The two men stared at him silently. Outside, the wind howled grimly, and
the rain swept against the side of the tent.

'Is this one of your little jokes, MacKenzie?' said Walker at last.

'You have often observed that I joke with difficulty.'

'But what's wrong now?' asked the doctor quickly.

Alec looked at him and chuckled quietly.

'You'll neither of you sleep in your beds to-night. Another sell for the
mosquitoes, isn't it? I propose to break up the camp and start marching
in an hour.'

'I say, it's a bit thick after a day like this,' said Walker. 'We're all
so done up that we shan't be able to go a mile.'

'You will have had two hours rest.'

Adamson rose heavily to his feet. He meditated for an appreciable time.

'Some of those fellows who are wounded can't possibly be moved,' he
said.

'They must.'

'I won't answer for their lives.'

'We must take the risk. Our only chance is to make a bold dash for it,
and we can't leave the wounded here.'

'I suppose there's going to be a deuce of a row,' said Walker.

'There is.'

'Your companions seldom have a chance to complain of the monotony of
their existence,' said Walker, grimly. 'What are you going to do now?'

'At this moment I'm going to fill my pipe.'

With a whimsical smile, Alec took his pipe from his pocket, knocked it
out on his heel, filled and lit it. The doctor and Walker digested the
information he had given them. It was Walker who spoke first.

'I gather from the general amiability of your demeanour that we're in
rather a tight place.'

'Tighter than any of your patent-leather boots, my friend.'

Walker moved uncomfortably in his chair. He no longer felt sleepy. A
cold shiver ran down his spine.

'Have we any chance of getting through?' he asked gravely.

It seemed to him that Alec paused an unconscionable time before he
answered.

'There's always a chance,' he said.

'I suppose we're going to do a bit more fighting?'

'We are.'

Walker yawned loudly.

'Well, at all events there's some comfort in that. If I am going to be
done out of my night's rest, I should like to take it out of someone.'

Alec looked at him with approval. That was the frame of mind that
pleased him. When he spoke again there was in his voice a peculiar
charm that perhaps in part accounted for the power he had over his
fellows. It inspired an extraordinary belief in him, so that anyone
would have followed him cheerfully to certain death. And though