rned from the orderly
room. "You heard me say that four companies were going to relieve those
at Deennugghur. Well, I am going with them. It seems that the General is
of opinion that in the present unsettled state of affairs there ought to
be a field officer in command there, so I have to go. For myself I don't
mind, but you will find it dull in a small station like that, after the
gayeties of Cawnpore."

"I don't mind a bit, uncle, in that respect. I don't think I care
much for gayeties, but of course the move will be a trouble. We have
everything so nice here, it will be horrid having to leave it all. How
long will it be for?"

"Six months, in the ordinary state of things, though of course something
may occur to bring us in before that. Still, the change won't be as much
trouble as you fancy. When we get there you can stay for two or three
days with the Hunters till we have got the things to rights. There is
one thing that you will be pleased about. Wade is going with us, at any
rate for the present; you are a favorite of his, you know, and I think
that is the principal reason for his going. At any rate, when he heard I
was in orders, he told the Colonel that, as there was no illness in the
regiment, he thought, if he did not object, he would change places for
a bit with M'Alaster, the assistant surgeon, who has been with the
detachment at Deennugghur for the last year, so as to give him a turn
of duty at Cawnpore, and do a little shikaring himself. There is more
jungle and better shooting round Deennugghur than there is here, and you
know the Doctor is an enthusiast that way. Of course, the Colonel agreed
at once."

"I am very glad of that, uncle; it won't seem like going to a strange
place if we have him with us, and the Hunters there, and I suppose three
or four officers of the regiment. Who are going?"

"Both your boys," the Major laughed, "and Doolan and Rintoul."

"When do we go, uncle?"

"Next Monday. I shall get somebody to put us up from Friday, and that
morning we will get everything dismantled here, and send them off by
bullock carts with the servants to Deennugghur, so that they will be
there by Monday morning. I will write to Hunter to pick us out the best
of the empty bungalows, and see that our fellows get to work to clean
the place up as soon as they arrive. We shall be two days on the march,
and things will be pretty forward by the time we get there."

"And where shall we sleep on the march?"