PRINCE RICARDO. I2I

 

The king did not expect much from talking
seriously to Dick. - However, he began by
asking questions about the day’s sport, which
Ricardo answered with modesty. Then his
Majesty observed that, from all he had ever
read or heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the
fight was, to be in Africa, not in Asia.

“T really wish, Ricardo, that you would
attend to your geography a little more. It is
most necessary to asoldier that he should know
where his enemy is, and if he has to fight the
Dutch, for instance, not to start with his army
for Central Asia.”

*“* T could always spot them through the magic
glass, father,” said Dick; “it saves such a
lot of trouble. I hate geography.”

“But the glass might be lost or broken, or
the Fairies might take it away, and then where
are you?”

‘Oh, you would know where to go, or Mr.
Belsham.”’

. Now Mr. Belsham was his tutor, from Oxford.

“But I shall not always be here, and when

I die——”
- “Don’t talk of dying, sire,” said Dick. ‘‘ Why,
you are not so very old; you may live for years
yet. Besides, I can’t stand the notion. You
must live for ever!”

“That sentiment is unusual in a Crown
Prince,” thought the king; but he was pleased
for all that.

9