he carried off the first prize in all the races.

In order to make the most of time and avoid the evils of noonday heat,
it was arranged that the races, etcetera, for the Egyptian soldiers and
natives in Government employ should come off in the morning, and that
the British troops should run in the later and cooler parts of the day.
With the temperature at 120 degrees in the shade it would have been
dangerous for Europeans to compete. The sports, including our familiar
cricket, were greatly enjoyed, and the result was a decided improvement
in the health of the whole force.

Boat-races were also included in these sports. At the conclusion of one
of these, Miles, to his great surprise, encountered his old acquaintance
of the _Sailors' Welcome_, big Jack Molloy.

"Why, Jack!" exclaimed Miles, as the hearty tar wrung his hand, "who'd
have expected to see _you_ here?"

"Ah, who indeed? an' I may say ditto."

"I'm _very_ glad to see you, Molloy, for, to say truth, I thought I had
seen the last of you when we parted in the troop-ship. I've often
thought of you since, and of our first evening together in the--the--
what was its name?"

"The _Sailors' Welcome_--man alive! I wonder you've forgot it.
Blessin's on it! _I_ ain't likely to forget it. Why, it was there,
(did I ever tell you?) the wery night arter I met you, that a messmate
took me to the big hall, back o' the readin'-room. It's no use me
tryin' fur to tell you all I heard in that there big hall, but when I
come out--blow'd if I didn't sign the pledge right away, an' I ain't
took a drop o' grog since!"

"Glad to hear it, Jack, for, to say truth, I never saw the evil of grog
so clearly as I have since coming out here and seeing strong stout men
cast down by it in dozens,--many of them kind-hearted, right-thinking
men, whom I would have thought safe from such a thing. Indeed I have
more than half a mind to join the Good Templars myself."

"Young man," said Molloy, sternly, "if it takes the death of dozens o'
stout kind-hearted men to force you to make up half your mind, how many
d'ee want to die before you make up the whole of it?"

"But I said that my mind was _more_ than half made up," returned Miles,
with a smile.

"Now lookee here," rejoined the sailor earnestly, "it's all wery well
for milksops an' nincompoops and landlubbers to go in for half-an'-half
work like that, but you're not the man I takes you for if you ain't game
for more than that, so