y. "Can't offer you any
milk with it because of the drought, except tinned, and that makes it
entirely beastly."

"I should think so," answered Ancram, again wondering at the rudeness of
the pointed interruption. "But isn't it the deuce on the nerves? Keeps
you awake, and all that."

"In civilisation it would. Not up here. I've often, while lying out in
camp, polished off three big beakers of it--black as ink, mind--and
dropped off fast asleep when only half through my first pipe."

"By Jove! that knocks a good old superstition endways, anyway."

"Good job if they were all knocked endways. Now here's another--" And
then Lamont, fastening on to another topic proceeded to thresh it out,
and, in fact, for him, became quite voluble, so much so that Peters
could not have got a word in edgeways even if he had wanted to, which he
did not. At him Ancram stole more than one glance, expecting to descry
an offended look. But he descried nothing of the sort. Peters went on
placidly with his supper, nodding occasional assent to the other's
remarks. But Lamont had got what he wanted; he had got clean away from
the retreat from the Shangani. There was no possibility of reopening
that subject, short of dragging it in by the tail. All of which set the
new arrival wondering still more.

"Then if these Matabele chaps were to rise," went on Ancram, "you--we--
should all get our throats cut?"

"From ear to ear," supplied Lamont, with grim uncompromising crispness.

"Oh, come. I say, Lamont, you're getting at a fellow, don't you know."

"No, I don't. But if you don't believe me ask Peters."

"The Captain's--er--oh!--ah!--I mean Lamont's right," declared Peters,
half briskly, half deprecatorily, as he noted the positive scowl which
wrinkled his friend's dark brows. The reason wherefor was that the
latter, having held a subordinate command during the war of occupation,
had experienced much trouble in convincing Peters and others that they
were not to call him `Captain' ever after. That sort of tin-pot aping
of military rank was bad enough while they were on active service, he
declared--afterwards it was simply poisonous, and there were enough
`captains' and `majors' and `colonels' knocking about Matabeleland to
stock a whole Army Corps with, if they had been genuine.

Again Ancram wondered. What the deuce did it all mean, he tried to
unravel, that a tough, hard-bitten frontiersman, such as he had already
estimated P