the effect that I would never take such a passage again. Greatorex came up on the saloon deck just then, and when I saw him in a tussore silk suit, with the slightly faded school tie which he had doubtless put on as a compliment to me, and his solar topi with smart puggari round it, I could not help reflecting what an eminently presentable young fellow he looked. The old gentlemen came along to the gangway with us, bade me farewell, and wished me bon voyage with old-time courtesy. As the boat was pulling away with us, I saw them hurrying back to their newspapers, and knew that in ten minutes' time I would be out of their minds for ever, whereas C. B. Fry, or whoever happened to be scoring centuries at the time, would remain in them for a long time. At lunch in the first-class saloon of the liner, Greatorex, quite at his ease, sat between me and a very pretty Australian girl, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her company. Poor devil! she was probably the first lady that he had conversed with for years. Afterwards they strolled about the deck for a little while, as I had some business to attend to in my cabin. At last orders came for all those not sailing in the ship to go ashore. I walked along the deck with him, our our hands met in a steady grip, and as I watched his tall figure running lightly down the gangway ladder and stepping into the waiting boat, I wondered where, if ever, 1 should meet him again. During the next few years whenever my various duties took me to the East, and I visited such places as the Eastern Exchange in Port Said, the G.O.H. in Colombo, and the Taj Mahal in Bombay, where men congregate, I made inquiry for Greatorex, but in vain, and sometimes feared that he might have gone under altogether, as Europeans sometimes do in the East. Then came the war, and for four years I was rather busy on the Continent. After that he gradually began to fade from my memory until I met him again IV. last year-of all places in my own club in Town. I recognised him almost at once, for he had changed very little either in face or figure. I rose and went toward him with outstretched hand. He took it hesitatingly, looked straight into my face, and then said politely "You will forgive me for not remembering your name. You see I carry so many passengers during the course of a year thatGood Lord, you, after all these years. This is the sort of meeting that makes work for the bar man. Here, Harris," to the smoking-room waiter, "two whiskies-and-sodas, please." We sat down at a small table and fairly beamed at each other. It was a joy to me to see his general air of prosperity and well-being. "Now tell me all about your self," he insisted. I would rather that it had been the other way, but my modest story was soon completed, and I then listened eagerly to his. He had gone back to the ship and done some solid thinking, and decided to give himself another chance in life. For a year he remained on in the Hormuz, saving money to come home and make a fresh start. When he arrived in England he found that he still had one or two influential friends. He had got into one of the large Atlantic lines as a junior officer, got his first command during the war, and was now in one of the company's largest vessels. I drink. Then when I saw the other fellows round me enjoying themselves in moderation, I remembered the old chief's ideas about teetotalers and drunkards, and started in very cautiously; now I just drink normally the same as other people. I know my capacity, and work accordingly. haven't been tight since, although," with a reminiscent twinkle in his eye, "I was precious near it after we heard that the Armistice had been signed. We were doing transport work at the time, and were lying in Alexandria. Like a lot of other men, I keep up my old practice of never drinking at sea, and brandy I never touch; the very smell of it sends my thoughts back to the 'tween-decks of the Hormuz.” "I suppose you have heard nothing of your old shipmates since you left her," I said. "Yes, rather," he replied. "I see the two old gentlemen occasionally. They only lasted one voyage after I left them: the new second mate let them down badly, and they were pushed out. Luckily for them it didn't matter very much, for the old skipper came into a whole lot of money just at the time. They came home, and have been living together in a house out in a house out Hampstead way ever since. They were looking a bit frail, though, when I saw them last; it was in the Tube one morning last summer. They were on their way to the Oval.” THROUGH THE UNTINTED PANE. BY VIVIAN GORDON. II. THE HOUSING QUESTION. IT would appear that there are some attributes of civilisation from which one cannot entirely break away, even by getting as far off the beaten track as Kamchatka. The particular one of these that was troubling me when I awoke on my first morning at the fisheries was a bad head. This I was inclined to put down to the bad quality of the Skipper's cognac ; but later consideration leads me to think that the consumption of half a bottle of neat brandy at a sitting-it was taken under duress, mark you, but a half-bottle nevertheless was rather "asking for it." Doubtless also the effect of the brandy was aggravated by the fact that I had hardly slept the whole night. I had been given a bed in the old office quarters, which, as I think I have mentioned, were infested with a noxious species of insect common to Siberia; and although I was fortunate enough only to encounter one of these and a cockroach-the mere thought of them was sufficient to keep my skin tingling and my senses agog to an extent that drove off sleep. Moreover, it was impressed upon me that those people who live in cold climates seem to develop a dislike for fresh air in their sleeping quarters. This cabin served as dormitory for four of the Russian staff, and there always seemed to be one or other of them sufficiently awake to curse volubly at any attempt to leave the door ajar; and, as none of the windows were made to open, the atmosphere was not exactly invigorating. Day breaks early in those parts-about 3 A.M. at that time of year, so that any idea of getting up at the crack of dawn, unless for some definite purpose, is worth discouraging. I accordingly passed my time in cogitating on things in general, conjuring up and threatening death to imaginary insects, and intermittently coaxing sleep, until the office timepiece indicated the approach of six o'clock. I then got up, performed such ablutions as the equipment of the place provided for-which, according to Russian fashion, meant rinsing one's extremities under the trickle from a little tap,-dressed, and went out. Possibly, by the way, some of you may be unacquainted with Russian methods in the matter of matutinal ablutions. Of course, I am not referring to what may apply in their up-to-date hotels-if any still exist,-nor am I thinking of a saw me fill the basin of the bath, for that is a serious when, on the first morning, he affair, only to be contemplated on rare and special occasions, and then only at night; but I am alluding to the daily procedure as customarily followed in the ordinary bourgeois establishment. In the first place, the equipment consists not of a washstand as we know it, but of a kind of tall cabinet such as you find on ships, with a cistern concealed behind a mirror in the top part, and a basin below, to which the water is admitted by a small tap. In humbler establishments this is even modified into a kind of wallhanging affair in gaily-coloured enamel, consisting of a cistern with a tap at the bottommade very small for economy in water-and a semicircular receptacle below it. This is usually found in the bathroom, if there is any (in our fishery quarters there was none), otherwise it is tucked away in some discreet corner. Now, the first thing to learn is that you do not fill the basin with water and have a good swill in it; for it appears to be universally postulated that all these basins are dirty beyond redemption. What you do, therefore, is to cup your hands under the tap and dab the water over your face and neck in a manner which always seemed to me to be only slightly in advance of that practised by cats, and very little more satisfactory. I can still recall the concern of my Russian cabin mate on the Kolimsk on the way up The washing outfit that I found in the quarters at the fishery was of the enamelled wall-hanging variety; and, as it had evidently not been filled since the previous day, the little stream of water gave out before I had achieved much more than to pour some icy trickles down the back of my neck. What, then, with a bad night, and a bad head, and the absence of an adequate wash, it can be imagined that I did not step out-of-doors brisk, fresh, and clear of eye, ready to look the early morning squarely in the face with that aggressive self-confidence and exhilaration that usually make the early riser so obnoxious. No, I'm afraid that the best that could be said of my appearance that morning was rather decrepit and not at all satisfied with life; and my spirits were not at all heightened when I found that I had stepped into fog. I "emerged," feeling enamelled cistern under which I had, only a few minutes ago. been essaying to wash myself, and in a couple of moments I had my coat and jersey off and was dousing my face gratefully in that cold crystal water. I appeared to cause some alarm to its rightful owners, for there was a scurry of young smolts as I bent down over it; but that icily refreshing wash was the best thing that ungracious morning had so far vouchsafed to me. Yes, good old Okhotsk fog: quite a natural thing to expect during any part of the summer, and yet I somehow felt that, on this particular morning, there was something uncalled for about it. I hesitated for a moment, and then reflected that these fogs were always off the sea, so that I might possibly find it clearer a little farther inland. I accordingly started off towards the village, which lay about half a mile from the fishery along the north bank of the river, just a little beyond the end of the lagoon. About half-way to the village a little stream crossed the line of the path and flowed into the lagoon; and it was characteristic of the country and the people that, although some one from the village must have traversed that path every day during the summer, they had never bothered to put any kind of bridge across it-not even a log or a plank. In places it was narrow enough to jump over, and those who didn't care to jump could walk through it. Everybody in those parts wore high boots, which could be made watertight with bear's fat, so why make bridges? As I gazed for a moment into that limpid stream, the thought came over me of that inadequate little Feeling in somewhat better mood, I stood and surveyed the scene ahead. Certainly the fog looked a little whiter and brighter in that direction, as if there might be some sun somewhere beyond it; that was all the encouragement I could find. However, the only way to test it was to go ahead; so I crossed the stream, regained the path, and followed it for some distance where it ran close by the river bank. But the fog, instead of clearing, grew more dense I could feel it driving in after me, thick and pressing, from the sea.-and after I had groped my way through this for some distance, a horrible stench suddenly smote my nostrils. We have all heard the phrase about "erying stinking fish," but have you ever smelt them! I don't imagine, as a matter of fact, that many of you have ever smelt anything like this. It didn't simply suggest bad fish: it shouted age-old fish, completely and devastatingly putrid. It did |