the tramp, for the other was turning away,
"I've been in the Tarada Pass."

The old soldier sprang round as if the words had been a pistol-shot.

"What--what d'ye mean?" he stammered. "I've been in the Tarada Pass,
sir, and I knew a man there called Ghoolab Shah."

These last were hissed out in an undertone, and a malicious grin
overspread the face of the speaker.

Their effect upon the general was extraordinary. He fairly staggered
back from the gateway, and his yellow countenance blanched to a livid,
mottled grey. For a moment he was too overcome to speak. At last he
gasped out:

"Ghoolab Shah' Who are you who know Ghoolab Shah?"

"Take another look," said the tramp, "your sight is not as keen as it
was forty years ago."

The general took a long, earnest look at the unkempt wanderer in front
of him, and as he gazed I saw the light of recognition spring up in his
eyes.

"God bless my soul!" he cried. "Why, it's Corporal Rufus Smith."

"You've come on it at last," said the other, chuckling to himself. "I
was wondering how long it would be before you knew me. And, first
of all, just unlock this gate, will you? It's hard to talk through a
grating. It's too much like ten minutes with a visitor in the cells."

The general, whose face still bore evidences of his agitation, undid the
bolts with nervous, trembling fingers. The recognition of Corporal Rufus
Smith had, I fancied, been a relief to him, and yet he plainly showed
by his manner that he regarded his presence as by no means an unmixed
blessing.

"Why, Corporal," he said, as the gate swung open, "I have often wondered
whether you were dead or alive, but I never expected to see you again.
How have you been all these long years?"

"How have I been?" the corporal answered gruffly. "Why, I have been
drunk for the most part. When I draw my money I lay it out in liquor,
and as long as that lasts I get some peace in life. When I'm cleaned out
I go upon tramp, partly in the hope of picking up the price of a dram,
and partly in order to look for you."

"You'll excuse us talking about these private matters, West," the
general said, looking round at me, for I was beginning to move away.
"Don't leave us. You know something of this matter already, and may find
yourself entirely in the swim with us some of these days."

Corporal Rufus Smith looked round at me in blank astonishment.

"In the swim with us?" he said. "However did he get there?"

"Voluntarily, volunt