eed to
mind; he will sleep a great deal for days, till this state of exhaustion
has passed off. My dear boys, what a night we had! I wonder that any
of us are alive."

"There were some narrow escapes, Doctor," said Roberts.

"Awful, awful; and what a morning for me! I feel as if I could do as
Bracy is doing--sleep for days; but here I am with a terrible load of
fresh cases on my hands, and my chief nurse turned into a patient--Gee's
wife. What a woman! what a woman! She must have descended from the
Amazons of old. But there, I must go; I only wanted to see that poor
Bracy was all right."

"And you do think he is, Doctor?" said Roberts.

"Sure of it, sir. He'll be back with his company before long."

He nodded sharply, and after a word or two with Gedge, who looked ten
years older for his night's work, the room was left for sleep, and the
young officers hurried off to their several duties. For there was ample
work for every one of the defenders, whose loss had, however, been
wonderfully small, the Ghazis having been comparatively helpless after
their successful entry, their attacks being repulsed by the bayonet, and
the soldiery for the most part having the advantage of the walls, while
their fanatical foes were raging about the court, repulsed at every
attempt to get on close quarters with the infidels they sought to
destroy.

As the morning wore on, and the horrible traces of the deadly fray were
rapidly removed by the fatigue-parties set to work, a soft breeze from
the mountains waited away the heavy clouds of mist, the sun came out,
and with it the horrors of the night faded away so rapidly that, had it
not been for the blackened ruins of the fodder-store, it would have been
hard to realise the fact that such a night had been passed.

Scouting parties went, out in different directions, and returned all
with the same report--that the enemy had disappeared, not a trace of
them being visible, not even one of the dead or wounded, though their
losses must have been considerable. That evening a time of perfect rest
seemed to have descended upon Ghittah, which, by the light of the
sinking sun, looked, with its magnificent surroundings of dazzling
snow-peak, verdant hill, forest, and falling water, orange, golden, and
sparkling in the reflections from the glorified sky.

"Yes, lovely, lovely," said Colonel Graves sadly, "if one could only
feel that we might lie down and sleep in peace."

"Well, can't we?"