"How far away is it that you left the man ?" "About ten miles, I should say." "Well, they are all willing fellows, but it is a serious thing to ask them to start on another twenty miles' journey, within an hour or two of getting into camp." "I think, sir, if you will allow me to go down to where the Sikhs are bivouacked, and I ask for volunteers to bring in their comrade, they will stand up, to a man." Lisle's confidence in the Sikhs was not misplaced.

As soon as they heard that a comrade, who they believed had been drowned while trying to get the wire across the river, was lying alone and wounded in the forest, all declared their willingness to start, at once.
"I will take twenty," Lisle said; "that will be ample.

I have just come down the path myself, and I saw no signs, whatever, of the enemy; still, some of them may be making their way down, to carry off their dead.

If they are, however, their astonishment at seeing us will be so great that they will bolt at the first volley." "Are you going back with us, sahib ?" "Yes, I must do so, or you would never find the place where he is lying." "We will take two stretchers," the sergeant--a splendid man; standing, like most of his companions, well over six feet--said, "and you shall walk as far as you are able, and then we will carry you.

When will you march, sahib ?" "I am going to get something to eat and drink first and, if you will fall in, in half an hour I will be with you again." "Where is Pertab wounded, sahib ?" "He is shot through the leg, three or four inches above the knee, and the bone is broken." "Did the man get off, sahib ?" "I can't say for certain," Lisle said, with a smile.