wagon, and then rolled out, giving forth the regular hollow
sound of a barrel half-full of liquid.

"Only sounds like water!" muttered the sergeant, and he set it running,
to soak into the dry ground, and draining out as much as he could,
before giving an order to the nearest man to take hold of one end while
he raised the other, both men looking stern and severe in the extreme.
Then together they gave the cask a lusty shake, and the sound which
followed was that of some shovels full of pebbles rattling in the
inside.

The next minute they had set the cask down on end with a grin of
delight, which was taken up by their fellows, while a satisfied smile
dawned upon the faces of the _aides-de-camp_.

"Here, stop that fellow!" shouted one of the officers, for, in spite of
his heaviness, Anson proved that he could be active enough upon
occasion, and this was one; for, seizing his opportunity, he dived under
the wagon, and by the time the soldiers had run round to the other side
he was off, dodging in and out among the wagons in the mad idea that he
could escape; but before he had gone a hundred yards he came out
suddenly upon a mounted man, and the next instant he went sprawling over
a lance-shaft, and the steel-shod butt end was planted upon his back to
keep him from rising.

"Pity you should have taken all that trouble!" said the sergeant, as he
came panting up, followed by his men, "because we might want you to tell
us all a bit about the value of them stones! Now then, up with you.
Let him get up, Lancer! And see here, my lad, if you cut and run
again--being a prisoner caught in the act of trying to escape--my men
have orders to fire, and you're so broad and fat that they are sure to
bring you down first shot."

Anson glared at the men's rifles and fixed bayonets, but he said
nothing, marching back between the men to the spot where he had left the
General and his old fellow-clerks; but the barrel had been carried to a
place of safety, and those who had witnessed his discomfiture had gone.

Half-an-hour later he had been marched out of the camp, and was under
lock and key in the military prison, a sentry being posted at the door.

CHAPTER FORTY.

WINDING UP.

The adventures of Oliver West and his friend Ingleborough were pretty
well at an end; and it was time, for between wounds and exposure they
had been brought to a state which necessitated plenty of rest and
comforts to enable them to quite recover th