onty, Monty, what cursed trick will our fellows think
of next, I wonder? Are we men, or are we reptiles, we English? And we
boast--we boast of our national honour!"

He broke off, breathing short and hard, as a man desperately near to
collapse, and leaned his head on his arm against the rough wall as if in
shame.

Herne glanced at him once or twice before replying.

"You see," he said at length, speaking somewhat laboriously, "what we've
got to do is to obey orders. We were sent out here not to think but to
do. We're on Government service. They are responsible for the thinking
part. We have to carry it out, that's all. They have decided to evacuate
this district, and withdraw to the coast. So"--again he shrugged his
shoulders--"there's no more to be said. We must go."

He paused, and glanced again at the slight, khaki-clad figure that
leaned against the wall.

After a moment, meeting with no response, he resumed.

"There's no sense in taking it hard, since there is no help for it. You
always knew that it was an absolutely temporary business. Of course, if
we could have smashed the Wandis, these chaps would have had a better
look-out. But--well, we haven't smashed them."

"We hadn't enough men!" came fiercely from Duncannon.

"True! We couldn't afford to do things on a large scale. Moreover, it's
a beastly country, as even you must admit. And it isn't worth a big
struggle. Besides, we can't occupy half the world to prevent the other
half playing the deuce with it. Come, Bobby, don't be a fool, for
Heaven's sake! You've been treated as a god too long, and it's turned
your head. Don't you want to get Home? What about your people? What
about----"

Duncannon turned sharply. His face was drawn and grey.

"I'm not thinking of them," he said, in a choked voice. "You don't know
what this means to me. You couldn't know, and I can't explain. But my
mind is made up on one point. Whoever goes--I stay!"

He spoke deliberately, though his breathing was still quick and uneven.
His eyes were sternly steadfast.

Herne stared at him in amazement.

"My good fellow," he said, "you are talking like a lunatic! I think you
must have got a touch of sun."

A faint smile flickered over Duncannon's set face.

"No, it isn't that," he said. "It's a touch of something else--something
you wouldn't understand."

"But--heavens above!--you have no choice!" Herne exclaimed, rising
abruptly. "You can't say you'll do this or that. So lon