THE MAJOR'S COMMISSION [•BY W. CIAEK BUBSEII..] <Strand Magazine.) My namoia Henry Adams, and in 1854 I was mate of a ship of 1200 tons named the Jessamy Bride. June of that year found her at Calcutta with cargo to the hatches, and ready to sail for England in three or four days. I was walking up and down the ship's long quarter-deck, sheltered by the awning, when a young apprentice came aft and said a gentleman wished to speak to me. I saw a man standing in the gangway ; ha was a tall, soldierly person, about forty years of agj, with iron-grey hair and spiked moustache, and an aquiline nose. His «yes were singularly bright and penetrating. He immediately said :— "I wanted to see tho captain; but as chief ■officer you'll do equally well. When do^s this flhipsail?" ':■'■' *■ -; - : " On Saturday or Monday next." ■' He ran his eye along the' decks and then looked aloft: there was something bird-like in the briskness of his way of glancing. " I understand you don't carry passengers ? " "That's so, sir, though there's accommoda tion for them." "I'm out of sorts, and have been sick for months, and want to see what a trip round the Cape to England will do for me. I shall be going home, not for my health only, but on a commission. The Maharajah of Batnagiri, hear ing I was returning to England on sick-leave, asked me to take charge of a very splendid gift for Her Majesty the Queen of England. It is a diamond, valued at fifteen thousand pounds." He paused to observe the effect of this com munication, and then proceeded : — " I suppose you know how the Koh-i-noor was sent home?" " It was conveyed to England, I think," said I, " by H.M.B. Medea, in 1850." " Yes, she sailed in April that year, and arrived at Portsmouth in June. The glorious gem was intrusted to Colonel Mackieson and Captain Kamsay. It was locked up in a small box along with other jewels, and each officer had a key. The box was secreted in the ship by them, and no man on board the vessel, caving themselves, knew where it was hidden." " Was that so ?" eaid I much interested. 