likely to be wanted, and the lad will soon grow out of them. If there
should happen to be full-dress parade in Portugal, Cleary will put him on
as officer of the day, or give him some duties that will keep him from
parade. We may get the route any day, and the sooner he gets his uniform
the better."

Two days later Terence took his place on parade as an officer of the
regiment. He had witnessed such numberless drills that he had picked up
every word of command, knew his proper place in every formation, and fell
into the work as readily as if he had been at it for years. He had been
heartily congratulated by the officers of the regiment.

"I am awfully glad that you are one of us, Terence," Dick Ryan said. "I
don't know what we should have done without you. I expect we shall have
tremendous fun in Portugal."

"I expect we shall, Dick; but we shall have to be careful. We shall be on
active service, you see, and from what they say of him I don't think Sir
Arthur Wellesley is the sort of man to appreciate jokes."

"No, I should say not. Of course, we shall have to draw in a bit. It would
not do to set the bells of Lisbon ringing."

"I should think not, Dick. Still, I dare say we shall have plenty of fun,
and at any rate we are likely, from what they say, to have plenty of
fighting. I don't expect the Portuguese will be much good, and as there
are forty or fifty thousand Frenchmen in Portugal, we shall have all our
work to do, unless they send out a much bigger force than is collecting at
Cork. It is a pity that the 10,000 men who have been sent out to Sweden on
what my father says is a fool's errand are not going with us instead. We