verseas service. Any change in his lot would
be an improvement, for he was convinced that he had reached the limit of
wretchedness in the exercise of his duty as chaplain of the battalion.

In this conviction, however, he was mistaken. On shipboard, he
discovered that there were still depths of misery which he was called
upon to plumb. Assigned to a miserable stateroom in an uncomfortable
part of the ship, he suffered horribly from seasickness, and for the
first half of the voyage lay foodless and spiritless in his bunk,
indifferent to his environment or to his fate. His sole friend was his
batman, Harry Hobbs, but, of course, he could not confide to Harry the
misery of his body, or the deeper misery of his soul.

It was Harry, however, that brought relief, for it was he that called
the M. O. to his officer's bedside. The M. O. was shocked to find the
chaplain in a state of extreme physical weakness, and mental depression.
At once, he gave orders that Barry should be removed to his own
stateroom, which was large and airy and open to the sea breezes. The
effect was immediately apparent, for the change of room, and more
especially the touch of human sympathy, did much to restore Barry to his
normal health and spirits. A friendship sprang up between the M. O.
and the chaplain. With this friendship a new interest came into Barry's
life, and with surprising rapidity he regained both his physical and
mental tone.

The doctor took him resolutely in hand, pressed him to take his part in
the daily physical drill, induced him to share the daily programme of
sports, and, best of all, discovering a violin on board, insisted on his
taking a place on the musical programme rendered nightly in the salon.
As might be expected, his violin won him friends among all of the music
lovers on board ship, and life for Barry began once more to be bearable.

Returning strength, however, recalled him to the performance of
his duties as chaplain, and straightway in the exercise of what he
considered his duty, he came into conflict with no less a personage than
the sergeant major himself. The trouble arose over his batman, Harry
Hobbs.

Harry was a man who, in his youthful days, had been a diligent patron of
the London music halls, and in consequence had become himself an amateur
entertainer of very considerable ability. His sailor's hornpipes, Irish
jigs, his old English North-country ballads and his coster songs were an
unending joy to his co