instant--whether my little thrill had gone
through him. He was not a man of little thrills.

Then for a minute I was in misery. Of course I wanted to go too--he
shook my hand without a word--but how could I? They would never have
me, a branded jailbird, in the Imperial Yeomanry! Raffles burst out
laughing; he had been looking very hard at me for about three seconds.

"You rabbit," he cried, "even to think of it! We might as well offer
ourselves to the Metropolitan Police Force. No, Bunny, we go out to
the Cape on our own, and that's where we enlist. One of these
regiments of irregular horse is the thing for us; you spent part of
your pretty penny on horse-flesh, I believe, and you remember how I
rode in the bush! We're the very men for them, Bunny, and they won't
ask to see our birthmarks out there. I don't think even my hoary locks
would put them off, but it would be too conspicuous in the ranks."

Our landlady first wept on hearing our determination, and then longed
to have the pulling of certain whiskers (with the tongs, and they
should be red-hot); but from that day, and for as many as were left to
us, the good soul made more of us than ever. Not that she was at all
surprised; dear brave gentlemen who could look for burglars on their
bicycles at dead of night, it was only what you might expect of them,
bless their lion hearts. I wanted to wink at Raffles, but he would not
catch my eye. He was a ginger-headed Raffles by the end of January,
and it was extraordinary what a difference it made. His most elaborate
disguises had not been more effectual than this simple expedient, and,
with khaki to complete the subdual of his individuality, he had every
hope of escaping recognition in the field. The man he dreaded was the
officer he had known in old days; there were ever so many of him at the
Front; and it was to minimize this risk that we went out second-class
at the beginning of February.

It was a weeping day, a day in a shroud, cold as clay, yet for that
very reason an ideal day upon which to leave England for the sunny
Front. Yet my heart was heavy as I looked my last at her; it was heavy
as the raw, thick air, until Raffles came and leant upon the rail at my
side.

"I know what you are thinking, and you've got to stop," said he. "It's
on the knees of the gods, Bunny, whether we do or we don't, and
thinking won't make us see over their shoulders."

II

Now I made as bad a soldier (except a