y noble action, and one which is likely to ingratiate you
here. What is it?"

_C._ "Nothing more or less than my men and horses are dead-beat. They
will have to halt here at least two days before they will be fit to
move. I have----"

_B._ "My dear colonel, have some tea; or perhaps you would prefer some
whisky-and-sparklet? You bring me the best news that I have heard
to-day!"

_C._ "Thank you, sir; but I am serious about----"

_B._ "Of course, of course you are serious, and I should have been
delighted to have left you and your regiment here as long as you
pleased--the longer the better. Only I shall probably have orders to
move with my whole force before daybreak, and that being the case, I
am afraid that your 'robbers' will have to move too, 'dead-beat' or
not."

_C._ "But I assure you, sir----"

_B._ "There is no need to assure me of anything, colonel. I have
absolute confidence in your knowledge of the state of inefficiency
existing in your regiment. Only I will beg you to remember in future
that I am the judge as to the capabilities of movement of the units
composing this column. But let us discuss the prospects of peace, or
some other less abstruse subject than the Mount Nelson Light Horse. In
the meantime, colonel, just to emphasise what I have said, my
Intelligence officer has orders to go out to those farms over there to
see if he can get suitable guides. I have ordered him to take a troop
of your men. He will start in fifteen minutes. Won't you stay for your
drink?" (The lion of the slouch-hat persuasion was reduced to the
lamb; he saluted, and sidled away while the brigadier replenished his
tea-cup.)

_Brigade-Major._ "That is about his size, sir. He has been more
trouble to me in my march from Hanover Road than the whole of the
truck, ox-waggons included."

_B._ "I know them. I knew that man's character from the tilt of his
hat and the cut of his breeches. He will probably prove a good
swashbuckler if kept in his place. But he came up here to divide
authority with me, and only one man can command this crush, and only
one man is going to. These fellows, if you let them, always become
saucy as soon as they pin ostrich feathers into their hats. They are
welcome to the feathers, but they must drop the sauce. So cut along,
Mr Intelligence, and see that you get that troop up to time. I don't
mind if you lose it; but you must be back yourself sometime to-night.
I want a reliable guide to take me anywh