from his segar. "Come, you'll never mend the matter by taking cold here
in the night air; where do you put up? I'll see you home."

"D--n you, you take it easy," said the colonel, bitterly. Philip could
afford to take it easy, for he had most of the colonel's money in his
pocket. In fact, the unhappy votary of Mars was more thoroughly ruined
than his companion was aware of, for when fortune was hitting him
hardest, he had not hesitated to bring into action a reserve of
government funds which had been intrusted to his charge for specific
purposes.

"Searle," said the colonel, after they had walked along silently for a
few minutes, "I was telling you this evening about that vacant
captaincy."

"Yes, you were telling me I shouldn't have it," replied Philip, with an
accent of injured friendship.

"Well, I fancied it out of my power to do anything about it. But"--

"Well, but?"--

"I think I might get it for you, for--for"----

"A consideration?" suggested Philip, interrogatively.

"Well, to be plain with you, let me have five hundred, and you've won
all of that to-night, and I'll get you the captaincy."

"We'll talk about it to-morrow morning," replied Philip.