smiling, "but send them
farther away. Ny Deen did not plot and plan and suffer, as he has
suffered, to get those guns, and make himself master of a dashing troop
of horse artillery, to run any risk of losing it again."

"No," I said, thoughtfully; and I hurried away, feeling how right he
was.

The task did not take me many minutes; I only stopped to see three men
leading off our three beautiful chargers, and gratified myself with a
few pats on their glossy necks, before hurrying back and creeping down
by Brace's side, where I watched with him the drilling and training of
the native gunners, who, under the orders of Ny Deen, whose clothes
glittered in the sun, went slowly and fairly through the gun-drill,
making believe to carry cartridges to the gun muzzle, ram them home,
fire, and then sponge out the bores, and all in a way which went to
prove that, after a few months, they would be clever enough gunners to
do a great deal of mischief to a foe.

The proceedings were very similar to those we had seen on the previous
day, only that the troop marched by us much more closely, and I had a
better view of Ny Deen, unmistakably our syce at the barracks, but now
transformed into a gorgeously dressed, princely looking chief, mounted
on his graceful-looking Arab, whose hoofs hardly seemed to touch the
ground, so beautifully elastic was every bound as it cantered by.

I was admiring the group before me, and had turned to whisper something
to Brace, but I saw such a fixed look of misery and despair in his face
that I was silent, and felt for him, knowing, too, that I ought to have
been as much hurt at the loss of our horses and guns as he.

We crouched there, watching and listening to the dull trample of the
horses over the plain, the jingle of the swords, and the peculiar
unmistakable rattle of gun-carriage and limber. Now they halted, and
pretended to fire; now they limbered up, and advanced and retreated, and
finally, in capital order, marched down to their quarters, the guns
being parked, as before; and not till then did Brace give any sign of
his presence by giving vent to a low, deep sigh.

"If I could only think of some scheme!" I kept on saying to myself, as
I walked back with him to our little camp; but the more I tried to
invent some plan, the more hopeless it all seemed. The only idea I had
was to gather our men together in two bodies, to be hidden among the
trees, half on one side of the plain, half on the ot