the quarter, in the orderly-room. He's He's rather a pal of mine. I suppose there 's a push coming on, and they think we won't stick it."

"And we 're both as fit as fleas," was my reply. "Still, I suppose it had to come. It was bound to come some day," I added, "though they might have let us crock up decently, like men."

"The chief 's taking no chances-not this time," said Vignolles, briefly. "You and I are going down to Cairo on some garrison job, local transport,-carting stores and washing for the hospitals; just the same as sitting tight at home."

"Horses, I suppose, casts and crocks like you and me. By gad! I don't feel a day more than forty."

"They don't give a damn about us; I wish I'd lied when I took my commission. I was fool enough to tell the truth." And then, more matter of fact, he pursued: "A couple of young uns are coming here to-morrow. They will take all the sound camels and men away with them, and you and I, me lad, will be back numbers."

I felt it as much as he did, but of the two of us I was rather the more English.

"Well, I don't care," was what I answered. "If they don't want us, they don't, and there 's an end of it."

"I did n't join up to live in a billet and do a garrison job in Cairo," said Vignolles, brooding. "If I can't be in it, I'm not going to be out of it. They shoved me out of the yeomanry because they thought me too old; that 's how I got into this institution. Transport is n't so bad, not in open fighting, the sort you get out here; but now they 're shoving us out of that as well." For a full minute he dwelt on it.

Intelligence-wallah, a colonel.

Polite

way of getting rid of me. I looked at the chap, and he looked at me, and we both hated the sight of each other. He was one of those regulars that don't know their job, but he 'd taken the brass hat and the wages; and he knew that I knew it, and I knew that he knew I knew. No, I could n't work under a thing like that, bluffing half his time and expecting people to carry him the rest of it, and he scooping up the credit till he got found out. No, transport 's good enough for me," he ended.

We dropped the topic till we came to the drinking-troughs. There were rows and rows of them alongside a canal. Camels take five and twenty minutes to fill their skins, and though they go in lean and baggy, they come out as round as a barrel, with their sides full of it; so you must give them room to expand and not crowd 'em. We let half of the drivers fall out at a time and take a dip in the fresh water. Some went in with a net and caught gray mullet that were leaping. Fine swimmers they were, and, though not much to look at as they plodded along with the camels, they stripped like statues-like bronze statues.

Vignolles was still brooding. I remember' one curious remark he made; there was a good deal of truth in it.

"I suppose the worst day in a woman's life," he said, "is the day she realizes that men don't care a damn about her. Sooner or later it 's bound to come-the day she 's finished and the youth gone out of her. We two are a bit like that, getting fired and sent down to a garrison job."

owed a mess bill, and Vignolles suggested paying it. He drew the usual fiver and cashed a fat check for allowances. He must have let them run a few months or got tangled up over his transfer. When we returned, we got orders to dish out a full equipment to the men, marching out state and winter scale. This kept us busy till nightfall. The Gyppos were like children receiving presents off a Christmas-tree as they pranced about with their overcoats, their boots, their canvas water-bottles, their shirts,

and the rest of it. To the simple mind it was all so much treasure-trove.

At dinner Vignolles asked the adjutant whether he might take the next day in Port Said. He got his leave all right, and went off bright and early; nor had I a word or a sign of him till he turned up, three years later, that May morning in the park.

He had gone off to Port Said, but we in the depot had been uncommonly busy. Not that I was in it overmuch. I looked on most of that day, reading my death-sentence. The two young officers had turned up, and, led by the major and the adjutant, had taken the pick of the camels. The men had been vetted and inspected, all gay in their new togs. The pack-saddles had been counted out, and the coarse rope nets that go along with them and in which you sling the stuff. The forage had come in from the supply-dump on the canal. It looked like business at last. Next morning they would all start out, leaving the depot empty, with Vignolles and me behind. But no Vignolles appeared, and I was alone as I watched the long lines loading, the brutes down on their knees, the packs made fast across their humps, the rations slung into the nets; and next their long necks bobbing as they passed out with the drivers that had once belonged to Vignolles and to me, and Achmet, the bashreis, flitting to and fro on his hagheen. There were the two young officers in charge of it all, and Coldicott Pasha, the inspector himself, inspecting. Then off they marched out of the depot, then to Kantara Station and the bridge that crosses the canal, and then away into The Sinai Desert and off to Palestine. I watched them swaying down the road, a mile of them. I had little or nothing else to do. My work was over; and though it was morning, it felt like evening, like autumn, like the end of something that had been warm and rich and strong. Yes, Vignolles was right.

I turned at last and went back slowly to the empty depot. The inspector himself was in the mess-tent, a large man, one of Kitchener's men, with all the Egyptian ribbons. He had created the corps and was its father. I remember that most of us were rather afraid

of him, and silent and abashed when he sat down at the head of the long table, the major, very respectful, on one side, the adjutant, all aglow, on the other. He left after lunch, and we subalterns breathed more freely. breathed more freely. Isaacs, who did

some odd job in the store-tents, took four fingers of whisky; Hamilton, the quartermaster, was pleased because the great man had spoken to him; and the subaltern with subaltern with alcoholic objections, whose name I misremember, was hurt because he had been ignored. As one of the finished, the extinct, I had made myself as small as possible. It was only after the chief had gone that somebody asked what had become of Vignolles.

He had been to Port Said was all we knew of him.

"Humph," said the adjutant.

And that, in so far as I was concerned, seemed the end of Vignolles.

In his tent the bulk of his things were nicely packed and all in order. He had left us a home-made bed, the canvas rather busted, the frame and legs quite sound, and his mosquito net and an old uniform, as souvenirs. The mess servants collared these. The rest, after the usual inquiry and all manner of reports and writing, was duly forwarded to his next of kin. A married sister, I believe she was.

Thus ended Vignolles, who passed out of my ken till suddenly he came strolling by that fine May morning. I, poor wretch, had gone down to Cairo, just as he had predicted, and no sooner had I been introduced to the worn-out steeds and taken stock of the wagons, staff, and stables now in my charge than one of those accursed mosquitos found me out. I had a stiff dose of malaria, and went home in the spring.

Not so my friend, however. But let us listen while he unfolds his own story.

"I was a B. F.," was how he began it. "I was a B. F.," he repeated. For the benefit of the uninitiate one may explain that these initials stand for a certain kind of fool. "I always am a B. F. when I follow an impulse instead of acting according to the book. And yet, by Jove! half the fun one gets in life comes out of these impulses, and most of the pain as well, I suppose. The pain does, right enough. You remember

I went off to Port Said early that morning? I called at the bank there and cashed three checks, five pounds at a time and dated three consecutive days. The cashier said that was all he was allowed to do. Then I drew a fourth check for a hundred, and told them to collect it in London and open a credit for me when they got the brass. I dare say all that came out at the inquiry. Must have looked pretty dirty; but these things can't be helped when you 're following an impulse instead of sticking to the rules. I rather overdid it; but I was n't going to be out of the show. You knew that. When I 'd done with the bank, I had a bathe in the sea, and I lay out in the sun and thought things over. Next I went to a Greek barber's and got a fresh coat of dye, jet black; made me look ten years younger. No need to stain my face. I was well burnt, neck and all, and I 'm by way of being a brunette; had a French grandfather, regular old Othello-came from Arles.

Next I had a darned good lunch at the club and read the papers and slept and sprawled in chairs. Then I went back to the sea-front and picked up with a Syrian girl and her mama and stood them tea at the casino. Mama asked me whether I was married and told me the girl would get two thousand on her wedding-day. I liked looking at a white girl, or almost white; had n't seen one for months and months. We talked in Arabic a little, but they preferred French-more civilized, I suppose. Papa came along presently, and they asked me to visit them. The girl was round and plump and had what novelwriters call 'mysterious' eyes. The mystery is easily solved. The mystery is that there is n't any mystery. It 's all in the shop-window, so to speak. 'You will call?' they pressed me, and the mother said, 'When?' I said that, being in the army, I could n't quite tell, but, if they would give me their name and address, I would write. I gave them my

name, and then we separated. The girl was very soft and gentle, something like a dove. Mama and papa were fat and coarse. She ought to have left them behind when she went out hunting. They made one look ahead too much. Next I dined at the Marina," he pursued, "and there I met a Hollander I 'd known out East; first officer on one of their mail-packets.

One heard the camels mutter and grumble, and one or two of you fellows were snoring. I sneaked into my tent, and when I came out again I was exactly like a driver-just an ordinary Gyppo, all complete. You remember we gave the men an entire outfit that last afternoon, marching out state, winter scale. Well, I'd kept one lot back for myself. Perhaps it was this

"What war?' I asked; and then we talked rubber and old faces out yonder, and he said, if I was sick of it, he 'd take me off to the Dutch Indies.

"At your age, with your dyed hair and mustache, you 're an old fool,' he said. And, by gad! he was right. I took the last train back to Kantara, and he walked with me to the station.

"If you'd been a German,' he said, as we shook hands, 'you 'd have come along with us and got out of it. Plenty good jobs going in Java or Sumatra.' I grinned at that.

""Not me!' I said. 'So now you know who 's going to win the war?' He looked at me for quite a while before he tumbled to it and laughed. Thickheaded fellows, these Dutchmen.

"At Kantara I sat out on the bank of the canal and smoked a pipe and felt very happy. You see, I'd taken my line, burnt my boats, knew exactly what I was in for. And I was n't going to be out of it; I 'd got round that corner. I enjoyed the moon, the few big stars that held their own with it, and all that ghostly splendor. The bridge was up, and great ships with their search-lights blazing came and went, like ghosts of ships that once had ridden clear under the sun. I heard the train start from the station on the eastern side, the one that runs bang through the desert into Palestine. I heard it till I lost it. I heard the challenges of sentries on the other bank and fellows answering; and then at midnight I went back to the depot. Our watchmen were asleep as usual; they always went to sleep after the orderly officer had made his last round. You can't expect a Gyppo to keep awake unless he feels like it, and these nabatchis had been on duty all day. There was nobody about.

Ali Selim, one of my drivers, had to go short. I pinched his togs and waterbottle and blanket-the whole blooming outfit. He made a bit of fuss, but I said 'Tamam,' and he trusted me. Ali Selim and I were rather pals; all my men and I were rather pals. You see, I could talk to them and understand them. They liked me in their way. You can tell that by the songs they sing as they go marching. You remember how one of them improvises a line, and the others all repeat it, and there 's a refrain to match, which comes over and over again? They 're poets in a primitive, easy way of their own. They used to sing very nice things about me to my face, and I believe they meant them. You got it, too. There was one day when you'd walked into them pretty heavily; they 'd let the lines get a bit musty, and the adjutant had made a fuss, and you 'd passed it on, cursed and damned 'em uphill, I suppose, and tried to talk to 'em. They made a song about you that day. "This man is a bore,' it began, that 's about the gist of it in English,-'his wife deceives him, and his children are another's.' I don't suppose you knew what they were yapping about; in fact, you said you liked to hear them singing as they marched. I did n't put you wise, but I told Achmet, the bash-reis, that if they sang more of that particular ditty, they 'd be flogged, and that you were a noble officer who had done his duty. They all grinned, and changed the subject, and pretended to be sorry and repentant. You know what kids they are."

"And Ali Selim?" I suggested as he paused over this anecdote and smiled to himself a little as much as to me. Vignolles resumed:

"Oh, yes. I thought you 'd be inter

ested. Well, here was I, and here was Ali Selim, whose togs I 'd pinched. He was a middle-aged man who 'd married a young wife, a virgin. He 'd found the money for that, but he had n't found the money to have his fantasia. That's the wedding celebration, the bridal night, the drums and dancing, the feast, and all the rest of it. If you marry a widow or a divorcée, she can go without; but a young girl has to have her fantasia. It costs money, and the bridegroom has to pay; he 's introduced to his bride and the joys of paradise as soon as it is over. Ali Selim had n't the money to pay for his fantasia; that 's why he joined the camel transport. He meant to earn it with us and go back home and have his wedding-day in earnest. So far he'd only put his name to the contract and handed over the money for the bride. When his time was up, he was going back to his village and have his fantasia and moons of bliss. The old dog told me all about it. 'A virgin, highbreasted.' Being a villager, of course he 'd seen her; they wear their veils only when they go into the towns.

"I'd fixed up with Achmet, the bashreis, that Ali Selim was to be one of the picket on that particular night. I found him fast asleep in the forage bin and dreaming of Aziza. He was a tall, dried-up old fellow, a bit like me, but, I dare say, twenty years younger. They age more rapidly than we do. I shook him awake, and he came to with a start, and when he saw it was only another driver he began to be very rude. But having cursed my religion and said the worst about my father, he suddenly realized that I was his zabet and pulled himself together.

""You hop off to your tent,' I said, 'and get your things together and come back here. Then you can go to your village and have your fantasia. Here are twenty pounds for you,' and I showed him the notes in the moonlight.

"Hader, Effendim,' said he, and went off. He asked no questions; it is not their way. They 've been slaves, or something near it, for so many thousands of years that they still believe in miracles.

"Ali Selim came back with his few belongings.

""Now give me your identity disk,' I commanded. He took it off his neck, and I hung it round my own. Then I handed him the twenty pounds. He smiled all over his face and stowed the money away inside his galabiah. 'Now you must go,' I said. 'If you are careful and keep away from the canal, you'll be home in a couple of days.' His village was a place called Abu Zeid, not far from Zagazig. He grinned a confident grin; he was sure he could make it. I went with him as far as the marsh on the edge of the depot. "There are fishermen and boatmen on the water above here,' I said; 'any one of them would help you.'

66

'Have no fear, Effendim,' he answered; and then he took my hand, and I let him kiss it. It is their custom. 'My own father has not been to me as you have been,' he said; and the old dog meant it-I think he meant it. You know, I always liked these men; they were like children," and Vignolles, grown thoughtful, puffed away at his cigar for a long moment.

"I had no fear," he resumed. "Once clear of the depot and if he kept away from what we called the canal zone, Ali Selim would be all right. One Gyppo in a dirty galabiah is very like another. I went back to the lines and took his place, and next morning I fell in with the others and was given my two camels and out I marched with the rest. You may have seen me. I certainly saw you, and our young friend the adjutant, pink and proud of himself. I'd taken a rise out of him at last! Made me chuckle; did n't know what a fool I was making of myself just then. It is possible that some of the Gyppos spotted me, but to them it would be some deep white man's game, and they 'd naturally keep out of it. I just carried on as though I were Ali Selim. I had his kit, and the identity disk round my neck was stamped with his number, while my own was hidden away in my belt. You looked as though you had a proper old hump as we came trailing by; but, by George! you were the wise man, and I was all kinds of a damned old fool." Here he paused and let me see to the end how he had managed it.

"We marched to Karm, clean across