an' sung songs; in fact we made a
jollification of it, an' when we got up to turn in there warn't a dhrop
left i' the bottle.

"`You'd better go to the doctor for another bottle,' says Moxey, as he
wint out.

"`I will,' says I; `I'll go i' the marnin'.'

"Sure enough away I goes i' the marnin' to Doctor Offley. `Doctor,'
says I, howldin' out the bottle, `we all think our colds are much the
better o' this here midcine, an' I comed, av ye plaze, for another o'
the same.'

"Musha! but ye should ha' seen the rage he goes off into. `Finished it
all?' says he. `Ivery dhrop, doctor,' says I, `at wan sittin'.' At
that he stamped an' swore at me, an' ordered me away as if I'd bin a
poor relation; an' says he, `I'll sind ye a bottle to-night as'll cure
ye!' Sure so he did. The second bottle would have poison'd a rat. It
lasted us all six months, an' I do belave ye'll find the most of it in
the cupboard at this minnit av ye look."

"Come, Willie," said Frank, while the men were laughing at the
remembrance of this incident. "I'm going down your way and will give
you a convoy. We can take a look in at the gymnastics as we pass, if
you choose."

"All right, Blazes, come along." So saying they left the station, and
set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the City.

C