A O'LEARY-A FRIEND IN NEED. 'Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Hamlet, Act i. GLORIOUS August day in the year of grace 186, the summer vacation is over, and the cadets of the Sandhurst Military College are returning from leave. To a looker-on the scene is animated and pleasing. There is the College with its magnificent parade-ground stretching down to the broad lake. Extensive woods. border the lake and encircle the open space upon which the main buildings of the College are erected. Away to the left lie the racquet courts and the gymnasium, and a little to their right rear the 'Redoubt,' with the Union Jack flying above its grassy parapet. Flys, hansoms, and dog-carts pour down the drive, which leads from York Town past the lake and across the parade-ground up to the College. The grand entrance is crowded with cadets, some in uniform, but the majority still wearing plain clothes. Old cadets greet each other with friendly warmth, or chaff the Johns,' as the last-joined students were designated in those days. It is not a difficult matter to distinguish these latter young men from the full-blown gentleman - cadets; for the Johns' lack the soldierly bearing and well set-up figures of the second and third termers, and, moreover, there is a sheepish look about them contrasting with the rather impudent swagger of the old hands. The captain and subaltern of the day, genial and hearty, welcome their old friends, and criticise the new-comers. The newly-appointed under-officers, already sporting their brand new gold-cord shoulderknots, chat with their brother cadets, and talk over the prospects of the ensuing term,-a slight consciousness of their now superior grade visible in their bearing and manner. Amongst the ninety and odd 'Johns' who joined the R. M. C. that day was myself! I had quite recovered from the effects of my fall, though I still remembered poor 'Chance,' and regretted his sad end, and the valuable time I had lost. Many years have passed since that morning, but how vivid a recollection I still have of it! how lonely I felt amongst so many strangers, and how I longed to catch a glimpse of some friendly face! Brought up in a secluded country village, where everybody knew me, never having mixed with lads of my own age save Harry and Tom Belton, it was rather an ordeal to find myself landed in a strange place amongst three hundred young men varying in age from seventeen to one or two-and-twenty. I did not know a soul! The life I had hitherto led had thrown me into the society of men much older than myself, and I had imbibed their habits and tastes in no small degree. I was my cousin's constant companion when he was at home; and when he was away-for the last two years at any rate-the servants at the Manor had been in the habit of referring to me on every occasion when any perplexity arose; so I may have been said to have 'skipped my youth,' and sprung from a boy to a young man. Not that I was in the least blasé, or disinclined to associate with lads of my own age; on the contrary, I enjoyed a cricket or football match with as much gusto as any boy fresh from Eton or Rugby, and often wished for companions of my own standing; but it was rather trying to be plumped down in a fresh place with so many strange surroundings. Having ascertained from a grim-visaged old sergeant, whose breast was covered with medals, to which company I had been posted, and having seen my goods and chattels deposited in the room that I was to occupy with three other fellows, I strolled down towards the lake, feeling, it may as well be confessed, very down in the mouth. Lost in thought, I leaned over the paling and gazed into the still water, my thoughts running back to the happy life at Croppleton. My reverie was brought to an abrupt conclusion by the sudden appearance of four gentlemen-cadets, all in uniform. 'Halloa!' cried one of them, a loutish, heavy fellow, with bleared eyes and a fat, unwholesome face; 'halloa!' said he, stopping short, 'here's an unhappy - looking "John." What's the matter with you?' he added, with a coarse oath. This brusque manner of address was not calculated to make me feel at home with the dissipated individual who seemed to take such an interest in my affairs; nor was I any the more prepossessed in his favour on detecting about him a strong aroma of whisky and stale tobacco. Thought I to myself, 'If you are a fair specimen of a cadet, it is a pity I didn't try for a direct commission!' 'Why, I'm hanged if it isn't a fellow who passed in our batch last November!' continued he. 'I sat next to him all through the exam. Were you plucked, or have you been scrim-shanking, "Johnnie"?' I could always stand good-humoured chaff, and give and take it readily, but such boorish incivility was not to be brooked. Taking a steady look at my interrogator, I recognised him as a fellow with whom I had a few words at Chelsea Hospital. He had bothered me to accompany him to some blackguard music hall, and, refusing to take 'no' for an answer, had forced me to give him a decided rebuff. The circumstance had almost slipped my memory, but his next remark proved he retained a vivid recollection of our previous meeting. 'I remember this spooney up at Chelsea,' continued he, addressing his companions. I wanted him to go to the "Sun" with me, but he was far too respectable!' 'We'll precious soon knock his respectability out of him here,' rejoined one of the others, with a sneer. 'Come, speak up, "John"! what kept you back last term?' 'Look here, my friend,' I replied, with considerable warmth, feeling nettled at their insolent manner, if you want to ask a question, ask it civilly, and then you'll get an answer. And have the goodness to understand that my name is not "John." A roar of laughter greeted my speech, for my ignorance of the manners and customs of Sandhurst cadets prevented my knowing that 'John' was a generic title applied to all first-termers. 'What a fool the fellow is!' ejaculated the last speaker, turning away with a grunt, expressive of great disdain. 'Come along, O'Leary, let us go and see old Penfold.' I determined to keep my temper, not caring to be drawn into a quarrel before I had joined twenty-four hours, but my Chelsea acquaintance was equally resolved on showing his authority, and, though his friends tried to get him away, he refused to let me alone; it was evident that he had drunk just sufficient to make him obstinate and vicious, though he was sober enough to know perfectly well what he was about. 'Listen to me, "John," said he in very commanding |