CHAPTER 13: The V.C.
The colonel was standing, surrounded by his officers.
"I welcome you back, Mr.Bullen," he said, as he shook the lad's hand heartily, "in the name of the officers of the regiment, and my own.

We are proud of you, sir.

How you escaped death, we know not; it is enough for us that you are back, and are safe and sound.
"Your deed, in saving Colonel Houghton's life at what seemed the sacrifice of your own, had been a sore trial and a grief to all of us.

No doubt existed in our minds that you had been cut to pieces, and you seem to have almost come back from the dead." The other officers then crowded round him, shaking his hand and congratulating him on his escape.
"Now, come in and tell us how this miracle has come about.

We can understand that you have been held as a hostage, but how is it that you are here?
"Now, do you get up on a chair, and give us a true and faithful account of all that happened to you, and how it is that you effected your escape." "I did not effect my escape at all," Lisle said, as he mounted the chair; "I was released without any terms being made and, for the past three months, have been treated as an honoured guest by the Afridi chief into whose hands I fell." "Well, tell the story from the beginning," the colonel said; "what you have said only adds to our wonder." Lisle modestly told the story, amid frequent cross questioning.
"Well, there is no doubt that you were lucky, Lisle," the colonel said, when he had brought his story to a conclusion.