s is hard to imagine. She was not beautiful
or agreeable or even intelligent. And she was certainly fickle and greedy.
If Sergeant Bulter persuaded her to accompany him for a walk she was quite
likely to return with Chippo; and if Chippo invited her to dine the end of
the dinner was usually the signal for her to leave in search of the further
hospitality of Sergeant Bulter.

Nevertheless both soldiers wooed her with an intensity that nearly brought
them into deadly conflict. The climax was precipitated by an announcement
in Battalion Orders that ran:--

"All ownerless dogs straying about the Camp will be secured by the Camp
police for destruction. Owners of dogs will therefore ensure that their
dogs are provided with collars showing names of owners, and such dogs are
not permitted to stray about the lines unattended."

On reading this Chippo laboriously inscribed an old identity disc--

JANE MUNKS,
"B" COY.,

and sought out Jane in her usual corner near the cook-house. He was
threading the disc with a piece of string when Sergeant Bulter appeared.

"What are you doin' to that dawg?" demanded the Sergeant.

"Fittin' 'er with a necklace," replied Chippo.

"Well, you can keep it to hang yourself with," said Bulter triumphantly;
"she's already provided."

Chippo perceived, what he had previously overlooked, that Jane's neck was
encircled with a collar marked--

JANE BULTER,
SERGEANTS' MESS.

A sick feeling of disappointment came over him, but he dissembled.

"I reckernize the family likeness, Sergeant," he remarked and walked away,
whilst Jane, with callous disregard for his sufferings, meditated whether
to dine with the Ration Corporal or the Sergeant Cook, or both.

Chippo walked gloomily in the direction of the town. As he approached the
_place_ the blaring of cornets and sounds of hilarity reminded him that
Quelquepart was holding its annual _foire_. Merry-go-rounds and swing-boats
were not in harmony with Chippo's mood, and the performance at the
gaudily-painted Guignol struck him as particularly dreary, but the sight of
Ferdinand Delauney's Grande Loterie, with its huge red wheel and tempting
array of prizes, roused him to animation. Ferdinand was attracting
investors by methods of persuasion which Chippo, as an acknowledged
"Crown-and-anchor" expert, recognised as masterly.

"Reckon I'll try a franc's-worth of Ferdy's prize bonds," he said. "But I
expect it'll just be my luck to win a dog-collar or a