trumpeter."

"Yes, you would be sergeant in a very short time, Smith; after your
behaviour at El-Teb you would be sure of your stripes as soon as you
were eligible for them. But I should not advise you to give up your
trumpet just at the present moment."

"Very well, sir," Edgar said, somewhat surprised.

"But there is something else you are wishing for, is there not? I fancy
every officer and man in the regiment is wishing for it."

"To go up the Nile, sir?" Edgar said eagerly. "Yes; I do wish that,
indeed. Is there any chance of the regiment going, sir?"

"No, I am sorry to say there is not," the major said.

"And a very good thing too, Richard," his wife put in.

"I do not think so at all. It is the hardest thing ever heard of that
the regiments here that have had all the heat and hard work, and
everything else of this beastly place, are to be left behind, while
fellows from England go on. Well, Smith," he went on, turning to Edgar,
"I am glad to say I have been able to do you a good turn. When I was in
the orderly-room just now a letter came to the colonel from the general,
saying that a trumpeter of the Heavy Camel Corps is down with sunstroke
and will not be able to go, and requesting him to detail a trumpeter to
take his place. I at once seized the opportunity and begged that you
might be chosen, saying that I owed you a good turn for your plucky
conduct at Aldershot. The adjutant, I am glad to say, backed me up,
saying that you have done a lot of credit to the regiment with your
cricket, and that the affair at El-Teb alone ought to single you out
when there was a chance like this going. The colonel rather thought that
you were too young, but we urged that as you had stood the climate at
Suakim you could stand it anywhere on the face of the globe. So you are
to go, and the whole regiment will envy you."

"I am obliged to you indeed, sir," Edgar said in delight. "I do not know
how to thank you, sir."

"I do not want any thanks, Smith, for a service that has cost me
nothing. Now you are to go straight to Sergeant Edmonds. I have sent him
a note already, and he is to set the tailors at work at once to rig you
out in the karkee uniform. We cannot get you the helmet they are fitted
out with. But no doubt they have got a spare one or two; probably they
will let you have the helmet of the man whose place you are to take. You
will be in orders to-morrow morning, and I have asked Edmonds to get
your things all