es.

Next he spoke.

"Where am I? Ah, yes, I recollect," he faltered out slowly, his wits
beginning to work, and his memory coming back to him; when, all of a
sudden, catching sight of my face as I loosened his collar and sprinkled
some water from my bottle over his head to bring him to, he uttered a
quick cry. "Ah, it's you, Tom Bowling--I remember you quite well. I
thought it was, my lad, before I lost my consciousness. It is you,
then, whom I have to thank for saving my life just now?"

"How--why," I stammered, not knowing well what to say--"what, sir?"

"Oh yes, Bowling; you can't get out of it," he said in a firmer voice,
and the old pleasant smile I recollect when he gave me that half-crown
in his cabin on board the old training-ship that I spoke of at the
beginning of my yarn. "I saw you quite plainly, my lad, as you rushed
up to my succour when those Arabs nearly settled me. There were two of
them attacking me at the same time, one before and one behind, and if
you had not come up I think they'd have settled me."

"I hope, sir," said I, as Mick and I raised him up between us into a
sitting posture--`Gyp' watching the operation with a most intense
interest and pleasure, his little black muzzle working, and his short
tail wagging all the time--"I do hope you are not seriously hurt, sir?"

Captain Sackville drew a deep breath and shook himself.

"No," he said--"no bones broken, I think; but, I have got a bullet
through one shoulder, I believe, for I can't lift my right hand--that's
how I came to drop my sword, which I see you have, Bowling."

"Yes, sir," said I quietly, glancing to where the Somali chief was
doubled up. "I paid off your score against that beggar over there with
it, sir."

"Indeed!" said Captain Sackville, trying to rise up on his legs, but
falling back with a groan. "O-o-oh! I think that fellow gave me a bad
thrust in the chest just before I dropped it; but, I declare I forgot
all about it!"

Mick and I at once tore open his tunic and shirt, when we found a deep
wound on his right side, from which the captain must have lost a good
deal of blood, his clothing being quite saturated; but the wound was not
bleeding much now and we bound it up with our two silk handkerchiefs,
winding them round his body, which relieved him so much that he was able
to stand up on his feet.

The battle between our forces and the foe was now pretty nigh over, and
the combatants had long since swept pa