"I don't know, sergeant; I don't know. Just take your lamp and see if
there is anything visible down there among the rocks. He may have been
hit and leaped the wall.--Do you think you hit him, Leary?"

"I can't say, sor. He came by me like a flash. I had just a second's
look at him, and--Sure I niver saw such runnin'."

"Could you see his face?" asked Chester, in a low tone, as the other men
moved away to search the rocks.

"Not his face, sor. 'Twas too dark."

"Was there--did he look like anybody you knew, or had seen?--anybody in
the command?"

"Well, sor, not among the men, that is. There's none so tall and slim
both, and so light. Sure he must 'a' worn gums, sor. You couldn't hear
the whisper of a footfall."

"But whom did he _seem_ to resemble?"

"Well, if the captain will forgive me, sor, it's unwillin' I am to say
the worrd, but there's no one that tall and light and slim here, sor,
but Loot'nant Jerrold. Sure it couldn't be him, sor."

"Leary, will you promise me something on your word as a man?"

"I will, sor."

"Say not one word of this matter to any one, except I tell you, or you