which will try all your powers. Have you anything to say?'

My heart was beginning to thump uncomfortably. Sir Walter
was not the man to pitch a case too high.

'I am a soldier,' I said, 'and under orders.'

'True; but what I am about to propose does not come by any
conceivable stretch within the scope of a soldier's duties. I shall
perfectly understand if you decline. You will be acting as I should
act myself - as any sane man would. I would not press you for
worlds. If you wish it, I will not even make the proposal, but let
you go here and now, and wish you good luck with your battalion.
I do not wish to perplex a good soldier with impossible decisions.'

This piqued me and put me on my mettle.

'I am not going to run away before the guns fire. Let me hear
what you propose.'

Sir Walter crossed to a cabinet, unlocked it with a key from his
chain, and took a piece of paper from a drawer. It looked like an
ordinary half-sheet of note-paper.

'I take it,' he said, 'that your travels have not extended to the
East.'

'No,' I said, 'barring a shooting trip in East Africa.'

'Have you by any chance been following the present campaign