n the grand mountain scenery, "I must confess to being
a bit lazy. You may be all athirst for glory, but after our ride this
morning pale ale's good enough for me. I'm not a fighting man, and I
hope when we get to the station we shall find that the what you may call
'em--Dwats--have dissolved into thin air like the cloud yonder fading
away on that snow-peak. If, however, it does come to a set-to, here I
am, my dear boys, at your service, and I'll do the best I can."

"Thank ye, Doctor," came in chorus from the officers; "but the less the
better."

"We shall have something to do, for certain," said the Colonel, a
keen-looking, deeply bronzed man of fifty, "for these hill-tribes will
never believe in England's strength till they have been well thrashed;
but a fight does not mean for certain that we shall want the doctor's
help afterwards."

"So much the better," said that gentleman, laughing. "But, as I said,
here I am if you want me, and I've got as well-arranged an ambulance
as--"

"Oh, I say, Doctor, don't talk shop," cried the young officer spoken of
as Captain Roberts, a handsome, carefully dressed young fellow of seven
or eight and twenty. "They're regular curs, are they not, sir--these
Dwats?" he added, turning to the Colonel.

"Certainly not," replied the latter gravely. "They are decidedly a
brave, bold, fighting race. Tall, dark, big-bearded, just such fellows
as hill-tribes are; restless, pugnacious fighting-men, always engaged in
petty warfare with the neighbouring chiefs, and making plundering
expeditions."

"I see, sir," said the Captain; "like our old Border chieftains used to
be at home."

"Exactly," said the Colonel; "and each chief thinks he is one of the
greatest monarchs under the sun. England is to them, in their
ignorance, only a similar nation to their own, and the Empress a
lady-chief."

"We shall have to teach them better," said the Major, a gentleman with
an eyeglass and a disposition to become stout. "We shall soon do it. A
good sharp lesson is all that's wanted. The only difficulty is that,
though they are as a rule always busy cutting one another's throats, as
soon as one of the tribes is attacked they all become friends and help
one another."

"Save us trouble."

"What's that, Bracy?" said the Colonel.

"Save us trouble, sir," said the young man, laughing; "we can thrash
half-a-dozen of the tribes together."

"With a regiment of raw boys?" said the Major, frowning