n, which to them was still undiscovered.

The storks had been brought out of the hut, and tied to a heavy log that
lay near. This had been done, partly to accustom them to the sight of
the place, and partly that they might be once more fed--the single fish
they had swallowed between them not being deemed sufficient to satisfy
their hunger.

Caspar's eyes wandered to that one that had the ring upon its leg; and
then to the ring itself--_R.B.G., Calcutta_.

The inscription at length proved suggestive to Caspar, as the ring
itself, on first seeing it, had to his brother. On that bit of brass
there was information. It had been conveyed all the way from Calcutta
by the bird that bore the shining circlet upon its shank. By the same
means why might not information be carried back? Why--

"I have it! I have it!" shouted Caspar, without waiting to pursue the
thread of conjecture that had occurred to him. "Yes, dear Karl, I know
your scheme--I know it; and by Jupiter Olympus, it's a capital one!"

"So you have guessed it at last," rejoined Karl, rather sarcastically.
"Well, it is high time, I think! The sight of that brass ring, with its
engraved letters, should have led you to it long ago. But come! let us
hear what you have got to say, and judge whether you have guessed
correctly."

"Oh, certainly!" assented Caspar, taking up the tone of jocular badinage
in which his brother had been addressing him. "You intend making a
change in the character--or rather the calling--of these lately arrived
guests of ours." Caspar pointed to the storks. "That is your
intention, is it not?"

"Well?"

"They are now soldiers--_officers_, as their title imports--adjutants!"

"Well?"

"They will have no reason to thank you for your kind intentions. The
appointment you are about to bestow on them can scarce be called a
promotion. I don't know how it may be with birds, but I do know that
there are not many men ambitious of exchanging from the military to the
civil service."

"What appointment, Caspar?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you mean to make _mail-carriers_ of
them--_postmen_, if you prefer the phrase."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Karl, in a tone expressive of gratification at the
clever manner in which Caspar had declared himself. "Right, brother!
you've guessed my scheme to the very _letter_. That is exactly what I
intend doing."

"By de wheeles ob Juggannaut coachee," cried the shikaree, who had been
listening, and und