ly I should be prepared to pay a fair sum--say 200 pounds a
year--for him, for of course no one is going to be bothered with a
boy, without being paid for it."

Carrie listened for something further to come. Then her husband
broke in:

"I see what you are driving at, Mr. Bale, and Carrie and myself
would be delighted to have him.

"Don't you see, Carrie? Your uncle means that Bob shall stop with
us, and learn the language there."

"That would be delightful!" Carrie exclaimed, enthusiastically. "Do
you really mean that, uncle?"

"That is really what I do mean, niece. It seems to me that that is
the very best thing we could do with the young scamp."

"It would be capital!" Carrie went on. "It is what I should like
above everything."

"A nicer arrangement couldn't be, Mr. Bale. It will suit us all.
Bob will learn the language, he will be a companion to Carrie when
I am on duty, and we will make a man of him. But he won't be able
to go out with us, I am afraid. Officers' wives and families get
their passages in the transports, but I am afraid it would be no
use to ask for one for Bob. Besides, we sail in four days."

"No, I will arrange about his passage, and so on.

"Well, I am glad that my proposal suits you both. The matter has
been worrying me for the last three months, and it is a comfort
that it is off my mind.

"I will go back to my hotel now. I will send Bob round in the
morning, and you can tell him about it."

Chapter 4: Preparations For A Voyage.

Bob went round to the barracks at half past nine.

"Uncle says you have a piece of news to tell me, Carrie."

"My dear Bob," Captain O'Halloran said, "your uncle is a broth of a
boy. He would do credit to Galway; and if anyone says anything to
the contrary, I will have him out tomorrow morning."

"What has he been doing?" Bob asked.

"I told you, Carrie, yesterday, he wasn't a bit like what he
seemed."

"Well, Bob, you are not going to stay at his place of business any
longer."

"No! Where is he going to send me--to school again? I am not sure I
should like that, Carrie. I didn't want to leave, but I don't think
I should like to go back to Caesar, and Euclid, and all those
wretched old books again."

"Well, you are not going, Bob."

"Hurry up, Carrie!" her husband said. "Don't you see that you are
keeping the boy on thorns? Tell him the news, without beating about
the bush."

"Well, it is just this, Bob. You are to come out for two ye