l inquiry an' all that sort of thing,
isn't it?"

"It is," said Hamilton.

"Well, sir," said Bones, "may I ask you not to smoke? When a chap's
honour an' reputation an' all that sort of thing is being weighed in the
balance, sir, believe me, smokin' isn't decent--it isn't really, sir."

Hamilton looked round for something to throw at his critic and found a
tolerably heavy book, but Bones dodged and fielded it dexterously. "And
if you must chuck things at me, sir," he added, as he examined the title
on the back of the missile, "will you avoid as far as possible usin' the
sacred volumes of the Army List? It hurts me to tell you this, sir, but
I've been well brought up."

"What's the time?" asked Hamilton, and his second-in-command examined
his watch.

"Ten to tiffin," he said. "Good Lord, we've been gassin' an hour. Any
news from Sanders?"

"He's in town--that's all I know--but don't change the serious subject,
Bones. Everybody is awfully disgusted with you--Sanders would have at
least brought him to trial."

"I couldn't do it, sir," said Bones, firmly. "Poor old bird! He looked
such an ass, an' moreover reminded me so powerfully of an aunt of mine
that I simply couldn't do it."

No doubt but that Lieut. Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas, with
his sun-burnt nose, his large saucer eyes, and his air of solemn
innocence, had shaken the faith of the impressionable folk. This much
Hamilton was to learn: for Tibbetts had been sent with a party of
Houssas to squash effectively an incipient rebellion in the Akasava, and
having caught N'gori in the very act of most treacherously and most
damnably preparing an ambush for a virtuous Bosambo, Chief of the
Ochori, had done no more than fine him ten dollars.

And this was in a land where even the Spanish dollar had never been seen
save by Bosambo, who was reported to have more than his share of silver
in a deep hole beneath the floor of his hut.

Small wonder that Captain Hamilton held an informal court-martial of
one, the closing stages of which I have described, and sentenced his
wholly inefficient subordinate to seven days' field exercise in the
forest with half a company of Houssas.

"Oh, dash it, you don't mean that?" asked Bones in dismay when the
finding of the court was conveyed to him at lunch.

"I do," said Hamilton firmly. "I'd be failing in my job of work if I
didn't make you realize what a perfect ass you are."

"Perfect--yes," protested Bones, "ass