strength was not sufficient to keep my captive for a moment. He did not seem in the least disconcerted at the outcry, nor was he rough; he very gently but firmly moved my arm, which I fondly hoped was going to prove a barrier, shook himself free from the other detaining hand, paused to blow out the nightlight, and was gone ages before the valiant watchman had come to my assistance. Our cries had awakened a young aide-de-camp sleeping near, who immediately volunteered his services. He returned. to his own tent for his revolver, and whilst he and the watchman were searching outside for the robber, I heard the report of a pistol, which awakened the whole camp. This was followed by loud yells and howls of pain, and my new ally ran past me with a very pale and scared face, saying, 'Oh, I'm afraid I've shot your watchman-I'm going for the doctor; and so he had, but fortunately only in the leg. As the poor man was creeping softly round the tent, he came plump upon Captain N, who was also prowling about. My brave watchman, supposing it

was the robber, instantly took to his heels, and my hasty aide-de-camp promptly discharged his revolver at the retreating figure, and with much too good an aim. The great riddle, however, still remained unanswered, 'How did the robber get in or out of the tent?' but it was soon solved in an absurd way. My tent was soon half full of people who came to know what was the matter, and whilst I was explaining the position in which I saw the man, one of my auditors suddenly fell through the tent, disappearing as if by magic. He had leaned against the canvas wall, and it had opened from top to bottom. There was the secret door! A sharp knife had made a clean cut from roof to carpet, and as the thief slipped through, the canvas closed behind him, leaving no trace of his passage. The kelasses were the only sufferers by this adventure, for they were not given the customary backsheesh' when the camp broke up a few days later, as there was a strong suspicion that they knew more of the intended robbery than they chose to acknowledge. They came to implore my inter

cession, bearing trays of sweetmeats and wreaths of flowers to propitiate me; but I could not follow their line of defence at all, and my endeavours to get the edict, which had deprived them of their present, revoked, proved fruitless.

ABOUT DOGS.

THE worst of a pet dog is that one gets so fond of it. When old age, or accident, or disease deprives you of your faithful friend, your unfailing sympathiser, you go heavily as one that mourneth;' and cold hard people, who have never known of what true and noble affection dogs are capable, wonder that you can be so silly as to fret after a dog. But if any children who read these pages have ever had a dog of their very own, they will understand exactly what I mean. Dogs do not forget us, why should we be ashamed of preserving a tender recollection of them? If it were possible for the gates of the grave to unclose, and its silent inmates to come back

to this busy world of ours, who would stop to greet them, who would welcome their return more ecstatically than the dog they had fed and befriended? Whenever I hear a person say, 'I don't like dogs,' I distrust that person, and I would not choose him for my own friend. Whenever I see anyone, big or little, child or grown-up man, deliberately cruel to a dog, I detest them. Of course there is a great difference between pampering a dog until you ruin both its health and temper, making it a plague to everyone, and being careful and considerate of your dog-friend, seeing that it has enough food and water, warmth, and, above all, exercise. People say a dog loves best the person who feeds it. I have not found this to be the case, unless with a greedy little beast: the finest and best dogs are most attached to those who take them out for a walk or a run; and I always think, that what shows the real nobility of a dog's nature is, that if they do you a service they love you better than ever afterwards.

It is not, however, about dogs in general that I