ver see," he muttered.
"Lor', if it was girls around he would be turning their heads, and
getting failed in love with by every one on 'em;" and with a loud guffaw
he dived down the companion ladder. As for Phil and Douglas McNeil,
they sat discussing the question of their relationship for more than an
hour, and when they retired, it was with the mutual and hearty agreement
that it was one of the happiest days in their lives when the fortune of
war brought them together to fight side by side for the honour of
England's flag.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

A WELCOME DISCOVERY.

It was a new thing indeed for our hero to have real relatives, and those
who may happen to have read these chapters, and are placed in a position
similar to his, will realise with what eagerness he hoped that it should
turn out that he and Douglas McNeil were cousins.

True, Phil had had an adopted father and mother who, if not indulgent,
were at least kind after their own way. But home life for him had
always lacked that sympathy and that geniality which are the makings of
a happy family circle. Where all was austerity, Joe Sweetman's ruddy,
smiling face had come like the sun to lighten the gloomy house. No
wonder that Phil took to him from the first, and no wonder that, now
that the real secret of his birth seemed to be on the point of
discovery, in which case he would have friends, aunts, uncles, and
cousins like others he met every day of his life, he was more than a
little excited. He and Douglas had many a chat over the possibility of
their being relations, and before Scutari was reached the latter had
written a long letter of explanation to his parents, while Phil wrote to
Joe and to Mr Western, telling of his new life and fortunes, and asking
for particulars of the place and the woman from whose house he had been
brought many years before. Then, as nothing further could be done to
settle the matter, they dropped the subject by mutual consent.

A week after they left Balaclava the huge barracks which now served as a
hospital for the sick and wounded British hove in sight, and by evening
Phil and his new friend were comfortably quartered in a small ward in
which were three other officers. Fortunately neither was dangerously or
seriously ill, though their wounds were sufficiently grave to make them
incapable of active service for some time to come. Thanks, however, to
healthy constitutions they were rapidly recovering strength, and
th