had
been employed, had given him notice that for a time they could dispense
with his services. He had been spending the whole afternoon in perusing
the long list of "wanteds" in the _Daily Telegraph_, and his ink-stained
forefinger showed the perseverance with which he had been answering
every advertisement that could possibly apply to him. A pile of
addressed envelopes lay upon the table, and it was only the uncertainty
of his finances and the fact that the humble penny stamp mounts into
shillings when frequently employed, that prevented him from increasing
the number of his applications. He looked up and uttered a word of
guttural greeting as his companion came striding in.

"Get out of this," the major said abruptly. "Get away into the
bedroom."

"Potztausand! Vot is it then?" cried the astonished Teuton.

"Out with you! I want this room to meself."

Von Baumser shrugged his shoulders and lumbered off like a good-natured
plantigrade, closing the door behind him.

When his companion had disappeared the major proceeded to lay out all
his notes upon the table, overlapping each other, but still so arranged
that every separate one was visible. He then built in the centre ten
little golden columns in a circle, each consisting of ten sovereigns,
until the whole presented the appearance of a metallic Stonehenge upon a
plain of bank notes. This done, he cocked his head on one side, like a
fat and very ruddy turkey, and contemplated his little arrangement with
much pride and satisfaction.

Solitary delight soon becomes wearisome, however, so the veteran
summoned his companion. The Teuton was so dumbfounded by this display
of wealth, that he was bereft for a time of all faculty of speech, and
could only stare open-mouthed at the table. At last he extended a
fore-finger and thumb and rubbed a five pound note between them, as
though to convince himself of its reality, after which he began to
gyrate round the table in a sort of war dance, never taking his eyes
from the heap of influence in front of him. "Mein Gott!" he exclaimed,
"Gnadiger Vater! Ach Himmel! Was fur eine Schatze! Donnerwetter!" und
a thousand other cacophonous expressions of satisfaction and amazement.

When the old soldier had sufficiently enjoyed the lively emotion which
showed itself on every feature of the German's countenance, he picked up
the notes and locked them in his desk together with half the gold. The
other fifty pounds he retu