f India for anything I cared; he was one of the most uneasy
creatures I ever came across."

"The Major is a good officer, Doolan, and you were as lazy a youngster,
and as hard a bargain, as the Company ever got. You ought to thank
your stars that you had the good luck in having a Captain who knew
his business, and made you learn yours. Why, if you had had a man like
Rintoul as your Captain, you would never have been worth your salt."

"You are not complimentary, Doctor; but then nobody looks for
compliments from you."

"I can pay compliments if I have a chance," the Doctor retorted, "but
it is very seldom I get one of doing so--at least, without lying. Well,
Bathurst, are you ready to turn in?"

"Quite ready, Doctor; that is one of the advantages of not caring for
races; the merits and demerits of the horses that run tomorrow do not in
the slightest degree affect me, and even the news that all the favorites
had gone wrong would not deprive me of an hour's sleep."

"I think it a good thing to take an interest in racing, Bathurst. Take
men as a whole: out here they work hard--some of them work tremendously
hard--and unless they get some change to their thoughts, some sort of
recreation, nineteen out of twenty will break down sooner or later. If
they don't they become mere machines. Every man ought to have some sort
of hobby; he need not ride it to death, but he wants to take some sort
of interest in it. I don't care whether he takes to pig sticking, or
racing, or shooting, or whether he goes in for what I may call the
milder kinds of relaxation, such as dining out, billiards, whist, or
even general philandering. Anything is better than nothing--anything
that will take his mind off his work. As far as I can see, you don't do
anything."

"Therefore I shall either break down or become a machine, Doctor?"

"One or the other certainly, Bathurst. You may smile, but I mean what I
say. I have seen other young fellows just as full of work and enthusiasm
as you are, but I have never seen an exception to the rule, unless, of
course, they took up something so as to give their minds a rest."

"The Doctor has just been scolding me because I am not fond enough of
work," Captain Doolan laughed.

"You are differently placed, Doolan," the Doctor said. "You have got
plenty of enthusiasm in your nature--most Irishmen have--but you have
had nothing to stir it. Life in a native regiment in India is an easy
one. Your duties are over i