Captain O'Hare having by this time removed his dripping garments, Smith took the opportunity to introduce his friend Dugdale.
"He's just escaped from Oxford, O'Hare; heard the bugles sounding and couldn't sit still."
"What regiment, sir?" said the captain, shaking hands. "I knew a Dugdale in the 85th."
Dugdale chuckled.
"My brother Tom, no doubt. Laid him a poodle to a pork-pie that I'd be at the front first, and here I am."
"Ah! an amachure, I preshume," said Captain O'Hare, glancing at his civilian costume. "Sure, an' I hope you'll like it, for 'tis not all beer and skittles. And that reminds me; 'tis time we cleared the decks for supper. You'll stay and take pot-luck, Mr. Dugdale?"
"Thank you, sir! but, you see—well, we had a little wager—in short, thank you, sir!"
O'Hare looked puzzled, and still more as he noticed a smile on the faces of the rest of the company.
"Never mind, Grampus," said Smith with a nudge, "they can fight it out another time, and meanwhile you've saved your breeches."
At this moment Rifleman Giles Ogbourne entered the room.