d it; and he is just the sort of fellow to carry out the
idea, if he took to it."

"I agree with you, Bullen, as in the end I almost always do, and
should suggest most strongly that you lay the matter before him. No
doubt, if he applied, the War Office would send out a hundred
waterproofs and two hundred ground sheets, for the use of the
officers, by the next ship sailing from England."

"I might do it," Lisle laughed, "if it were not that the rainy
season will be at an end before the things arrive here."

"That is a very good excuse, Bullen; but I hope that, at any rate,
you will carry out your idea before the next wet season
begins--that is, if we are kept on here, as a punishment for our
sins."

At this moment one of the non-commissioned officers came in with a
letter, and Hallett opened it.

"Oh dear," he said, in a tone of deepest disgust, "we are off
again!"

"Thank goodness!" Lisle said. "You know we were just agreeing that
we have had enough of this place."

"I often say foolish things," Hallett said, "and must not be taken
too literally. Here is an end to our meat rations, and to all our
other little luxuries. Besides, I have been getting my tunic
washed, and it will certainly take three or four days to dry in
this steaming atmosphere."

"Well, my dear fellow, you can put it on wet, for it is certain to
be wet before we have gone a quarter of an hour. My tunic has gone,
too, but at any rate they will both look more respectable for the
washing.

"Well, I suppose we had better go across to headquarters and find
out what the route is, and who are going."

As they went out, they saw the return of the Central African
Regiment. They had been more fortunate than the other regiments,
having captured and razed Djarchi. They had taken the enemy by
surprise, and run them right through the town, with only a single
casualty. They had ascertained that the enemy had been commanded by
the brother of the Ashanti commander-in-chief, and that he had been
killed in the fight.

A very large amount of spoil had been captured, the first haul of
any importance that had been made during the campaign. Among the
loot were the king of the Kokofu's iron boxes, containing much
official correspondence; union jacks, elephant tails, and other
symbols of royalty, together with gold ornaments, gold dust, and
two hundred pounds of English money; numbers of brass-nailed,
vellum-backed chairs, part of the Ashanti chief's regalia; r