"'You carry on 'ere,' I says to the feller that was with me; 'I'm goin'
for'ard a minute.'
"'Arf a minute, an' I was in my old bunk; an' there was the cache all
right, just like I left it."
He paused dramatically; I supposed it was for histrionic effect, but it
lasted so long that I said, "And so I suppose you sent the ring to the girl
after all?"
"Oh! '_er!_" he said, with an air of surprise, "I've forgot 'er name and
all about 'er, only that she 'ad a brother in one o' them monkey-boats of
ELDER DEMPSTER'S--'e 'ad the biggest thirst I ever struck."
"But the ring?" I said. "I suppose it was there all right?"
He stopped his pipe down with his thumb, with an enigmatical expression.
"That's where the bloomin' coincidence come in," he said; "it weren't."
C.F.S.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Colonel_ (_to private told off to act as caddie_). "NOW I
HOPE YOU KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT IT. THE LAST MAN I HAD PUT ME RIGHT OFF. HAVE
YOU EVER HANDLED CLUBS BEFORE?"
_Private_.
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