the fun for my men? Do ye not see they'll stand?"

'"Faith, that's a rare pluckt wan!" sez Crook. "Niver mind the rocks,
men. Come along down an' take tay wid thim!"

'"There's damned little sugar in ut!" sez my rear-rank man; but Crook
heard.

'"Have ye not all got spoons?" he sez, laughin', an' down we wint as
fast as we cud. Learoyd bein' sick at the Base, he, av coorse, was not
there.

'Thot's a lie!' said Learoyd, dragging his bedstead nearer. 'Ah gotten
_thot_ theer, an' you knaw it, Mulvaney.' He threw up his arms, and
from the right armpit ran, diagonally through the fell of his chest,
a thin white line terminating near the fourth left rib.

'My mind's goin',' said Mulvaney, the unabashed. 'Ye were there. Fwhat
I was thinkin' of! 'Twas another man, av coorse. Will, you'll remember
thin, Jack, how we an' the Tyrone met wid a bang at the bottom an' got
jammed past all movin' among the Paythans.'

'Ow! It _was_ a tight 'ole. I was squeezed till I thought I'd bloomin'
well bust,' said Ortheris, rubbing his stomach meditatively.

''Twas no place for a little man, but _wan_ little man'--Mulvaney put
his hand on Ortheris's shoulder--'saved the life av me. There we shtuck,
for divil a bit did the Paythans flinch, an' divil a bit dare we; our
business bein' to clear 'em out. An' the most exthryordinar' thing av
all was that we an' they just rushed into each other's arrums, an'