going to take it this morning. No, it was to give me the necessary pluck to go down the hatch. I said to myself, By Gad, if I have to take brandy to give me Dutch courage to face a job like that, I have sunk pretty low,' so I made up my mind that I would not touch another drop. It's a rotten job, all the same,' he continued, shivering slightly. "There were fourteen corpses to be got out this morning, and I felt very sorry for myself several times before I finished. I'll manage to stick it, though." To the great relief of every one on board, we arrived at Aden two days afterwards, with Greatorex, despite the forebodings of the others, still alive. The pilgrims were removed to the quarantine station, the vessel thoroughly disinfected, and after a few days I was allowed to go on shore. I had not long to wait in Aden. A large mail steamer was due from Australia the next day, and I booked my passage to England on her. She arrived early in the morning. I sent off my baggage, and decided to call on board the Hormuz both vessels were lying off in the roads-on my way off to her, ostensibly to say good-bye to those on board, but really to work a little scheme which I had planned. I make no pretensions to being a social reformer, and usually I believe firmly in minding my own business, but I had taken a great liking to Greatorex, and hoped that our friendship would not be the usual short-lived

one that is so often formed aboard ships. I thought that a glimpse of the sort of life which he used to lead, and a comparison between it and that which he was leading now, might tend to rekindle his lost ambition and urge him to pull himself together. The mail steamer was not sailing until 4 p.m.-I would ask him to come on board of her and have lunch with me.

He was in his cabin reading when I went on board, but he seemed to hesitate when I made my proposal.

That isn't the line that you were an officer on, is it ? " I asked him.

"Oh, no,” he replied. "I don't suppose that any one there will know me. Right, thanks very much. I'll come. You go up and speak to the old gentleman while I change."

I found the captain and the mate lying comfortably in long chairs and surrounded by piles of English newspapers. They were perfectly happy, piecing together over by over a match that had been played at Lords a month before. The chief engineer was doing some job below, but a hail brought him up to the engine-room door to bid me adieu.

Good-luck tae ye, mister," he said, squeezing my hand in his large and grimy paw; "this ought tae learn ye a lesson. Ye'll think twice afore ye tak a passage in a pilgrim ship again."

I could have told him, but refrained, that I had made a resolution some time ago to

the effect that I would never take such a passage again. Greatorex came up on the saloon deck just then, and when I saw him in a tussore silk suit, with the slightly faded school tie which he had doubtless put on as a compliment to me, and his solar topi with smart puggari round it, I could not help reflecting what an eminently presentable young fellow he looked. The old gentlemen came along to the gangway with us, bade me farewell, and wished me bon voyage with old-time courtesy. As the boat was pulling away with us, I saw them hurrying back to their newspapers, and knew that in ten minutes' time I would be out of their minds for ever, whereas C. B. Fry, or whoever happened to be scoring centuries at the time,

would remain in them for a long time.

At lunch in the first-class saloon of the liner, Greatorex, quite at his ease, sat between me and a very pretty Australian girl, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her company. Poor devil! she was probably the first lady that he had conversed with for years. Afterwards they strolled about the deck for a little while, as I had some business to attend to in my cabin. At last orders came for all those not sailing in the ship to go ashore. I walked along the deck with him, our hands met in a steady grip, and as I watched his tall figure running lightly down the gangway ladder and stepping into the waiting boat, I wondered where, if ever, 1 should meet him again.

During the next few years whenever my various duties took me to the East, and I visited such places as the Eastern Exchange in Port Said, the G.O.H. in Colombo, and the Taj Mahal in Bombay, where men congregate, I made inquiry for Greatorex, but in vain, and sometimes feared that he might have gone under altogether, as Europeans sometimes do in the East. Then came the war, and for four years I was rather busy on the Continent. After that he gradually began to fade from my memory until I met him again

last year-of all places in my own club in Town.

I recognised him almost at once, for he had changed very little either in face or figure. I rose and went toward him with outstretched hand. He took it hesitatingly, looked straight into my face, and then said politely

"You will forgive me for not remembering your name. You see I carry so many passengers during the course of a year thatGood

Lord, you, after all these years. This is the sort of meeting that makes work for the bar

man. Here, Harris," to the smoking - room waiter, "two whiskies-and-sodas, please."

We sat down at a small table and fairly beamed at each other. It was a joy to me to see his general air of prosperity and well-being. "Now tell me all about your self," he insisted.

I would rather that it had been the other way, but my modest story was soon completed, and I then listened eagerly to his. He had gone back to the ship and done some solid thinking, and decided to give himself another chance in life. For a year he remained on in the Hormuz, saving money to come home and make a fresh start. When he arrived in England he found that he still had one or two influential friends. He had got into one of the large Atlantic lines as a junior officer, got his first command during the war, and was now in one of the company's largest vessels.

I

drink. Then when I saw the other fellows round me enjoying themselves in moderation, I remembered the old chief's ideas about teetotalers and drunkards, and started in very cautiously; now I just drink normally the same as other people. I know my capacity, and work accordingly. haven't been tight since, although," with a reminiscent twinkle in his eye, "I was precious near it after we heard that the Armistice had been signed. We were doing transport work at the time, and were lying in Alexandria. Like a lot of other men, I keep up my old practice of never drinking at sea, and brandy I never touch; the very smell of it sends my thoughts back to the 'tween-decks of the Hormuz.”

"I suppose you have heard nothing of your old shipmates since you left her," I said.

"Yes, rather," he replied. "I see the two old gentlemen occasionally. They only lasted one voyage after I left them: the new second mate let them down badly, and they were pushed out. Luckily for them it didn't matter very much, for the old skipper came into a whole lot of money just at the time. They came home, and have been living together in a house out Hampstead way ever since. They were looking a bit frail, though, when I saw them last; it was in the Tube one morning last summer. They were on their way to the Oval."

It would appear that there are some attributes of civilisation from which one cannot entirely break away, even by getting as far off the beaten track as Kamchatka. The particular one of these that was troubling me when I awoke on my first morning at the fisheries was a bad head. This I was inclined to put down to the bad quality of the Skipper's cognac ; but later consideration leads me to think that the consumption of half a bottle of neat brandy at a sitting-it was taken under duress, mark you, but a half-bottle nevertheless-was rather "asking for it." Doubtless also the effect of the brandy was aggravated by the fact that I had hardly slept the whole night. I had been given a bed in the old office quarters, which, as I think I have mentioned, were infested with a noxious species of insect common to Siberia; and although I was fortunate enough only to encounter one of these and a cockroach-the mere thought of them was sufficient to keep my skin tingling and my senses agog to an extent that drove off sleep. Moreover, it was impressed upon me that those people who live in cold climates seem to develop a dislike for fresh air in their

sleeping quarters. This cabin served as dormitory for four of the Russian staff, and there always seemed to be one or other of them sufficiently awake to curse volubly at any attempt to leave the door ajar; and, as none of the windows were made to open, the atmosphere was not exactly invigorating.

Day breaks early in those parts-about 3 A.M. at that time of year, so that any idea of getting up at the crack of dawn, unless unless for some definite purpose, is worth discouraging. I accordingly passed my time in cogitating on things in general, conjuring up and threatening death to imaginary insects, and intermittently coaxing sleep, until the office timepiece indicated the approach of six o'clock. I then got up, performed such ablutions as the equipment of the place provided for-which, according to Russian fashion, meant rinsing one's extremities under the trickle from a little tap,-dressed, and went out.

Possibly, by the way, some of you may be unacquainted with Russian methods in the matter of matutinal ablutions. Of course, I am not referring to what may apply in their up-to-date hotels-if any still exist,-nor am I thinking of a