e camp. The others
can accompany them. We shall take up the work, now; but I am afraid
we sha'n't have any fighting, though we may shoot down a few as
they make off. I fancy, however, that the lesson you have given the
beggars has taken all fight out of them."

When half down the hill, they met a party of the Pioneers coming
out. The Ghoorkhas at once handed the wounded over to them, and
started up the hill again. The sergeant had fainted from loss of
blood, and no questions were asked till the injured men were all
placed in little hospital tents, and their wounds attended to. Two
of them had bullet wounds, and three had received knife wounds on
the shoulder or arm. Only Lisle and one other escaped unhurt. As
soon as the wounds had been attended to all, except the sergeant,
and two more seriously wounded than the others, were sent off to
their tents.

One of these was Lisle's tent fellow. He said:

"Mutteh Ghar, I don't know what to say to you. You seem but a lad,
and a light-hearted one; but you have proved yourself the best of
us all. I was lying next to you, and I will swear that you brought
down eight of them with your rifle, before they charged. Even while
I was fighting I always heard your voice, like a trumpet; and after
the sergeant had fallen you seemed to take command, as if it was
your right. You saved my life when you bayoneted two of the three
who were grappling with me, and you seemed to be everywhere."

"I did what little I could," Lisle said. "I certainly did not
intend to take the command, when the sergeant fell; but somehow I
could not help shouting and, as our circle had closed in so, I
slipped out of my place and fought wherever the pressure was
greatest."

"There is no doubt," the soldier said seriously, "that your
mother's statement was a true one, and that a fairy did promise her
to look after you. Out of the eleven of us, only one besides
yourself has escaped without a wound; and yet none of us exposed
himself more than you did. I shall not forget that I owe my life to
you. We must find some other name for you. You can't be called 'the
boy' any longer."

In the morning, one of the colonel's orderlies was told to fetch
Lisle.

"The colonel wishes to see you, Mutteh Ghar."

Lisle put on his uniform with some uneasiness. He was conscious
that, in the excitement of the fight of the night before, he had
frequently shouted in English; and he feared that the sergeant had
reported this. Howe