lushed.

"Dear old officer," he begged, "I'll tackle that little job as soon as I
get back. I tried to do 'em this mornin' an was four dollars out--it's
the regimental cash account that's wrong. People come in and out helpin'
themselves, and I positively can't keep track of the money."

"As I'm the only person with the key of the regimental cash-box, I
suppose you mean----?"

Bones raised his hand.

"I make no accusations, dear old feller--it's a painful subject. We all
have those jolly old moments of temptation. I tackle the accounts
to-night, sir. You mustn't forget that I've a temperament. I'm not like
you dear old wooden-heads----"

"Oh, shut up," said the weary Hamilton. "So long as you're going to do a
bit of study, it's all right."

"Now, Bones," said Patricia, appearing on the scene, "have you got the
sandwiches?"

Bones made terrifying and warning grimaces.

"Have you got the board to lay the cloth and the paper to cover it, and
the chocolates and the cold tea?"

Bones frowned, and jerked his head in an agony of warning.

"Come on, then," said the unconscious betrayer of Lieutenant Tibbetts.
"Good-bye, dear."

"Why 'good-bye,' dear old Hamilton's sister?" asked Bones.

She looked at him scornfully and led the way.

"Don't forget the field fortifications," called Hamilton after them;
"they eat nicely between slices of strategy."

The sun was casting long shadows eastward when they returned. They
had not far to come, for the place they had chosen for their picnic
was well within the Residency reservation, but Bones had been describing
on his way back one of the remarkable powers he possessed, namely, his
ability to drag the truth from reluctant and culpable natives. And every
time he desired to emphasize the point he would stop, lower all his
impedimenta to the ground, cluttering up the landscape with picnic-box,
drawing-board, sketching-blocks and the numerous bunches of wild
flowers he had culled at her request, and press his argument with
much palm-punching.

He stopped for the last time on the very edge of the barrack square, put
down his cargo and proceeded to demolish the doubt she had unwarily
expressed.

"That's where you've got an altogether erroneous view of me, dear old
sister," he said triumphantly. "I'm known up an' down the river as the
one man that you can't deceive. Go up and ask the Bomongo, drop in on
the Isisi, speak to the Akasava, an' what will they say? They'll say,
'No