k."

Suddenly, Weldon's lips straightened, and he faced the Captain
directly.

"I like Miss Dent," he said frankly. "Of course, you know that. But,
moreover, I have always felt I owed her a debt of gratitude for
introducing me to you. I know one doesn't usually say such things,
Captain Frazer," he laughed, in sudden boyish embarrassment; "but it
is a little different on Christmas night, you know. Next year, we
may be miles apart, and so, if you don't mind, I'd like to say that
you have been wonderfully good to me, this year, and that I
appreciate it."

Captain Frazer took the outstretched hand, slim, but hard now, and a
bit stubby about the nails.

"Thank you, Weldon," he answered. "This may be our only Christmas
together, and I am glad you told me."

The silence about them was broken by the voices of the soldiers
singing around the camp fires and by the bagpipes playing somewhere
across the distance. Then, after a little, they fell to talking of
other things, with the natural antipathy of healthy men to any
recurrence of a momentary outburst of sentiment.

Around them, the fires flared and flamed across the darkness; beyond
them, the veldt stretched away, sinister, mysterious; and from above
the stars twinkled down upon them, smiling a Christmas blessing
alike on those who were doomed to glory and those who were doomed to
death. For an instant, the sudden pause in the singing and laughter
seemed typical of the short, sudden pause in their active lives.
Then, as the Captain rose, the singing broke out once more, Carew's
voice leading.

"Good-night, Weldon. I must go back to my quarters."

"And to your letters?"

"Yes, to my letters. And may next Christmas be good to us both!"

Weldon rose and saluted, then stood looking after his companion as
he walked away, head and shoulders erect and his lips smiling
slightly, as if in anticipation of the task before him. And,
meanwhile, from the fire near by came the lusty chorus,--

"A little brown cot, a shady green spot,
No happier home I find.
My heart's fairly gone, for I love only one,
She's the gi-irl I le-eft behind."

The voices, rollicking even in their sentimentality, dropped away
into silence; the fire flared up and then suddenly died away into
darkness. But, even in the darkness, Weldon could see the dim
outline of the Captain's figure, moving steadily forward along his
self-appointed way.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Lord Kitchen