a familiar voice
said--

"Don't go on like that, lad. I dare say you're very bad, but so am I;
and you'll disturb the captain."

"Captain? what captain?" thought Fred, dreamily, and who was he that he
should not be disturbed?

But he felt no inclination to speak, but lay listening to the chirping
of the sparrows, and moved his head slightly to find that it was resting
upon a piece of sacking laid over the straw.

That movement brought on the dizzy sensation again, and his head
throbbed painfully for a time.

But the pain grew easier, and he lay perfectly still, watching the
beautiful beam of sunshine which came through the open window, above
which the roof went into a point, showing him that this was the gable
end of the loft where he lay.

This did not surprise him, for he had been accustomed for months past to
sleep in shed, stable, or loft, as well as in houses with decent rooms.
At one time for a month a church had been the barracks where he had
lain. Rough quarters had become a matter of course, and he lay quite
still, for how long he did not know, to be roused once more by a deep
groan.

"Do you hear, lad? What's the good of going on like that?" said the
familiar voice again.

"My head--my head!" moaned some one.

"Well, and my head, and my ribs, if you come to that; but I don't howl
and groan."

"Samson!"

"Master Fred! Captain, I mean. Hey, but it does a man good to hear you
speak, again. Don't die this time, dear lad."

"Die? I don't understand you."

"Then the Lord be praised, you are not going to die!"

Fred lay wondering, for there came something like a sob from close at
hand, though when he tried to turn towards the sound the horrible
dizziness came back.

"Samson!"

"Yes, Master Fred."

"What are you doing there?"

"Blubbering, dear lad, like a great calf as has lost its mother; but
it's only because I'm so glad."

"But, Samson, what does it all mean?"

"What, don't you know, my lad?"

"No."

"Not that you are badly wounded--cut down same as I was when we
charged?"

"When we charged?"

"Yes, when they took us front and rear in the dark wood."

"Dark--wood?"

"Yes, lad. Some of us killed--I don't mean us--Smithers and Pelldike.
The advance escaped, and so did the rear. All of us with the prisoners
got hurt more or less."

"Oh!"

The scene in the gloomy wood came back now clearly enough; and in an
excited tone Fred exclaimed--

"And the prisoners, Samson?