k,
occupying only five months. But to the young men, longing for home
after so long an absence, it seemed tedious in the extreme.

Tim and Hossein were well content with their quiet, easy life, after
their long toils. They had nothing whatever to do, except that they
insisted upon waiting upon Charlie and Peters, at meals. The ship
carried a large number of sick and wounded officers and men, and as
these gained health and strength, the life on board ship became
livelier, and more jovial. Singing and cards occupied the evenings,
while in the daytime they played quoits, rings of rope being used for
that purpose, and other games with which passengers usually wile away
the monotony of long voyages.

It was late in June when the Madras sailed up the Thames; and, as soon
as she came to anchor, the two officers and their followers landed.
The din and bustle of the streets seemed almost as strange, to
Charlie, as they had done when he came up a boy, from Yarmouth.
Hossein was astonished at the multitude of white people, and inquired
of Charlie why, when there were so many men, England had sent so few
soldiers to fight for her in India; and for once, Charlie was unable
to give a satisfactory reply.

"It does seem strange," he said to Peters, "that when such mighty
interests were at stake, a body of even ten thousand troops could not
have been raised, and sent out. Such a force would have decided the
struggle at once; and in three months the great possessions, which
have cost the Company twelve years' war, would have been at their
feet. It would not have cost them more; indeed, nothing like as much
as it now has done, nor one tithe of the loss in life. Somehow,
England always seems to make war in driblets."

Charlie knew that his mother and Kate had, for some years, been
residing at a house which their uncle had taken, in the fashionable
quarter of Chelsea. They looked in at the office, however, to see if
Charlie's uncle was there; but found that he was not in the city, and,
indeed, had now almost retired from the business. They therefore took
a coach, placed the small articles of luggage which they had brought
with them, from the ship, on the front seats; and then, Hossein and
Tim taking their places on the broad seat beside the driver, they
entered the coach and drove to Chelsea.

Charlie had invited Peters, who had no home of his own, to stay with
him, at least for a while. Both were now rich men, from their shares
of t