ch, but secured them with a dive and a grab.
"Here, chuck us the rooty!" was the request when one needed bread;
while though substantial mustard and pepper pots adorned the board, the
salt was in the primitive form of a lump, which was pushed about from
man to man, and scraped down with the dinner knives.

But Jack had not come to barracks expecting a _table d'hote_ dinner of
eight or nine courses, served by waiters in evening dress, and he set
to work with a good grace on what was set before him. The remarks
addressed to him, if a trifle blunt, were good-natured enough, and he
replied to them in the same spirit. His comrades evidently remarked
from the first that he was a cut above the ordinary recruit; but he was
wise enough to avoid showing any airs, and soon saw that this line of
conduct was appreciated.

The meal was in progress when there was a sharp rap, and the door was
opened.

"'Tenshun!" The men laid down their knives and forks, and rose to
their feet.

"Dinners all right here?"

"Yes, sir."

"All present?"

"All present, sir." The orderly officer glanced round the room, and
then turned and walked out.

"'E's a gentleman, is Mr. Lawson," murmured one of the men; "'e always
shuts the door behind 'im." Jack's eye followed the figure of the
lieutenant as he rejoined the orderly sergeant in the passage. It was
not so much the sash and sword, and neat, blue patrol jacket, as the
cheery voice and pleasant sunburnt face, which had attracted our hero's
attention; somehow these reminded him of Valentine, and turned his
thoughts back to his old friend. He wondered how his cousin looked in
the same uniform. Well, well, however wide and deep the gulf might be
which the doings of the last two days had placed between them, they
were, in a way, reunited; for the service was the same, whatever
difference there might be in shoulder-straps.

Dinner over, some of the men made down their beds for a nap, while
others announced their intention "to do some soldiering," a term which
implied the cleaning and polishing of accoutrements.

Sergeant Sparks, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the room,
had a few friendly words with Jack, told him what he would have to do
on the following day, and advised him in the meantime to make himself
as comfortable as he could. "Here," he added, turning to a private,
"just show this man his cot, and explain to him how to keep his
bedding; you may want a good turn yourse