hospital tent, telling him what had happened. He shook his head after
examining the man's wound, which was fairly between the shoulders.

"'He may live a few hours, but there is no chance of his getting
better.'

"'Now,' I said, 'you may as well have a look at my wound, for the
villain stabbed me too.'

"'You have had a pretty narrow escape of it,' he said, as he
examined it. 'If he had struck an inch or two nearer the shoulder
the knife would have gone right into you; but you see I expect he
was springing as he struck, and the blow fell nearly perpendicularly,
and it glanced down over your ribs, and made a gash six inches long.
There is no danger. I will bandage it now, and tomorrow morning I
will sew the edges together, and make a proper job of it.'

"In the morning one of the hospital attendants came to me and said
the soldier who had been wounded wanted to speak to me. The doctor
said he would not live long. I went across to him. He was on a bed
some little distance from any of the others, for it was the healthy
season, and there were only three or four others in the tent.

"'I hear, Major Thorndyke,' he said in a low voice, 'that you
killed that fellow who gave me this wound, and that you yourself
were stabbed.'

"'Mine is not a serious business, my man,' I said. 'I wish you had
got off as easily.'