He patted Bobby on the shoulder and said: "Well done, my boy!"

There followed, while the uniform was being prepared, an interval
of pure delight, during which Bobby took brevet-rank as a "man" at
the women-swamped tennis-parties and tea-fights of the village,
and, I daresay, had his joining-time been extended, would have
fallen in love with several girls at once. Little country villages
at Home are very full of nice girls, because all the young men
come out to India to make their fortunes.

"India," said Papa Wick, "is the place. I've had thirty years of
it, and, begad, I'd like to go back again. When you join the Tail
Twisters you'll be among friends, if every one hasn't forgotten
Wick of Chota-Buldana, and a lot of people will be kind to you for
our sakes. The mother will tell you more about outfit than I can,
but remember this. Stick to your Regiment, Bobby - stick to your
Regiment. You'll see men all round you going into the Staff Corps,
and doing every possible sort of duty but regimental, and you may
be tempted to follow suit. Now so long as you keep within your
allowance, and I haven't stinted you there, stick to the Line, the
whole Line, and nothing but the Line. Be careful how you back
another young fool's bill, and if you fall in love with a woman
twenty years older than yourself, don't tell me about it, that's
all."

With these counsels, and many others equally valuable, did Papa
Wick fortify Bobby ere that last awful night at Portsmouth when
the Officers' Quarters held more inmates than were provided for by
the Regulations, and the liberty-men of the ships fell foul of the