24 THE OUT-STATION; on, 



try it, if you are ignorant of the quality), that we 

 could get the remotest inkling as to how the jolly 

 countenance of that religious devotee to Bacchus 

 could be so " sicklied o'er with the pale cast of 

 thought." 



But the major shall tell his own story the first 

 and last dealings he ever had with the Firm of Bruin 

 and Co. 



" By Jove ! my boys ! it is a lucky chance you see 

 your old major among you again!" 



" How so, major? Do tell us !" exclaimed a dozen 

 tiffin-eaters, in a voice as clear as consternation at the 

 prospect of so unwished for a consummation, and a 

 spoonful of doubled cayenned mulligatawney would 

 permit. " You look as if you had seen a spirit !" 



" I tell you what, it's nothing to laugh at ! If it 

 had not been for a spirit of a very different descrip- 

 tion, I should have been as dead as that kabob curry ! 

 I started home last night" (the major's bungalow was 

 two miles distant from the mess-house), " or rather 

 this morning when was it, messman, you gave me 

 that bottle of brandy ?" 



" Four 'clock 'morning, master !" answered the 

 messman, looking very tired, and a shade or two 

 blacker than usual. 



" Pooh ! nonsense! Well, I had no sooner got out 

 of the fort gates than I knew something would hap- 

 pen to me. I never pass that clump of cocoa-nut 

 trees without a presentiment, and last night my worst 



