ster said. "Mind, I don't pretend to like the man. We
were at school together, and he was a coward then and a sneak, but for
all that one should look at it fairly. The Doctor asserts that Bathurst
is morally brave, but that somehow or other his nerves are too much
for him. I don't pretend to understand it myself, but there is no
doubt about the Doctor's pluck, and I don't think he would stand up
for Bathurst as he does unless he really thought he was not altogether
accountable for showing the white feather. I think, too, from what he
let drop, that the Major is to some extent of the same opinion. What do
you think, Doolan?"

"I like Bathurst," Captain Doolan said; "I have always thought him a
first rate fellow; but one can't stick up, you know, for a fellow who
can't behave as a gentleman ought to, especially when there are women
and children in danger."

"It. is quite impossible that we should associate with him," Captain
Rintoul said. "I don't propose that we should tell him what we think of
him, but I think we ought to leave him severely alone."

"I should say that he ought to be sent to Coventry," Richards said.

"I should not put it in that way," Mr. Hunter said gravely. "I have
always esteemed Bathurst. I look upon it as a terribly sad case; but
I agree with Captain Rintoul that, in the position in which we are now
placed, a man who proves himself to be a coward must be made to feel
that he stands apart from us. I should not call it sending him to
Coventry, or anything of that sort, but I do think that we should
express by our manner that we don't wish to have any communication with
him."

There was a general expression of assent to this opinion, Wilson alone
protesting against it.

"You can do as you like," he said; "but certainly I shall speak to
Bathurst, and I am sure the Doctor and Major Hannay will do so. I don't
want to stand up for a coward, but I believe what the Doctor says. I
have seen a good deal of Bathurst, and I like him; besides, haven't you
heard the story the Doctor has been telling about his attacking a tiger
with a whip to save a native woman? I don't care what anyone says, a
fellow who is a downright coward couldn't do a thing like that."

"Who told the Doctor about it?" Farquharson asked. "If he got it from
Bathurst, I don't think it goes for much after what we have seen."

Wilson would have replied angrily, but Captain Doolan put his hand on
his shoulder.

"Shut up, Wilson," he sa