r's son.

"Yes, that will do!"

"Shut up!"

Other voices formed a chorus of angry protest.

"I knew you thought it; now I've caught you!" This from the sergeant,
who had seen hard fighting against a savage foe in Africa and therefore
was particularly bitter about the Bodlapoo affair. The welt of a scar on
his gaunt, fever-yellowed cheek turned a deeper red as he seized
Stransky by the collar of the blouse.

Stransky raised his free hand as if to strike, but paused as he faced
the company's boyish captain, slender of figure, aristocratic of
feature. His indignation was as evident as the sergeant's, but he was
biting his lips to keep it under control.

"You heard what he said, sir?"

"The latter part--enough!"

"It's incitation to mutiny! An example!"

"Yes, put him under arrest."

The sergeant still held fast to the collar of Stransky's blouse.
Stransky could have shaken himself free, as a mastiff frees himself from
a puppy, but this was resistance to arrest and he had not yet made up
his mind to go that far. His muscles were weaving under the sergeant's
grip, his eyes glowing as with volcanic fire waiting on the madness of
impulse for eruption.

"I wonder if it is really worth while to put him under arrest?" said
some one at the edge of the group in amiable inquiry.

The voice came from an officer of about thirty-five, who apparently had
strolled over from a near-by aeroplane station to look at the regiment.
From his shoulder hung the gold cords of the staff. His left hand thrust
in the pocket of his blouse heightened the ease of his carriage, which
was free of conventional military stiffness, while his eyes had the
peculiar eagerness of a man who seems to find everything that comes
under his observation interesting and significant.

It was Colonel Arthur Lanstron, whose plane had skimmed the Gallands'
garden wall for the "easy bump" ten years ago. There was something
more than mere titular respect in the way the young captain
saluted---admiration and the diffident, boyish glance of recognition
which does not presume to take the lead in recalling a slight
acquaintance with a man of distinction.

"Dellarme! It's all of two years since we met at Miss Galland's, isn't
it?" Lanstron said, shaking hands with the captain.

"Yes, just before we were ordered south," said Dellarme, obviously
pleased to be remembered.

"I overheard your speech," Lanstron continued, nodding toward Stransky.
"It was very infor