In due time he put a coat over the waistcoat in which I lived, and was mightily proud the first time he walked abroad in his new dress.

And so things went on for nearly a year.
But one day it was evident some great excitement had come to vary the monotony of our barrack life.

Officers talked in clusters instead of drilling their men, and the men instead of doing their ordinary work crowded into the long shed to talk over the news.
And it soon came out what the news was.

The regiment had been ordered to hold itself in readiness for immediate service at the seat of war in India! What excitement there was! What cheers and exultation! What spirits the men were in, and what friends every one became all of a sudden with everybody else! Among the rest my young master's blood rose within him at the thought of fighting.

He had grown sick of the dull routine of barrack life, and more than once half repented his easy acceptance of the Queen's shilling, but now he thought of nothing but the wars, and his spirits rose so high that the sergeant on duty had to promise him an arrest before he could be reduced to order.
At night the room where we slept was a perfect Babel.