from camp the news of their reappearance had
got wind, and many officers of the 30th, besides friends from the
battalion of Grenadier Guards and Lieutenant McNeil's regiment, came
flocking to see them. Phil was scarcely in a condition to talk, and
Tony, who had, as it were, mounted guard over him, insisted that the
doctor's orders should be obeyed. But he himself was quite ready to
dilate on their adventures, and he did so in a manner which would have
made the bashful Phil blush. At length they were on the sea _en route_
for Scutari, and within two days, thanks to the cold and bracing air,
and an excellent constitution, Phil was able to lie in a hammock, on
deck, suspended between the mast and the top of the saloon skylight.

Douglas McNeil had taken the greatest liking for his young friend, and
to the latter's secret astonishment, spent hours in gazing at him
thoughtfully, as though he were trying to recollect something. Very
soon both were on the closest terms of intimacy.

"What are you troubling about?" asked Phil with a wan smile one day,
noticing the look of perplexity on his friend's face.

Douglas was silent for a few minutes. "I will tell you," he said at
last. "From the very first there has been something about you that has
struck me; some strong resemblance to my dear mother. Sometimes I
think, too, that you and I have features much in common. You never
speak of your parents, Phil, and I have never liked to ask you, but if
you care to tell me I should be glad to hear."

"Parents!" said Phil, with a short and somewhat bitter laugh. "I never
knew my real father and mother. I was sold at the age of two, and
that's a good long time ago."

"Sold! Who sold you? Where did it take place, and who paid the money?"
Douglas asked excitedly, coming closer to Phil.

"As far as I have been able to learn from my adopted father, a poor
woman, with many children, sold me. Where, though, I do not recollect I
was sold to Mr Western, at one time an officer in the army, but for
many years a clergyman."

Douglas McNeil stared at him with wide-open eyes, and seemed strangely
excited.

"Listen, Phil," he said earnestly. "About twenty years ago my aunt, my
mother's younger sister, fell in love with a poor officer in the navy.
She married him against the wishes of her parents, and my grandfather,
who was a stubborn hard-hearted man, refused to have anything more to do
with her, refused even to hear of her or help