ere, Major, and see that everything is ready for you
on board."

When packing up his things in the morning, George Lechmere put
aside a pistol and a dagger that he had taken from the sash of a
mutineer, whom he had killed in India.

"They are not the sort of things a man generally carries at a
wedding," he said, grimly, "but until I know something of what that
villain is doing, I mean to keep them handy for use. There is never
any saying what he may be up to, and I know well enough that the
Major, whatever he says, will never give the matter a thought."

He loaded the pistol and dropped it into his coat pocket. Then he
opened his waistcoat, cut a slit in the lining under his left arm,
and pushed the dagger down it until it was stopped by the slender
steel crosspiece at the handle.

"I will make a neater job of it afterwards," he said to himself.
"That will do for the present, and I can get at it in a moment."

The wedding went off as such things generally do. The church was
crowded, the girls of the village school lined the path from the
gate to the church door, and strewed flowers as the bridal party
arrived; and as they drove off to Greendale tenants of both
estates, collected in the churchyard, cheered them heartily. There
was a large gathering at breakfast, but at last the toasts were all
drunk, and the awkward time of waiting over, and at three o'clock
Major Mallett and his wife drove off amidst the cheers of the crowd
assembled to see them start.

"Thank God that is all over," Frank said heartily as they passed
out through the lodge gates.

At half-past eight Captain Hawkins was standing at the landing
stage in a furious passion.

"Where can that fellow Jackson have got to?" he said, stamping his
foot. "I said that you were all to be back in a quarter of an hour
when we landed, and it is three quarters of an hour now. I never
knew him to do such a thing before, and I would not have had such a
thing happen this evening for any money. What will the Major think
when he finds only five men instead of six in the gig, on such an
occasion as this? We shall be having them down in a minute or two.
Jackson had better not show his face on board after this. It is the
most provoking thing I ever knew."

"It ain't his way, captain," one of the men said. "Jackson can go
on the spree like the rest of us, but I never knew him to do such a
thing all the years I have known him, when there was work to be
done; and I am s