acks out
in the rain-drenched open. There had been fourteen deaths in the night,
and seven men were still fighting a losing battle for their lives in the
hospital. He had a native officer to help him in his task; young Harley
was superintending the digging of graves, and the colonel had gone to
the bungalow where the two stricken officers lay.

Dank and gruesome dawned the day, with the smell of rot in the air and
the sense of death hovering over all. And there came to Merryon a
sudden, overwhelming desire to go back to his bungalow beyond the fetid
town and see how his wife was faring. She was the only white woman in
the place, and the thought of her isolation came upon him now like a
fiery torture.

It was the fiercest temptation he had ever known. Till that day his
regimental duties had always been placed first with rigorous
determination. Now for the first time he found himself torn by
conflicting ties. The craving for news of her possessed him like a
burning thirst. Yet he knew that some hours must elapse before he could
honestly consider himself free to go.

He called an orderly at last, finding the suspense unendurable, and gave
him a scribbled line to carry to his wife.

"Is all well, sweetheart? Send back word by bearer," he wrote, and told
the man not to return without an answer.

The orderly departed, and for a while Merryon devoted himself to the
matter in hand, and crushed his anxiety into the background. But at the
end of an hour he was chafing in a fever of impatience. What delayed the
fellow? In Heaven's name, why was he so long?

Ghastly possibilities arose in his mind, fears unspeakable that he dared
not face. He forced himself to attend to business, but the suspense was
becoming intolerable. He began to realize that he could not stand it
much longer.

He was nearing desperation when the colonel came unexpectedly upon the
scene, unshaven and haggard as he was himself, but firm as a rock in the
face of adversity.

He joined Merryon, and received the latter's report, grimly taciturn.
They talked together for a space of needs and expediencies. The fell
disease had got to be checked somehow. He spoke of recalling the
officers on leave. There had been such a huge sick list that summer that
they were reduced to less than half their normal strength.

"You're worth a good many," he said to Merryon, half-grudgingly, "but
you can't work miracles. Besides, you've got--" He broke off abruptly.
"How's y