erested in
this young _protege_ of her uncle?"

"Most decidedly I see that."

"And that in order to throw dust in your fatherly old eyes, she makes a
great gush about the dog Julius, and says hardly a word about the
master, whose name does not appear."

Major Atherton took up the letter again and glanced through it, and a
light began to break on his puzzled countenance.

"Then," said he, "the fellow who's handsome and clever and a perfect
darling is--"

"Is the bow-wow. And the fellow who's hunted-looking and not allowed in
the drawing-room is his master."

Major Atherton resumed his chair, and once more planted his feet on the
table.

"That is a way of putting it, certainly. If so, it's a relief."

"My dear boy, keep your eye on that librarian, or he may change places
with his dog in double-quick time."

The major laughed, and a pause ensued. Then Forrester said--

"Two or three days more, and we ought to be in Kandahar."

"We are to have a stiff brush or two before we get there," said the
major; "any hour now may bring us to close quarters."

There was another pause. Captain Forrester fidgeted about uneasily, and
presently said--

"It's possible, old man, only one of us may get through. If I am the
one who is left behind, will you promise me something?"

"You know I will."

"That boy of mine, Atherton, is somewhere, I'm as sure of it as that I'm
sitting here. He's vanished. My letters to Grangerham cannot all have
miscarried, and they certainly have none of them been answered. My
mother-in-law, as I told you, died in the south of England. The boy may
have been with her, or left behind in Grangerham, or he may be anywhere.
I told you of the letter I had from the school?"

"Yes; he had had an accident and gone home damaged--crippled, in fact."

"Yes," said Captain Forrester, with a groan, "crippled--and perhaps left
without a friend."

"You want me to promise to find him if you are not there to do it, and
be a father to him. You needn't ask it, old man, for I promise."

"I've nothing to leave him," said Captain Forrester, "except my sword
and this watch--"

"And the good name of a gallant soldier. I will, if it is left to me to
do it, take the boy all three."

"Thanks, Atherton. You know that I would do the same by you, old
fellow."

"You may have the chance. That girl of mine, you know," added the
major, with a tremble in his voice, "would have what little I have
saved, which