ol and ungetatable. Will any man, who really knows something of
a little piece of India and has not the fear of running counter to
custom before his eyes, explain how this impression is produced, and why
it is an erroneous one?

Nasirabad marked the end of the Englishman's holiday, and there was
sorrow in his heart. "Come back again," said Ram Baksh, cheerfully,
"and bring a gun with you. Then I'll take you to Gungra, and I'll drive
you myself. 'Drive you just as well as I've driven these four days
past." An amicable open-minded soul was Ram Baksh. May his tongas never
grow less!

* * * * *

"This 'ere Burma fever is a bad thing to have. It's pulled me down
awful; an' now I am going to Peshawar. Are you the Station-master?" It
was Thomas--white-cheeked, sunken-eyed, drawn-mouthed Thomas--travelling
from Nasirabad to Peshawar on pass; and with him was a Corporal new to
his stripes and doing station duty. Every Thomas is interesting, except
when he is too drunk to speak. This Thomas was an enthusiast. He had
volunteered, from a Home-going regiment shattered by Burma fever, into a
regiment at Peshawar, had broken down at Nasirabad on his way up with
his draft, and was now journeying into the unknown to pick up another
medal. "There's sure to be something on the Frontier," said this gaunt,
haggard boy--he was little more, though he reckoned four years' service
and considered himself somebody. "When there's anything going,
Peshawar's the place to be in, they tell me; but I hear we shall have to
march down to Calcutta in no time." The Corporal was a little man and
showed his friend off with great pride: "Ah, you should have come to
_us_," said he; "we're the regiment, we are." "Well, I went with the
rest of our men," said Thomas. "There's three hundred of us volunteered
to stay on, and we all went for the same regiment. Not but what I'm
saying yours is a good regiment," he added with grave courtesy. This
loosed the Corporal's tongue, and he descanted on the virtues of the
regiment and the merits of the officers. It has been written that Thomas
is devoid of _esprit de corps_, because of the jerkiness of the
arrangements under which he now serves. If this be true, he manages to
conceal his feelings very well; for he speaks most fluently in praise of
his own regiment; and, for all his youth, has a keen appreciation of the
merits of his officers. Go to him when his heart is opened, and hear him
g