eturned alone,
and was rewarded by finding my fair friends arrived in safety; and
hearing that the two strangers had explained, in the gentlemanly terms
of an apology, that they had mistaken them for acquaintances.

Consequently I am thankful that I did not execute my design of assault
and battery, more especially as I am the happy receiver of many handsome
compliments on all sides upon the tactfulness and _savoir faire_ with
which I extricated myself from my shocking fix.

At which my countenance beams with the shiny resplendency of
self-satisfaction.

VII

_How Mr Jabberjee risked a Sprat to capture something very like a
Whale._

I am this week to narrate an unprecedented stroke of bad luck occurring
to the present writer. The incipience of the affair was the addressing
of a humble petition to the indulgent ear of Hon'ble _Punch_, calling
attention to the great copiousness of my literary out-put, and the
ardent longing I experienced to behold the colour of money on account.
On which, by returning post, my parched soul was reinvigorated by the
refreshing draught of a _draft_ (if I may be permitted the rather
facetious _jeu de mots_) payable to my order.

So uplifted by pride at finding the insignificant crumbs I had cast upon
the journalistic waters return to me after numerous days in the improved
form of loaves and fishes, I wended my footsteps to the bank on which my
cheque was drafted, and requested the bankers behind the counter to
honour it with the equivalent in filthy lucres, which they did with
obsequious alacrity.

[Illustration: "WAS ACCOSTED BY A POLITE, AGREEABLE STRANGER."]

After closely inspecting the notes to satisfy myself that I had not been
imposed upon by meretricious counterfeits, I emerged with a beaming
and joyful countenance, stowing the needful away carefully in an
interior pocket, and, on descending the bank step, was accosted by a
polite, agreeable stranger, who, begging my pardon with profusion,
inquired whether he had not had the honour of voyaging from India with
me in the--the--for his life he could not recall the name of the
ship--he should forget his own name presently!

"Indeed," I answered him, "I cannot remember having the felicity of an
encounter with you upon the _Kaisar-i-Hind_."

The Stranger: "To be sure; that _was_ the name! A truly magnificent
vessel! I forget names--but faces, never! And yours I remember from the
striking resemblance to my dear friend