ith grave courtesy. Their faces both
brightened, as he said in their own language:

"I hope we shall be great friends, cousins. I am older and bigger than
you are, but everything is new and strange to me, and I shall have to
depend upon you to teach me everything."

"We did not think that you would be able to talk to us," the elder,
whose name was Doast Assud, said, smiling. "We have been wondering how
we should make you understand. Many of the white officers, who come
here sometimes, speak our language, but none of them as well as you
do."

"You see, they only learn it after they come out here, while I learnt
it from my mother, who has talked to me in it since I was quite a
little boy; so it comes as naturally to me as to you."

In a few minutes, supper was announced. The two boys sat down with
their father and Dick, and the meal was served in English fashion.
Dick had already become accustomed to the white-robed servants, at the
hotel at Madras, and everything seemed to him pleasant and home-like.

"Tomorrow, Dick," his uncle said, "you must have your first lesson in
riding."

The two boys looked up in surprise. They had been accustomed to horses
from their earliest remembrance, and it seemed to them incredible that
their tall cousin should require to be taught. Dick smiled at their
look of astonishment.

"It is not, with us in England, as it is here," he said. "Boys who
live in the country learn to ride, but in London, which is a very
great town, with nothing but houses for miles and miles everywhere,
few people keep horses to ride. The streets are so crowded, with
vehicles of all sorts, and with people on foot, that it is no pleasure
to ride in them, and everyone who can afford it goes about in a
carriage. Those who cannot, go in hired vehicles, or on foot. You
would hardly see a person on horseback once in a week."

"I do not like walking," Doast said gravely.

"Well, you see, you have no occasion to walk, as you always have your
horses. Besides, the weather here is very hot. But in England it is
colder, and walking is a pleasure. I have walked over twenty miles a
day, many times, not because I had to do it, but as a day's pleasure
with a friend."

"Can you shoot, cousin?"

"No," Dick laughed. "There is nothing to shoot at. There are no wild
beasts in England, and no game birds anywhere near London."

Dick saw, at once, that he had descended many steps in his cousins'
estimation.

"Then what can y