"That's not a regulation rifle you have got there," the major said.
"No, sir, it is one I brought from England with me. I have been accustomed to its use, and as it is the regulation bore, I thought perhaps I might carry it."
"It's a trifle long, isn't it?" the adjutant asked.
"Yes, sir, it's just two inches too long, but I can have that cut off by a gunsmith."
"Very well; if you do that you can carry it," the major said. "Of course it's much better finished than the regulation one, but not much different in appearance. Very well, we pass the horse." Ronald saluted and rode off to the stables.
"He hasn't come out penniless, anyhow," the major laughed.
"No, that's quite evident," the adjutant agreed. "I dare say his friends gave him a hundred or two to start on a farm, and when he decided to join us he thought he might as well spend it, and have a final piece of extravagance."
"I dare say that's it," the major agreed; "anyhow I think we have got hold of a good recruit this time."
"I wish they were all like him," the adjutant sighed, thinking of the trouble he often had with newly-joined recruits.
"By the way," the major said, "I have got word this morning that the draft is to be embarked to-morrow instead of next week. They took up a ship for them yesterday; it seems our men there are worked off their legs, for the Kaffirs are stealing cattle and horses in all directions, and the colonists have sent in such a strong letter of complaint to the Governor that even he thinks the police force on the frontier ought to be strengthened. Not, of course, that he admits in the slightest that there is any ground for alarm, or believes for a moment that the Kaffirs have any evil intentions whatever; still, to reassure the minds of the settlers, he thinks the troops may as well go forward at once."