denly ceased, and he had been dragged back like a wooden figure.
His eyes were closed now.

"Has he been hit, Doctor?" the Major asked. "It seems impossible he
can have escaped. What madness possessed him to put himself there as a
target?"

"No, I don't think he is hit," the Doctor said, as he examined him. "I
think he has fainted. We had better carry him down to my room. Shake
hands, Forster; I know you and Bathurst were not good friends, and you
risked your life to save him."

"I did not think who it was," Forster said, with a careless laugh. "I
saw a man behaving like a madman, and naturally went to pull him down.
However, I shall think better of him in future, though I doubt whether
he was in his right senses."

"He wanted to be killed," the Doctor said quietly; "and the effort that
he made to place himself in the way of death must have been greater than
either you or I can well understand, Forster. I know the circumstances
of the case. Morally I believe there is no braver man living than he is;
physically he has the constitution of a timid woman; it is mind against
body."

"The distinction is too fine for me, Doctor," Forster said, as he
turned to go off to his post by the parapet. "I understand pluck and I
understand cowardice, but this mysterious mixture you speak of is beyond
me altogether."

The Major and Dr. Wade lifted Bathurst and carried him below. Mrs.
Hunter, who had been appointed chief nurse, met them.

"Is he badly wounded, Doctor?"

"No; he is not wounded at all, Mrs. Hunter. He stood up at the edge of
the parapet and exposed himself so rashly to the Sepoys' fire that
we had to drag him away, and then the reaction, acting on a nervous
temperament, was too much for him, and he fainted. We shall soon bring
him round. You can come in with me, but keep the others away."

The Major at once returned to the terrace.

In spite of the restoratives the Doctor poured through his lips, and
cold water dashed in his face, Bathurst was some time before he opened
his eyes. Seeing Mrs. Hunter and the Doctor beside him, he made an
effort to rise.

"You must lie still, Bathurst," the Doctor said, pressing his hand on
his shoulder. "You have done a very foolish thing, a very wrong thing.
You have tried to throw away your life."

"No, I did not. I had no thought of throwing away my life," Bathurst
said, after a pause. "I was trying to make myself stand fire. I did
not think whether I should be hit or not.