t the English will be
strong. So many have lost men of their family, in the fighting. If
I returned, I should be a marked man. It is known that I threw in
my lot with the English, and it will be cast in my teeth, even if
no worse came of it.

"No, I will enlist in the Guides. I shall be at home with them, for
most of them belong to the Afghan tribes. I am young yet, not fully
a man, and I have my life before me. Some day, perhaps, if things
are quiet and prosperous at home, I will go back and end my days
there."

So it was arranged. One of the officers of the Guides had
accompanied General Roberts, as interpreter; and Will handed over
Yossouf to him, telling him how well the lad had served him. The
officer promised to enroll him in the corps, as soon as he rejoined
it; and also that he would not fail to report his conduct to the
colonel, and to obtain his promotion to the rank of a native
officer, as soon as possible. From Will Yossouf would accept
nothing except his revolver, as a keepsake; but Colonel Ripon
insisted upon his taking, from him, a present which would make him
a rich man, when he chose to return to his native country.

Chapter 22: At Home At Last.

The next day Colonel Ripon started with the 66th and, at the end of
the first day's march, met a messenger who, among other despatches,
carried a telegram granting him, at once, the leave he asked
for--and which, indeed, had been due, had he asked for it many
years before. His intention was to accompany the 66th to Kurrachee,
and to sail with it to England. This intention was carried out, and
the remnant of the regiment safely reached England.

One of Colonel Ripon's first steps was to accompany Will--or, as he
ought now to be called, Tom--to the Horse Guards; and to procure an
insertion in the Gazette stating that Captain William Gale, of the
66th, would henceforth be known by his true and proper name of
Thomas Ripon.

The colonel purchased a fine estate in Somersetshire and, retiring
from the service, settled down there. There was a considerable
discussion, between father and son, as to whether the latter should
remain in the army. Colonel Ripon was unwilling that his son should
relinquish a profession of which he was fond; and in which, from
his early promotion, he had every chance of obtaining high rank and
honor--but Tom, who saw how great a pleasure his society was to his
father, and how lonely the latter's life would be without him, was
r