tion then would be that, as a test, we
arranged a night together for a surprise attack, our corps here
acting as a friendly foe.

"With so gallant an enemy I feel a diffidence in discussing the
bare contingency of our success. But it may reassure the
non-combatant portion of your population in East and West Looe
if I add that 72 _per centum_ of my corps are married men, and
that I accept no recruit without careful inquiry into character.

"By direct assault I know you to be impregnable. The reef off
your harbour would infallibly wreck any ship that tried to
approach within the range of your battery (270 point-blank, I
believe); and my experience with a picnic party last summer
convinced me that to discharge the complement of even half a
dozen boats by daylight on your quay requires a degree of method
which in a night attack would almost certainly be lacking.
Our boats would not be flat bottomed, but only partially so:
enough for practical purposes.

"I do not apprehend any casualties. With a little forethought we
may surely avoid the confusion incident to a night surprise,
while carrying it out in all essentials. But I may mention
that we have a well-found hospital in Troy, that we should bring
our own stretcher-party, and that our honorary surgeon,
Mr. Hansombody, is a licentiate of the Apothecaries' Hall, in
London.--I am, my dear Pond, yours truly,"
"Sol. Hymen (_Major_)."

"Confound this fire-eater!" sighed Captain Pond. "I knew, when they
told me he had founded a hospital, he wouldn't be satisfied till he'd
filled it." Yet he could scarcely decline the challenge.

"My dear Major,--In these critical times, when Great Britain
calls upon her sons to consolidate their ranks in face of the
Invader, I should have thought it wiser to keep as many as
possible in health and fighting condition than to incur the
uncertain risks of such a nocturnal adventure as you propose.
I think it due to myself to make this clear, and you will credit
me that I have, or had, no other reason for demurring. It does
not become me, however, to argue with my superior in military
rank; and again, the tone of your last communication makes it
impossible for me to decline without bringing the spirit of my
Corps under suspicion. I cannot do t