down their muskets, but the eighth made a
fierce thrust at Brace, which would have been deadly, had he not deftly
turned it aside to his left with his sabre, and then striking upward
with the hilt, he caught the man a terrible blow in the cheek, and
rolled him over stunned.

Our men gave a cheer as they closed in round the sepoys, and the next
minute two stout gunners were breaking the bayonets from the muzzles,
snapping some off, and doubling the others completely back before taking
the muskets by the barrels; and then _crash, crash, crash_, the stocks
were splintered off by blows against the largest trees, while the sepoys
stood together closely guarded, their faces turning of a horrible drab
tint, as their eyes rolled in anxious quest from face to face, for they
evidently expected moment by moment to hear the order for their
execution.

One poor wretch, with his lips ashy, glanced up at the trees, and then
wildly round, as I interpreted it, to see if any one was bringing ropes;
and a shudder ran through him, and he closed his eyes, but opened them
widely, showing a ring of white about the iris as the doctor strode up.

"Soon got a job ready for me, then, Brace?" he said.

"Poor wretch!" was the reply. "I am sorry I shot him."

"I'm not," said the doctor, going down on one knee. "Why, man, his
bayonet was getting close to your breast, and I hate a bayonet wound; it
generally beats me. Humph!" he added coolly, after a brief examination
of the fallen man, who was lying motionless, "so does this," and he
rose.

"Dead?" said Brace, with a look of pain in his face.

"Quite. Come, soldier, it was in self-defence."

"Yes," said Brace slowly; "but I never killed a man before, doctor, even
in self-defence."

Then, drawing himself up, he turned to the sepoys, and giving the
regular orders, they obeyed, took a few steps, and then, as if moved by
the same spirit, halted, and threw themselves upon their knees with
their hands outstretched for mercy, the man whom Brace had temporarily
stunned by his blow, uttering a loud appeal, for all thought their end
was near.

"Stand!" cried Brace, sternly; and then he told them that if they were
faithful and obedient their lives should be spared.

They were grovelling at his feet on the instant, and a driver behind me
laughed.

"Well, I don't think I'd kiss the captain's boots like that to save
myself," he said. For one of the men was actually kissing the muddy
boots Brac