first journey out of England?"

"Yes, bar winter sports in Switzerland, when I was a kid."

"Well, you will see a small bit of the world this trip; as soon as we
collect the passengers at Marseilles, and once the awnings and the moon
are up, things will begin to hum!"

"How do you mean hum?"

"We shall have sports, dances, concerts--this has always been a gay ship,
and the purser is a rare hustler. We are due at Marseilles to-morrow
morning, and we take in a cargo of the lazy luxurious folk who abhor 'the
Bay,' and have travelled overland. I'd have done the same, only I'm
frightfully hard up; three months at home, having a 'good time,' comes
pretty expensive!"

"I hope you will be a fixture in Rangoon?"

"I'm afraid not; I'm going straight up to Mandalay, but I shall be down
later, and meanwhile I'll do my best to settle you in that chummery.
I'll send a line to FitzGerald of my service; he lives there; a rattling
Irishman, with lots of brains in his handsome head, and a good sort;
there's also Roscoe, a clever oddity, and MacNab of the Irrawaddy
Flotilla--a wonderful golfer. Most of the fellows in business in Rangoon
are Scotch. Murray was in the same chummery; there were four chums till
May."

"And Number Four has gone home?"