nking. It was indeed a tantalising
position, for, glittering and sparkling in the sun, there before them
flowed the bright river, no drop of whose waters could be reached on
account of the thronging enemy.

"I will see to it at once," he said, quietly; and as Miss Linton left
him, Tom Long came up.

"We must have a well dug at once," he said. "Take charge here, Long,
while I pick out a place."

Ensign Long assumed the command, but now without any of his old
consequential airs. Adversity was taming him down, and to his surprise
he found himself talking in a very different tone to his men, who
yielded a readier obedience than of old.

Captain Smithers was not long in selecting a place for the well, and in
a very few minutes a squad of men were at work, some digging, others
bearing off the earth in baskets to pile up in front of weak places and
add to their strength.

It was a hard call upon the men, that digging; but even while they
worked the demand for water arose, and they slaved at their task,
knowing the tortures that waited them should they not succeed.

Every man worked in turn, except those badly wounded, though even some
of those carried away the baskets of earth.

Among others, Private Gray was ready to aid in this way, after vainly
trying to handle a spade, a task rendered impossible by his wound. He
was hard at work over his work, carrying basketful after basketful with
one hand, when Captain Smithers came up, saw how he was striving, and
stood looking on for a few moments.

"We shall have to put off your court-martial yet, Gray," he said grimly.
"Give me that basket. Sit down awhile."

Gray was ready to resist, but his officer's words were law, and sitting
down to rest, and wipe the streaming perspiration from his face, he
watched his captain slave away at the toil with the others, for in those
perilous times show and uniforms were forgotten.

It proved to be a harder task than had been anticipated. Captain
Smithers had expected to find the subsoil of the island all soft
alluvial earth, in which, from the neighbourhood of the river, there
would be an abundance of water. It had never occurred to him that if
the island had been of soft earth it would long before have been washed
away. It was found to be rock at a short distance down, composed of a
soft limestone, through which they had to chip their well.

A dozen times over alarms of attack--some real, some false--were given,
when spade,