the bridge that they were friends.

Another ten minutes, and they were upon the plateau. Desmond had
no difficulty in finding out where the headquarters were
established at Hayse, and, riding there, he at once went into the
house occupied by Berwick, and reported his return.

"I am glad to see you back again, Kennedy," the duke said,
heartily. "It is something to have recovered one friend from the
wreck. Now, what is your news?"

Desmond related what had happened to him from the time he left,
and said that a large proportion of the troops at Diepenbeck had
already left, and, as he heard no outburst of firing, he hoped
most of them had got safely away.

"I see you are wounded."

"I have had my wrist smashed with a musket ball, fired by a party
on a hill to the right, belonging, I suppose, to the force that
came up from Oycke."

"You had a narrow escape of your life," Berwick said. "If you had
been hit a little farther back, the ball would have gone through
your body. Sit down at once. I will send for my surgeon."

And he instantly gave orders for the surgeon of the staff to come
to his tent, and then made Desmond, who was suffering terribly
from the agony of the wound, drink a tumbler of wine.