Two of them fell
before Lisle's revolver. One of the natives rushed with clubbed
musket at him but, as he delivered the blow, the butt end of the
musket struck a bough overhead and flew out of the man's hand; and
Lisle, putting his revolver to his head, shot him. The other man
ran off.

Lisle had now time to look round and, to his dismay, the Sikh was
leaning against the branch of a tree.

"Are you hit?" he asked.

"Yes, sahib, a ball has broken my right leg."

"That is a bad business, indeed," Lisle said, kneeling beside him.

"It cannot be helped, sahib. Our fate is meted out to us all, and
it has come to me now. You could not drag me from here, or carry
me; it would be impossible, for I weigh far more than you do."

Lisle was silent for a moment.

"I see," he said, "that the only thing I can do is to push on to
camp, and bring out assistance. I will leave you my pistol, when I
have recharged it; so that if the native who has run away should
bring others down, you will be able to defend yourself. As,
however, you remained on your feet, he will not know that you were
wounded; and will probably suppose that we would at once push on to
join our companions. Still, it will be well for you to have the
weapon.

"Now, let me lower you down to the ground, and seat you as
comfortably as I can. I will leave these bananas by you, and my
flask of water. It is lucky, now, that I did not drink it all when
I started to cross the river.

"I suppose they will have halted at the same camp as before. It was
a long march, and we must still be ten or twelve miles away from
it, so I fear it will be dark long before I get there."

"You are very good, sahib, but I think it will be of no use."

"Oh, I hope it will! So now, give me your turban. I will wrap it
tightly round your leg, for the bleeding must be stopped. I see you
have lost a great deal of blood, already."

He bandaged the wound as well as he could, and then he said:

"I will take your sword bayonet with me. It can be of no use to you
and, if I do happen to meet a native upon the road, it may come in
very handy."

"The blessing of the Great One be upon you, sahib, and take you
safely to camp. As for myself, I think that my race is run."

"You must not think that," Lisle said, cheerily; "you must lie very
quiet, and make up your mind that, as soon as it is possible, we
shall be back here for you;" and then, without any more talk, he
made his way to the edge of th