which surrounded the recently captured fortresses, had reduced its effectives to less than half the numbers with which it opened the campaign. Both in officers and men it had suffered severely. But soldiers on service accept contingencies of this sort as in the order of things, and although such contingencies are not soon forgotten by the survivers, they soon cease to weigh on their spirits. During the preceding four months it had been actively engaged in four important sieges, and in the field operations consequent thereon. In these operations it had aided not only in inflicting serious losses on the enemy in killed and wounded, but also in the capture of upwards of thirty thousand prisoners, and a vast quantity of war material. At this time it was still commanded by Colonel Hill, an officer of high professional character, and ever at his post. Under Marlborough, Colonel Hill exhibited qualities which shortly afterwards caused him to be selected for the command of an important distant expedition. Notwithstanding which we do not find that he is mentioned even once in despatches during the many years he served in the field under that distinguished General, nor was he exceptionally treated in this respect, as during the whole of the eventful campaign of 1710, we do not find a single officer mentioned in connection with field services. It is true that two regiments were alluded to by their distinctive designations during that period, but not in consideration of their gallantry-which was conspicuous-but because they had the misfortune to be nearly cut to pieces. Decorations were not turned into burlesque in those days. They were not granted for a march up a hill and down again, or for an unopposed march through a pass and back again. When we look at the modest decorations worn by our few surviving Peninsular and Waterloo veterans, and also by those who fought through the Crimean war, and contrast them with the toy shops recently acquired in India and elsewhere, we sometimes feel ashamed of ourselves-feel as if we were degenerating, and thought a little swagger necessary.

The 11th Regiment spent the winter of 1710 and spring of 1711 at Bruges. These months were uneventful; they were not, however, wasted. Strenuous and successful efforts were made to recruit its strength and efficiency. Early in 1711 Colonel Hill was selected to command an expedition against Quebec. He received the rank of Brigadier-General and permission to take the 11th Regiment with him. It was in consequence withdrawn from Flanders. Early in April it embarked at Ostend for Portsmouth, where the expedition was ordered to rendezvous. (To be continued.)

55

CAPTAIN KINKS.

By the Author of "A Modern Greek Heroine."

CHAPTER XVIII.

It was mid August. Everybody was out of town. Tom Ewer was not, nor Jeremy Balaam, nor Mermaid, nor some millions of other people, including Captain Kinks and Mr. Glover. The Captain was talking every day of going, and Glover talked about going with him. But then there were Glover's children, daughters, by the bye, whom he ought to take, he said, to the sea-side. Only being as he was a widower, be somehow had enough of the little misses' society, and sad to say, looked forward to occasional escape from his family cares. So, though he demurred, it seemed highly probable he would in the end go with the Captain.

Should they, before they left, make another attempt to get hold of Mermaid? Glover said "yes." If, as he had no doubt, she was the Captain's daughter, how interesting it would be to take her with them. The Captain, though less open in confessing it, was as forward as Glover to recommence the search for Mermaid. But having experienced the ease with which the girl took fright, he desired that a week or two should elapse before they went again into her vicinity. While things stood thus, and the excursion to some watering-place was being postponed from day to day, the Captain received from an entirely new quarter a reply to his original advertisment for information concerning the daughter of Juanita Perez.

This was a letter dated from a small watering-place, written in a woman's hand. It mentioned his advertisment, and referring somewhat indefinitely to

information in the possession of the writer, proposed an interview, and requested an early reply. Captain Kinks immediately wrote an answer. A day was fixed on which he should call on his new correspondent, and his search for Mermaid was in consequence postponed until he had learned what the new informant had to communicate.

The origin of this letter was as follows. The firm which enjoyed the valuable assistance of the soi-disant Mr. Septimus Stanley had advanced far enough in their investigations of Captain Kinks' movements to be perfectly certain on two points. They were sure Captain Kinks knew next to nothing about the real state of affairs, and they were equally sure he was ready to catch eagerly at any clue offered to him. So it occurred to them he might be made to give evidence against himself and to show his hand. To get him to do this they were prepared to give him a little real information, enough, that is to say, to command his confidence, without in any way imperilling the secrets they held. How completely those who advertise for information are at the mercy of the persons who care to reply to them, is a thing nowhere better understood than in private detective offices. The very fact of having to seek intelligence from unknown persons, disarms the seeker of half the natural wariness which belongs to mankind. The projectors of this letter, therefore, felt very sanguine of its entire

success.

a

Among the consequences of their ruse, was the downfall of the youth, whose appetite was so astonishingly sharpened by the terrible secrets that came into his knowledge. Hitherto he had observed discreet silence respecting his interview with Tom Ewer. But the despatch of this letter becoming known to him, he thought the time had come to earn promotion by communicating to his superiors the valuable information he had gathered in the country. No one of less importance than one of the principals would he trust with what he had to tell. The results of his ten minutes' conversation with this gentleman,

were a week's wages, and prompt, ignominious dismissal.

When the day for the interview arrived, Captain Kinks and Glover went down together from London to the seaside. They found after leaving the railway station that they had some little distance to walk to the house, where Mrs. Harstone, their new informant, lived. It was a small cottage, standing at the back of a garden, a little way removed from the beach, on a road leading up one of the neighbouring cliffs. The garden, with its oval grass plot in the middle, had little to boast of in the way of horticulture. The strong air of sea breezes proved too rude for any but the hardiest garden flowers. The cottage itself looked bright and comfortable. A verandah in the fashion of some fifty years since shaded three windows on the ground floor, the door with a small portico was on the right of the verandah. Great care had been taken to persuade creeping plants to festoon the verandah and the pillars of the portico. The windows above were small, and provided with green Venetian shutters. Dainty white curtains fluttered in the breeze that entered the windows.

A tiny, and unusually intelligent looking maidservant opened the door, and at once ushered the visitors into the small drawing-room, whose windows opened on the verandah. They were kept waiting just so long as a woman of good breeding keeps visitors waiting, that she may have time for a final peep in the glass, and avoid the faintest suspicion of ever being in a hurry. The interval allowed the Captain and his friend time to take a survey of Mrs. Harstone's drawing-room. It was not furnished in the fashion that now prevails, but in the more airy, if less artistic, one of a few years ago. Yet its appointments harmonized well together, and gave a pleasant impression of lightness and grace. On the walls were indisputably good water-colours; things not common in small drawing-rooms. Neither of the men were much attached to books, or they might have observed that the little collection of volumes, nestled in an oak book