the smart little
cane which had been given them, they were marched away to the
barrack-room, heads in air and chests well to the front, as every new
recruit does when in uniform for the first time, and trying to look as
though they were well used to their new circumstances, whereas every man
they passed grinned, and, nudging his comrade, chuckled: "New uns! Look
at the chest that redheaded cove's got on 'im, and don't the other hold
his nose up?" or something equally flattering.

But Phil and Tony were blissfully ignorant of these facetious remarks,
and in a few minutes had reached the room in which they were to sleep,
and had taken possession of their cots.

The following day they were once more inspected by the adjutant, and
under his eye the regimental tailor chalk-marked their clothing where
alterations were to be made.

In due time both settled down to their new duties and began to learn
their drill on the parade-ground. A few days, and they lost all the
slovenliness of recruits and held themselves erect. Soon they were as
smart as any, and an old friend of Phil's, looking at him now, with his
forage-cap jauntily set over his ear, his tight-fitting tunic and belt,
and the swagger-cane beneath his arm, would scarcely have recognised
him, so much had he altered. But had he only asked Tony, he would
quickly have learnt the truth.

"Yus, that's Phil Western, you bet!" the latter would exclaim; "and I
tell yer what it is, that young chap is downright the smartest lad in
this lot of recruits, and that's saying a deal, as you'll agree if
you'll only take a look at 'em."

So thought Joe Sweetman too, when he visited London on one occasion and
looked his young friend up. "He's every inch a soldier," he exclaimed
admiringly to Mr Western, on his return to Riddington. "As smart and
good-looking a fellow as ever I saw; and that lad means to get on and do
well. Mark my words! That's what he means, and he'll do it too, or I'm
a donkey."

CHAPTER FIVE.

A STEP IN RANK.

Whether or not honest kind-hearted old Joe Sweetman was a donkey was yet
to be proved, as the reader will ascertain for himself if he will only
have patience to bear with the narrative till the end; but certain it
was that Joe and Tony were not alone in thinking well of Phil.

"He's a likely youngster," the adjutant had more than once remarked to
the colonel, "and he'll make an excellent N.C.O. once he has sufficient
service. He's well edu