"I say, C——, how on earth did you manage that?" asked the senior Major, as he and the Colonel walked away together; "I suppose you don't want me to believe that you really did get that idea in a dream?"
"Hardly," laughed the Colonel. "The fact is, those bamboo chips were all exactly the same length; and the thief, to make sure of not getting the longest, bit off the end of his, and so I knew him at once. Take my word for it, there'll be no more thieving in the regiment while I'm its Colonel."
And indeed there never was.