nother human, and at daylight discovered him to be a youth of about
my own age. We exchanged experiences, and in a few minutes he outlined
a programme; and, having none of my own, I dropped naturally into his.
He conducted me to a quarter of the city where the recruiting officers
parade the streets, gayly attired in their attractive uniforms. We
accosted one man, who had the special attraction of a large bunch of
gay ribbons flying from his Glengarry cap. We passed the physical
examination, "took the shilling," and were drafted, first to London,
then to a training depot in the south of Kent.

CHAPTER II

THE BEGINNING OF AN EDUCATION

The first discovery I made in the training depot was that I had not,
as I supposed, joined the army at all, but the navy. I was a marine.
But there was no disappointment in the discovery, for I saw in the
marine service a better opportunity to see the world. Here at last was
my school, and schooling was a part of the daily routine. In the daily
exercises of the gymnasium, I was made to feel very keenly by the
instructors the awkwardness of my body; but I was so thrilled with the
joy of the class-room, that it took a good deal of forcing to interest
me in the handling of guns, bayonets, the swinging of clubs, vaulting
of horses, and other gymnasium exercises. I could think only in the
terms of the education I most keenly desired. This was my first source
of trouble. Whatever else a soldier may be, he is a soldier first. His
chief business in life is to be a killer--a strong, intelligent,
professional killer; and nearly all energies of instruction are bent
to give him that kind of power.

The depot is on the edge of the sea, and the sea breezes with six
hours a day of drill, gave me, as it gives all recruits at that stage,
an abnormal appetite, so that the most of the Queen's pay went for
additional rations. I made rapid progress in school, and I attended
all lectures, prayer meetings, religious assemblies and social
gatherings, to exercise a talent which I already possessed, of giving
voice to my religious beliefs. But my Irish dialect was badly out of
place, and it took a good deal of courage to take part in these
things.

But more embarrassing than my attempts at public speech were my
attempts to keep up with my squad in the gymnasium and on the parade
ground. My fellow recruits were thinking in the terms of drill only,
and I was thinking in the terms of my new-found opportu