Once  safely  over  the  presentation,  the  evening
mellowed  into  frivolity,  and  it  was  pretty  late  be-
fore I  found  myself  settled  down  to  whist,  at
sixpenny  points,  in  the  ancient  familiar  way,  while
most  of  the  others  fell  to  playing  pool  in  the
billiard-room  next  door.  I  have  played  whist  from
my  youth  up  j  with  the  preternatural  seriousness
of  a  subaltern,  with  the  self-assurance  of  a  senior
captain,  with  the  privileged  irascibility  of  a  major  ;
and  my  eighteen  months  of  abstinence  at  Shreelane
had  only  whetted  my  appetite  for  what  I  consider
the  best  of  games.  After  the  long  lonely  even-
ings there,  with  rats  for  company,  and,  for  re-
"  taxation,  a  "  deck "  of  that  specially  demoniacal
American  variety  of  patience  known  as  "  Fooly
Ann,"  it  was  wondrous  agreeable  to  sit  again
among  my  fellows,  and  "  lay  the  longs "  on  a
severely  scientific  rubber  of  whist,  as  though  Mrs.
Cadogan  and  the  Skebawn  Bench  of  Magistrates
had  never  existed.
We  were  in  the  first  game  of  the  second  rubber,
and  I  was  holding  a  very  nice  playing  hand  ;  I
had  early  in  the  game  moved  forth  my  trumps


The  Waters  of  Strife  91

to  battle,  and  I  was  now  in  the  ineffable  position
of  scoring  with  the  small  cards  of  my  long  suit.
The  cards  fell  and  fell  in  silence,  and  Ballantyne,
my  partner,  raked  in  the  tricks  like  a  machine.
The  concentrated  quiet  of  the  game  was  suddenly
arrested  by  a  sharp,  unmistakable  sound  from  the
barrack  yard  outside,  the  snap  of  a  Lee-Metford
rifle.
"  What  was  that  ?  "  exclaimed  Moffat,  the  senior
major.
Before  he  had  finished  speaking  there  was  a
second  shot.
