e this good-temperedly, and that
if pushed beyond a fair limit he was not only ready to fight but was
able to use his fists with much more science than any of the other
trumpeters, he was soon left alone, and indeed became a favourite with
the bandsmen. Two months after he joined he was appointed to a troop. He
found, however, that he did not have to accompany them generally on
parade. The regiment, like all others at home, was very short of its
complement of horses, and only one trumpeter to each squadron was
mounted. Edgar, however, cared little for this. He considered his first
two years' work as merely a probation which had to be gone through
before he could take his place in the ranks as a trooper.

He found his pay sufficient for his needs. Although he had in the old
days been in the habit of drinking beer, he had made a resolution to
abstain from it altogether on joining the regiment. He determined to
gain his stripes at the earliest possible opportunity, and knew well
enough, from what he had heard Captain Clinton say, that drink was the
curse of the army, and that men, although naturally sober and steady,
were sometimes led into it, and thereby lost all chance of ever rising.
He had never smoked, and it was no privation to him to abstain from
tobacco, and he had therefore the whole of his pay, after the usual
deduction for stoppages, at his disposal for food, and had always a
little in his pocket to lend to any comrade who had the bad luck to be
put on heavy stoppages by the loss of some of his necessaries.

In this respect he himself suffered somewhat heavily at first.
Accustomed at school to leave his things carelessly about without the
slightest doubt as to their safety, he was astonished and shocked to
find that a very much laxer code of morality prevailed in the army, and
that any necessaries left about instantly disappeared. The first week
after joining he lost nearly half the articles that had been served out
to him, and was for some months on heavy stoppages of pay to replace
them. The lesson, however, had its effect, and he quickly learnt to keep
a sharp look-out over his things. He was soon dismissed from school,
obtaining his first-class at the examination, which took place two
months after he joined, and this gave him time to attend the
fencing-school, and to give more time to gymnastics.

When once accustomed to his work he found his life an easy and pleasant
one, and had far more time at his dis