lardyce, waited the upshot. Surely his
'wegiment,' his own 'wegiment,' would not desert him if they knew of
his extremity.

* * * * *

The riderless pony brought the news to the 195th, though there had
been consternation in the Colonel's household for an hour before. The
little beast came in through the parade-ground in front of the main
barracks, where the men were settling down to play Spoil-five till
the afternoon. Devlin, the Colour-Sergeant of E Company, glanced at
the empty saddle and tumbled through the barrack-rooms, kicking; up
each Room Corporal as he passed. 'Up, ye beggars! There's something
happened to the Colonel's son,' he shouted.

'He couldn't fall off! S'elp me, 'e _couldn't_ fall off,' blubbered
a drummer-boy. 'Go an' hunt acrost the river. He's over there if he's
anywhere, an' maybe those Pathans have got 'im. For the love o' Gawd
don't look for 'im in the nullahs! Let's go over the river.'

'There's sense in Mott yet,' said Devlin. 'E Company, double out to
the river--sharp!'

So E Company, in its shirt-sleeves mainly, doubled for the dear life,
and in the rear toiled the perspiring Sergeant, adjuring it to double
yet faster. The cantonment was alive with the men of the 195th
hunting for Wee Willie Winkie, and the Colonel finally overtook E
Company, far too exhausted to swear, struggling in the pebbles of the
river-bed.

Up the hill under which Wee Willie Winkie's Bad Men were discussing
the wisdom of carrying off the child and the girl, a look-out fired
two shots.

'What have I said?' shouted Din Mahommed. 'There is the warning! The
_pulton_ are out already and are coming across the plain! Get away!
Let us not be seen with the boy!'

The men waited for an instant, and then, as another shot was fired,
withdrew into the hills, silently as they had appeared.

'The wegiment is coming,' said Wee Willie Winkie confidently to Miss
Allardyce, 'and it's all wight. Don't cwy!'

He needed the advice himself, for ten minutes later, when his father
came up, he was weeping bitterly with his head in Miss Allardyce's
lap.

And the men of the 195th carried him home with shouts and rejoicings;
and Coppy, who had ridden a horse into a lather, met him, and, to his
intense disgust, kissed him openly in the presence of the men.

But there was balm for his dignity. His father assured him that not
only would the breaking of arrest be condoned, but that the
good-conduct badge would