Captured at Tripoli: A Tale of Adventure

WELL, we've seen something of the fun, exclaimed Hugh Frazer, as the last of the 89th Regiment of Infantry filed through the jealously-guarded gateway of the Naval Yard at Naples. Come on, let's get back to the front, and we may see the transports leave the bay. Hugh
Hugh Frazer and his stanch companion, Gerald Kit-by, were staying with the former's parents at the Hôtel des Etrangers. Both lads had been spending their summer holidays in Italy, and were leaving for England at the end of the week. They ought to have been already at school, but a slight attack of malaria, which with the utmost impartiality had affected both boys, had prevented them from returning to Rossall at the commencement of the term.
Hugh, more generally known to his companion as Rags , a nickname bestowed upon him by reason of his hot-headed impulsiveness, was fifteen years of age, tall, well-proportioned, and dark-featured. Gerald, on the other hand, was three inches shorter, slightly inclined to stoutness, and of a fresh, ruddy complexion. His face almost invariably wore a smile, with the result that his schoolfellows promptly dubbed him Sunny Jim , a nickname that eventually was fined down to Jim . He was six months younger than Hugh, and so even-tempered that he seemed eminently suited to his companion's impulsive and masterful nature.
Threading their way through the dense crowd of enthusiastic Neapolitans who still pressed round the now fast-closed gates, the two lads set off at a quick pace, in spite of the sweltering heat of that October afternoon.
Look out, Rags! shouted Gerald, pulling his chum backwards just in time to escape being run down by a motor car that, packed with officers of the Bersaglieri, was pelting down the Strada Marina at a break-neck pace. The lads drew back, and found themselves under the noses of a couple of mules, which a fluent-voiced Neapolitan cabby was urging in the opposite direction. Lustily tugging at the ropes that did duty for reins, the man succeeded in pulling up, to the accompaniment of a volley of abuse directed towards the cause of the obstruction. The sudden halt caused the sole occupant of the ramshackle cab to thrust his head through the open window in order to ascertain the reason for the delay, and to Hugh Frazer's surprise he recognized an old friend of his family, Arthur Reeves.