nd fifty. What with allowances and so on, I ought to
be able to pay it off in three or four years."

"Yes, and if you keep your word, Marshall, some of us may be
inclined to help you. I will for one. I would have done so before,
but to give money to a fool is worse than throwing it into the sea.
As soon as you show us by deeds, not words, that you really mean to
keep straight, you will find that you are not without friends."

"Thank you awfully, Mallett, but I don't want to be helped. I will
clear it off myself if I live."

"You will find it hard work to do that, Marshall, even in India. Of
course, the pay and allowances make it easy for even a subaltern to
live on his income there, but when it comes to laying by much, that
is a difficult matter. However, so long as the actual campaign
lasts, the necessary expenses will be very small. We shall live
principally on our rations, and you can put by a good bit. There
may be a certain amount of prize money, for, although there is
nothing to be got from the mutineers themselves, some of the native
princes who have joined them will no doubt have to pay heavily for
their share in the business."

"Well, you won't give me up, will you, Mallett?"

"Certainly not. I was as hard as anyone on you before, for I have
no patience with such insane folly, but if you keep straight no one
will be more inclined to make things easy for you."

The voyage to Alexandria was unmarked by any incident. Drill went
on regularly, and life differed to no great extent from that in
barracks. All were glad when the halfway stage of the journey was
reached, but still more so when they embarked in another transport
at Suez.

Here they learned, according to news that had arrived on the
previous day, that at the end of August Delhi was still holding
out; and that, although reinforcements had reached the British,
vastly greater numbers of men had entered the city, and that
constant sorties were made against the British position on the
Ridge.

Excitement therefore was at its highest, when on the 20th of
October a pilot came on board at the mouth of the Hooghly, and they
learned that the assault had been made on the 14th of September;
and that, after desperate fighting extending over a week, the city
had been captured, the puppet Emperor made prisoner, and the rebels
driven with tremendous loss across the bridge of boats over the
Jumma.

The satisfaction with which the news was received, in spite of