The old colonel burst into a fit of laughter.
'Come—I like this! Did your father purchase?'
'No.'
'Then how did he join the Black Watch?'
'By bringing two hundred men to its ranks.'
'We are making the regiment up to two battalions—the full war establishment; if, among your emigrants you could procure as many volunteers as would entitle you to an ensigncy—'
'How many are required?'
'Five and twenty,'
'I can bring you that very number!' said I, rising and seizing my bonnet.
'Nay, not so fast,' said the colonel, laughing, and filling my glass again. 'Will they all pass the doctor's examination?'