"Leave Sergeant Flanagan and ten men to wait for me, O'Rourke, and do you set out at once with the rest of the troop.

And take the cattle with you.

I shall overtake you before you have gone very far." O'Rourke's crestfallen air stirred the sympathetic Souza's pity.
"But, Captain," he besought, "will you not allow the lieutenant--" Mr.Butler cut him short.

"Duty," said he sententiously, "is duty.

Be off, O'Rourke." And O'Rourke, clicking his heels viciously, saluted and departed.
Came presently the bottles in a basket--not one, as Souza had said, but three; and when the first was done Butler reflected that since O'Rourke and the cattle were already well upon the road there need no longer be any hurry about his own departure.