and the wounded man
gulped down the cool water with terrible avidity.

"All!" he moaned, "it putts life into me. Pull this baste of a horse
aff me. I've got a bullet through my showlther, and I'm nearly crushed
to death and devoured by those imp-like divils o' monkeys."

"Here, you two," cried the Sergeant surlily, "uncoil your reins, and
make them fast round this dead horse's neck."

Our two followers quickly executed the order, and then, the other ends
of the plaited raw-hide ropes being secured to rings in their saddles,
they urged on their horses, which made a plunge or two and dragged their
dead fellow enough on one side for the Sergeant, with my help, to lift
the poor rider clear.

"The blessing of all the saints be upon you both!" he moaned. "There's
some lint in my pouch; just put a bit of a bandage about my showlther.
I'm Captain Moriarty, an officer and a gintleman, who yields as a
prisoner, and I want to be carried to yer commanding officer."

He spoke very feebly at first; but the water and the relief from the
pressure of the horse revived him, and he began to breathe more freely,
his eyes searching my face in a puzzled way as if he thought he had seen
me before.

I took no heed, but did as he suggested; and, finding the lint and a
bandage, roughly bound up the wound, which had long ceased bleeding.

"Can ye fale the bullet in the wound, me young inimy?" he said, with a
sigh.

"No," I replied, looking him full in the eyes. "Our doctor will see to
that."

"Then ye've got a docthor with ye?" he said, pretty strongly now.

"Of course we have," growled the Sergeant, whose countenance seemed to
me then to bear a remarkable resemblance to that of a mastiff dog who
was angry because his master spoke civilly to a stranger he wanted to
hunt off the premises. "Do you take us for savages?"

"Silence, sor!" cried our prisoner, "or I'll report ye to yer officer."

"Silence yourself!" cried the Sergeant. "What do you want with a
doctor, you Irish renegado turncoat? You said you were a dead man."

"Whisht! I'm a prisoner; but I'm an officer and a gintleman.--Here,
boy, ordher your min to carry me out of this."

"My men!" I said, laughing. "I'm only a private, and this is my
sergeant."

"Thin ye ought to change places, me boy.--Give orders to your min to
carry me out of this, Serjint."

"I'm about ready to tell the lads to put an end to a traitor to his
country."

"Tchah! Ye daren't do annyt