not long before he turned the power of his clear brain to work upon
military engineering. He became very keen on his chosen profession,
and at the time when Portugal was despatching troops to Brazil,
Fletcher hied himself to Lisbon, gathered together a company of young
Englishmen, accepted a Captain's commission, and agreed to sail upon a
certain day in the Portuguese Service.

His father, Colonel De La Fléchère, refused to sanction the step, or
to supply him with the money he requested for the enterprise.

"I will go without it," he resolved, and counted the hours to the
sailing of the man-o'-war.

A day or two before the appointed date a maid, who was serving him
with breakfast, clumsily dropped the tea-kettle upon his leg, scalding
him so severely that he had to take to his bed. While there the ship
sailed, and in view of Fletcher's later life, it is a striking fact
that she was never heard of again.

Though desperately disappointed, Fletcher was as keen as ever on
becoming a soldier. He returned to Nyon, and, to his unbounded
delight, learned that his uncle had procured him a commission in the
Dutch Service, of which he was a Colonel.

Eagerly he made his way to Flanders, grudging the days of travel which
kept him out of his ambition. Bent though he was in rough-hewing his
way according to his desire, Providence was surely shaping for him an
end other than he planned. On his arrival Fletcher found that peace
was concluded; his soldiering capabilities were no longer required.
Almost immediately his uncle died, and the door into the military