where the lady has preferred to do so, something in this manner: "I love you," he says: "will you be my wife?" To which she replies "Yes."'

And has my little puss been taking part in it?' I asked, looking down into Clare's face affectionately.

She blushed as she answered, 'Yes, papa.'

Mr.

I crossed to where the other stood, and took his hand. Panton,' I said, 'you have made me very happy. I am proud to welcome you as my son-in-law.'

'Thank you,' he replied, beginning to laugh in his old fashion, 'you're awfully good.-By the way,' he continued, 'I may as well set you right at once as to a slight misconception. You seem to have caught my name imperfectly. It is true that I take twothirds of it from the relative who left me the Wiltshire property, but my full title is Joseph Panton Brown.'

'Brown,' I stammered in a tone of horror, not Brown--' 'The son of your old schoolfellow-yes, the same.'

The blood rushed to my head, and I felt as if I should choke as I turned angrily to Clare. And the letter you received on Sunday――'

Came from me,' he interrupted, telling Clare that I had determined to venture here myself and lay siege to the citadel. And, by Jove,' he continued, giving me a slap on the back, 'it's well I did so, else I should never have known what a powerful ally I had in my future father-in-law.'

Certainly his manner was offensive, but what could I do?

T. MALCOLM WATSON.

6

Who Cut the Wires?

Ir flaming advertisements and prospectuses could have done it, the prospects of the Great Dhirsuti Gold Mining Company' were placed beyond the possibility of failure. Dhirsuti is to the northeast of India. The number of English shareholders in the concern was tremendous, and the Anglo-Indian public had also invested more sparingly in an enterprise which-to quote the prospectuswould totally revolutionise the northern frontier of the Great Indian Continent, cause an influx of population from all parts of the world to the fertile slopes of the Himalayas, and (this was probably the most important point) yield a sure return of from twenty to thirty per cent. to the coffers of the company.'

We officers of the 23rd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry knew and cared nothing about the mines which were to supply this good fortune to the lucky shareholders. But it so happened that our regiment, among others, had been given the task of punishing some of the hill-tribes of Eastern Bhutan, where Dhirsuti was situated. These Bhutanese hillmen are mostly robbers, and had been constantly foraging down the banks of the Brahmaputra river. Consequently representations' had been made to the barbarous Bhutia chieftain; but at last it was resolved to storm the 'Dwár' fastnesses, as they are called, and annex the whole lot of savages and their country too. We had been encamped for some days at Bijni, a considerable frontier town, consisting of mud huts and rice swamps to a great extent. Here dwelt a Chief Commissioner.'

6

Colonel Macgregor commanded our column; as far as I recollect now, there were three columns operating, consisting of about two thousand men in all. A large force, but then the independent Bhutia chief who was giving all this trouble ruled over a huge country, and I suppose it was thought the hill-robbers would defend their mud forts with vigour.

On this expedition Johnny Smithers and I had the same tent, Johnny being adjutant of our regiment. How on earth he managed to creep into the position nobody could understand. He was a relative of some secretary to Government at headquarters, so that may have had something to do with it.

There is no need to dilate on the actual fighting which took place, as that has very little to do with my story. As the other columns had not arrived, the Colonel boldly decided to attack

alone, seeing that Bijni was rather a pestilential hole to stay long in, and his sick-list was getting big. Our march to attack the forts led through tracts of sál forest and rice and mango swamps; but to our great relief we got out of this hot region on to an upland district of limestone rocks, covered with great fir-forests, which sloped right up to the mountains. One day's march of twenty miles took us to within striking distance of the enemy. The next day his forts were ours, and his rabble utterly routed. The earthworks were not strong, and were crowned only with a stockade of sticks and prickly-pear boughs. Our list of killed and wounded was very small, and the whole affair turned out less arduous than had been expected.

The Colonel wanted to teach the presumptuous Rajah a lesson, so next day saw me scouring the country in pursuit, in company with a number of my men. It was no use attempting a cavalry pursuit in such a hilly country; and it would be of no interest to tell how we dispersed one body of the enemy who offered to make a stand, and burned one or two villages. When we all got back to camp, we found that the other columns had arrived, a little too late. Also I found that Johnny Smithers, luckier than I, had been reaping the fruits of victory, idling at the extemporised camp, and doing really next to nothing-which exactly suited him.

"The Colonel was cock-a-hoop about the affair, I can tell you,' he said; you should have seen the telegram he sent off to the Commissioner.'

And how about the gold mines? What has this to do with the Great Dhirsuti Gold Mining Company'? A great deal, as you will shortly hear, and you must remember that we had now cleared the country in which the auriferous deposits lay of the only obstacles to the successful working of whatever mines were made-namely, the Bhutan natives.

I have said Bijni was the town from which we drew supplies. It was thirty miles behind us now. The Colonel had done nothing to utilise his field telegraph, which he regarded as a new-fangled invention, beyond wiring the fact of victory. Like most military men, he positively hated the idea of being liable to receive a

message, just when he was about to engage, ordering him to do nothing of the sort. So the Colonel used the wires as sparingly as possible.

Still it was now four days after the fight, and we all began to think it odd that no message of congratulation to the troops, or even of bare acknowledgment of our success, had been flashed from Calcutta or Bijni to the camp. Early in the morning of the fifth

day, accordingly, Johnny was sent by the Colonel to trouble the high repose of the telegraph operator, a stupid-looking half-caste who had been recommended by the post-office authorities at Delhi. He boasted a junior assistant-and this was all our telegraph staff! Smithers and I, after leaving the message to be transmitted, quitted the tent. But a few minutes later the fellow came running after us, apparently in a high state of excitement.

"What's the row now?' observed our phlegmatic adjutant.

'Oh, lieutenant!' exclaimed the breathless telegraphist, 'the wire seems to be wrong-will you tell the Colonel ?-the telegram cannot be sent. I have tried to send it, but my instrument will not work; I am sure it's not my fault.'

'What's the cause of the stoppage?' asked the adjutant, who apparently regarded the electric current as a kind of useful fluid which could be turned on and off, through pipes.

'I'm sure the wires are cut, lieutenant!' in a most portentous whisper.

When the disquieting intelligence was handed on to the Colonel, he used some unquestionably powerful expressions, and then ordered the adjutant and myself to take half a dozen men and ride off to see where the break had occurred. Of course Johnny and I were glad of the lark, so off we set.

6

"I say, old fellow,' said Smithers before we had proceeded a couple of miles, at a foot's space, owing to the country, what's the matter with my horse? Don't he seem lame?'

And on examining him, that certainly seemed to be the fact. But I was still more astonished at the condition of my own brute. He could hardly limp along—yet both horses had been in the stable for days! Luckily our Syce (groom) was riding a nag behind us— and we turned to him for an explanation of the mystery.

The Syce professed total ignorance, and most emphatic surprise. 'The sahibs' horses lame! The sahibs' horses had not been ridden for a week-he was sure. Perhaps it was the sandflies which

Sandflies be blowed!' exclaimed Johnny. The brutes are both as lame as they can step.'

We dismounted and examined the animals' legs. There were a lot of marks of bruises and cuts on them; and my own Bucephalus, besides these traits, actually was minus a shoe on the off hind-leg.

'Look here, you beggar!' I shouted to the skulking Syce, 'do you call this the result of sandflies?' And I showed him the naked hoof. The fellow turned unexpectedly insolent, for a native. This led to further maledictions being showered on his

pate; but he bore them stoically, and laughed in our faces in a manner which made our shoe-leather itch. We had never seen the man in this character before, though we knew him to be a ne'erdo-weel. Finally, he irritated us to the point of making me tell him I would dismiss him the moment we got back to camp.

The fellow thrust his hand into one capacious pocket, and began to jingle some coins. Then to our great surprise he produced a handful of rupees and gold; it was unheard of for a native servant to have such a sum about him.

'Where did you steal that, you rascal?' asked Johnny.

'Not steal at all, sahib!' he replied. All this fairly earned; more at the camp.' And he grinned expressively.

We ordered him to get to the rear; which he did, and soon after we missed him altogether. The rascal had actually levanted, going back to the camp, we supposed. As we had threatened to dismiss him, we thought he had chosen to dismiss himself—which completed the record of his iniquities. To desert us in such a place! Then, as we slowly jogged on, we wondered what on earth could have induced him to let the horses be ridden without our knowledge-for everything seemed to show that he had done so, and that they had been pretty roughly ridden, too.

All we could do at present was to creep on, until we got to the place where--if the telegraph operator was right—we should find a breakage in the wire. But, as our luck dictated, we were destined to half ride, half walk, a weary twenty miles from camp before we were gladdened—yes, actually gladdened—with the sight of the telegraph line lying in a couple of bits on the rock.

We examined the strands carefully. There could be little doubt, from the appearance, that the line had been deliberately cut. Yet it was passing strange that the enemy should have taken the trouble to approach so near Bijni, in order to inflict damage on Macgregor's force. Perhaps, we surmised, it might be the work of some prowling Bhutan rascal, unconnected with the hill soldiers we had been attacking.

As we had now got so near Bijni, and our horses showed abject signs of being about to founder instantly, we agreed to push on instead of returning, but the last couple of leagues we were, to our great disgust, compelled to do wholly on foot, as our brutes could carry us no farther. We left them to the tender mercies of a native soldier, and got into the little town about four in the afternoon, hot, dusty, tired, and fearfully thirsty.

We noticed at once that there was an unusual bustle in the small cantonment. Any number of strange faces met us in the streets, and we were surprised to see the well-known uniform of