and at sea the
better for him and all of us. I'll get yer a blanket, sir, and make yer
comfortable."

They were all very good to their young commander, and took care of him
as if he were a child, till they reached the open sea and espied the
_Rattlesnake_. An hour later he was lying on the after deck beneath an
awning, tossing with fever, and with an orderly from the sick bay told
off to keep special watch and ward over him. For Dick had a severe
attack. The responsible work at the stockade, the fear of a sudden
appearance of the enemy, and the flight had all aided a notoriously bad
climate. And at last he was down with malaria, which kept him aboard
the ship for a month.

While he is lying there, with plenty of friends about him to see to his
welfare, we will step aside for a little while, and review matters at
the coast. War, for war's sake, is seldom waged, except amongst savage
tribes. And even with them there is usually some grievance, some cause
which leads to the outbreak of hostilities. It may be that more country
is desired, that the men of a certain tribe desire to take wives from
another, or that some injury done to a nation or a race years and years
before has left a feeling of bitterness and a desire for vengeance; a
grudge is owed, and is paid back at the first moment when those who have
sustained the injury are strong enough to fight. But Britain does not
conduct her wars in that manner. The numerous little expeditions and
minor campaigns upon which she is so often engaged are almost invariably
the direct result of molestation from some race living on her borders.

For years, perhaps, she has patiently suffered the injury, hoping by
diplomacy to put an end to the whole trouble. Then, when her patience
is exhausted, and diplomacy has failed; or when the aggressors have
become still more audacious, she finds that war is necessary, that
nothing but armed interference will bring peace to that particular
border. Too often her patience and forbearance have been mistaken by an
untutored race for weakness, and thus it happens that the foes she has
to meet are more numerous than they might have been. However, the
history of these small wars is, as a rule, so very similar that one
campaign differs only in detail from another. Troops are sent to the
part, there is an invasion, and, most likely, severe fighting. Villages
are taken and burned, forts are stormed, and men killed and captured.
There ma