rather think of your poor wife, whom you would have made a pauper if
this game had not been all a hoax."

Irwin reeled back; the revolver fell from his grasp.

"What," he gasped--"what do you mean? It was, then, no joke, after all.
I, then, really lost the money? Oh, you--you--But what do you take
me for? Be quite certain that I will pay. But," he cried, collecting
himself, "I should like to know what the real truth is, after all. I ask
this question of you all, and call you rogues and liars if you do not
tell me the truth. Have I only really been played with, or has the game
been a straightforward one?"

"Captain Irwin," replied the Major, advancing towards him, "I, as the
senior, tell you, in the name of our comrades, that your behaviour would
have been unpardonable unless a sort of madness had seized you. The
game was a straightforward one, and only the generosity of Captain
McGregor--"

Irwin did not wait for the conclusion of the sentence, but, with a
bound, was again outside the tent.




III

A RUSSIAN COMRADE