just now. Go and see where he is hurt."

O'Grady was sitting up with his back to the wall; the sleeves of his
jacket and shirt had been cut off, and a tourniquet was on his arm just
above the elbow.

"Well, Terence," he said, cheerfully, "I am in luck, you see."

"I can't see any luck about it, O'Grady."

"Why, man, it might have been my right arm, and where should I have been
then? As to the left arm, one can do without it very well. Then, again, it
is lucky that the ball hit me below the elbow and not above it. O'Flaherty
says they will be able to make a dacent job of it, and that after a bit
they will be able to fit a wooden arm on, so that I can screw a fork into
it. The worst of it at present is, that I have a terrible thirst on me,
and nothing but water have they given me, a thing that I have not drunk
for years. They have tied up the arteries, and they are going presently to
touch up the loose ends with hot pitch to stop the bleeding altogether. It
is not a pleasant job; they have done it to three or four of the men
already. One of them stood it well, but the others cried a thousand
murders. O'Flaherty has promised me a drink of whisky and water before
they do it, and just at present I feel as if I would let them burn all my
limbs at the same price. It is sorry I am, Terence, to hear that your
father is hit so hard, but O'Flaherty says he will get through it all
right. Well, he will get his majority, though I am mightily sorry that
Harrison is killed; he was a good boy, though he was an Englishman. Ah,
Terence, my heart's sore when I think what I said that evening after the
fight at Rolica! I did not mean it altogether, but the words come home to
me now. It is not for meself but for the poor boys that have gone. It was