render. He told me so afterwards. His exact words are only known to
himself and the other Colonel. But the enemy's Colonel said, "I would
rather die than surrender," or words to that effect.

Our Colonel returned to his men and gave the order to fix bayonets, and
even Oswald felt his manly cheek turn pale at the thought of the amount
of blood about to be shed. What would have happened can never now be
revealed. For at this moment a man on a piebald horse came clattering
over a hedge--as carelessly as if the air was not full of lead and steel
at all. Another man rode behind him with a lance and a red pennon on it.
I think he must have been the enemy's General coming to tell his men not
to throw away their lives on a forlorn hope, for directly he said they
were captured the enemy gave in and owned that they were. The enemy's
Colonel saluted and ordered his men to form quarter column again. I
should have thought he would have had about enough of that myself.

He had now given up all thought of sullen resistance to the bitter end.
He rolled a cigarette for himself, and had the foreign cheek to say to
our Colonel:

"By Jove, old man, you got me clean that time! Your scouts seem to have
marked us down uncommonly neatly."

It was a proud moment when our Colonel laid his military hand on
Oswald's shoulder and said:

"This is my chief scout," which were high words, but not undeserved, and
Oswald owns he felt red with gratifying pride when he heard them.

"So you are the traitor, young man," said the wicked Colonel, going on
with his cheek.

Oswald bore it because our Colonel had, and you should be generous to a
fallen foe, but it is hard to be called a traitor when you haven't.

He did not treat the wicked Colonel with silent scorn as he might have
done, but he said:

"We aren't traitors. We are the Bastables and one of us is a Foulkes. We
only mingled unsuspected with the enemy's soldiery and learned the
secret of their acts, which is what Baden-Powell always does when the
natives rebel in South Africa; and Denis Foulkes thought of altering the
sign-posts to lead the foe astray. And if we did cause all this
fighting, and get Maidstone threatened with capture and all that, it was
only because we didn't believe Greek things could happen in Great
Britain and Ireland, even if you sow dragon's teeth, and besides, some
of us were not asked about sowing them."

Then the Cocked-Hatted One led his horse and walked with us and