azed with a bullet,
and what with that and the sudden flash of fire, he bolted. I had
just caught sight of you and Turk, going down in a heap, as my
horse spun round; and it had galloped a full hundred yards before I
could check it.

"Then I did not know what was best to do. It seemed to me that you
must certainly be killed. If I had been sure that you had been
wounded and taken prisoner I should have gone back; but even then I
might, more likely than not, have been shot by the Austrians before
I could explain matters. But I really thought that you were killed;
and as, from the shouting and firing, it seemed to me that the
enemy had it all their own way there, I rode back to the farmhouse.

"Luckily the Austrians had not got there, so I took Tartar and rode
with him to the king's quarters, and left him with his grooms, who
knew him well enough; and then later on, having nothing else to do,
I joined Seidlitz, and had the satisfaction of striking many a good
blow in revenge for you.

"Late in the afternoon when the fighting was over I found Captain
Lindsay, and told him about your loss. He comforted me a bit by
saying that he did not think you were born to be shot, and said
that I had better stay with Donald till there was news about you.
Two days later he told me they had got the list of the prisoners
the Austrians had taken, and that you were with them, and
unwounded.

"Then, major, I was furious with myself that I had not been taken
prisoner, too. I should have been more troubled still if Captain
Lindsay had not said that, in the first place, Tartar would have
been lost if I had not come back straight to fetch him; and that,
in the second place, it was not likely you would have been able to
keep me with you had I been a prisoner, and we might not even have
been shut up in the same fortress.

"I asked him what I had better do, and he said:

"'I am going west to join Prince Henry. You had better come with
me. You may be sure that there will be no questions asked about
you, one way or the other. I have no doubt Major Drummond will be
back in the spring. He is sure to get out, somehow.'

"It seemed to me that that was the best plan too, major. If I had
been sent back to my regiment, I don't know what I should have done
with your horse; and then, if you did return, I might not have
heard about it, and you would not have known what had become of me.
Once or twice during the last month Captain Lindsay has said to me