ay there, confused and troubled, a fresh thought struck me--
the firing? Yes, of course there was sharp firing; and I remembered now
pretty clearly I was galloping away with troopers on each side. I must
have been separated from my men in the desperate shock, and borne off by
the foe as they retreated. Yes, of course, I thought, with growing
excitement; they must have been retreating; and it was the colonel's
regiment that was firing upon us as we fled.

With these thoughts hope came back, and I could think no more, but
dropped off into a deep sleep that was greatly like a swoon.

My next recollection is of lying in that heated tent, feverish and
thirsty, and the tall, grey-bearded doctor coming in to busy himself
about me, and at every touch of his hand seeming to give me ease.

Then I slept again, and slept--ah, how I must have slept, and dreamed of
Brace being safe, and coming sooner or later to rescue me from that
silent tent where I saw no one but the doctor and a couple of Hindu
servants, who never answered any questions, only salaamed and left the
tent if I spoke!

Neither could I get any information from the doctor. All I knew grew
from my own calculations, and these taught me that I was the prisoner of
some great chief who seemed to be reserving me to exchange for some
other prisoner, perhaps to act as a hostage in case he should happen to
be captured. I could come to no other conclusion; for so far the custom
had been for the revolted people to murder and mutilate every one who
fell into their hands.

I was lying there one afternoon, wondering where the tent could be, and
why it was that everything was so silent about me. It was puzzling now
that I was not quite so weak and feverish; for this could hardly be a
camp in which I was a prisoner. If it had been, I should have heard the
trampling of horses and the coming and going of armed men. Then I
seldom heard voices, save those of the servants who came to attend upon
me by the doctor's orders. But I knew one thing--the tent in which I
was sheltered had been pitched under a great tree; for at certain times,
when the sun was low, I saw the shadows of leaves and boughs upon the
canvas; and when the wind blew sometimes at night, I had heard the
rushing sound through the branches.

Feeling a little better as I did that afternoon, I had quite made up my
mind to attack the doctor when he came, as I knew he would later on, and
try hard to get some partic