slope and the
sergeant came upon the low crest of a mound-like upheaval, he saw some
four hundred yards ahead a broad bay of sunlight stretching in from
the glaring sea to the east, and, glancing to his right, noted that
there was a depression in the range,--something like a broad cleft in
the mountains, possibly a pass through to the broader desert on the
other side. He gave it little thought, however. There, only a mile or
so away now, came his fellow-troopers, two in front, another lagging
some distance behind, riding sleepily towards him and dangerously
close to a number of sheltering rocks. Intent only on them and still
wishing to attract their attention, he swung his broad-brimmed hat,
waving it off to the left, but with no apparent result. Confound them!
Were they sound asleep? Could they never be made to see? Poor Dick was
able now only to strike a feeble canter, so utterly was he used up,
and just when Wing, looking only to the front, was thinking that he
might as well discontinue the spur and let his poor horse rest, they
labored forth from the sheltering shade full upon the tawny, sunlit
sand. Then, while the sergeant's eyes were temporarily blinded by the
glare, there came from the rocks to his right a sudden flash and
report. He felt at the same instant a stinging pang in the leg. He had
just time to grasp his own carbine and to attempt to swing off when
the second shot echoed loudly from the rocks. He felt poor Dick start
and swerve; he felt him going headlong, and the next thing he knew he
was vainly striving to peer into the face of the evening sun from over
the quivering body of his faithful friend, unable for the moment to
see the faintest sign of an enemy, and then the blood came welling
through the little hole in his worn cavalry trousers, midway between
the hip-bone and the knee, and he knew he had received a serious,
perhaps a desperate wound.

For the moment, therefore, he could do nothing more but look for
succor. A glance down the desert told him his fellows were at last
rudely awakened. True to the practice of the craft, the instant fire
was opened from the rocks each man had put spurs to his horse and
dashed away to a safer distance with such speed as was possible with
their jaded mounts, each trooper warily scanning the dark line of the
foot-hills in search of the foe and striving as he rode to unfasten
the flap that held his carbine, in the fashion of the day, athwart the
pommel of his sad