ain, for you would have had
to pay more than that for them, in England; and I fancy most of the
things are in very good condition, for Hitchcock only came out
about four months ago. Of course the clothes are nothing like new
but, at any rate, they are in a very much better state than those
of anyone who came here three months ago.

"I have ordered them all to be sent to my quarters where, of
course, you will take up your abode till something is settled about
you; which will probably be this evening. In that case, you will
have quarters allotted to you, tomorrow."

"Thank you very much. I shall devote the best portion of this
afternoon to trying to get rid of as much of this stain as I can,
at least off my face and hands. The rest does not matter, one way
or the other, and will wear off gradually; but I should like to get
my face decent."

"Well, you are rather an object, Stanley," he said. "It would not
matter so much about the colour, but all those tattoo marks are, to
say the least of it, singular. Of course they don't look so rum,
now, in that native undress; but when you get your uniform on, the
effect will be startling.

"We will have a chat with the doctor. He may have something in his
medicine chest that will at least soften them down a bit. Of
course, if they were real tattoo marks there would be nothing for
it; but as they are only dye, or paint of some sort, they must wear
themselves out before very long."

"I will try anything that he will give me. I don't care if it takes
the skin off."

On returning to the quarters of Captain Cooke, Stanley was
introduced to the other officers of the regiment; among them the
doctor, to whom he at once applied for some means of taking off the
dye.

"Have you asked the man you brought down with you?" the surgeon
said. "You say that he put it on, and he may know of something that
will take it off again."

"No; I have asked him, and he knows of nothing. He used some of the
dye stuffs of the country, but he said he never heard of anyone
wanting to take the dye out of things that had been coloured."

"If it were only cotton or cloth," the doctor said, "I have no
doubt a very strong solution of soda would take out the greater
portion of the dye; but the human skin won't stand boiling water.
However, I should say that if you have water as hot as you can bear
it, with plenty of soda and soap, it will do something for you. No
doubt, if you were to take a handful or two