ent in a
manner which made me pretty well forget the troubles which had gone
before.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

The General pressed so hard that my mother and my uncle remained at his
place for a couple of days longer, driving over in the General's
carriage on the third day to say good-bye to me before returning home,
and, to Mercer's great delight, a packet was placed in his hand after he
had been fetched, with strict orders not to look at it till the carriage
had gone. I already had one in my pocket, and in addition a smaller one
that I was charged to deliver elsewhere.

Then the farewell was said, and, as soon as the carriage was out of
sight, I looked at Mercer, he at me, and with a unity of purpose that
was not surprising, we rushed off to the yard and up the rough steps to
the loft, where we laid our packets down, and hesitated to cut the
strings.

Again we looked at each other, and Mercer at last said huskily,--

"Hadn't we better open 'em? I _am_ hungry, but they're rather small and
square for cakes."

"Get out!" I said. "Cakes indeed! Here, let's see."

"Whose shall we open first?" whispered Mercer.

"Yours."

"No, yours."

"Both together then."

"Right. Draw knives--Open knives--Cut!"

The strings were divided to the moment, and then the sealing-wax which
fastened the brown paper further was broken, and two white paper packets
were revealed, also carefully sealed up. This wax was broken in turn,
and with trembling hands we removed the white paper, to find within
something hard and square wrapped in a quantity of tissue paper.

We paused again, feeling breathless with excitement, and looked at each
other.

"Ready?" I said, and we tore off the tissue till a couple of little
morocco cases were revealed, and again we paused before unhooking the
fastenings, and opening little lids lined with white satin, while below,
in crimson velvet, tightly-fitting beds, lay a couple of bright silver
watches.

Oh, the delight of that first watch! It fixed itself so in my memory
that I shall never forget it. The bright, dazzling look of the engine
turning, showing different lights and seeming to be in motion as the
position of the watch is changed; the round spot in the ring where the
spring was pressed for the case to fly open and show the face with its
Roman numerals; and then the ticking--that peculiar metallic sound like
nothing else. Words will not describe the satisfaction we boys felt as
we