Part 34 (2/2)

'Why, no, except a sister's son, a college-boy who has no need of his uncle It's fortunate that we three have no wives I haven't any regrets, neither, for I've had athat it was a pity I was going out when I had just got my duo-denum to listen to reason But I reckon that's another of ood God took away the pain in o to Him with a clear head and a thankful heart'

'We're lucky fellows,' said Sandy; 'we've all had our whack When I re a hyh to know ourselves, and to shape ourselves into soiven their lives freely when they scarcely knehat lifeof the road, and they didn't knohat dreary bits lay before theave it up without a moment's doubt And think of the est things in life to them For fellows like us to shi+rk would be black cowardice It's small credit for us to stick it out But when those others shut their teeth and went forward, they were blessed heroes'

After that we fell silent A hts at a time like that seem to be double-powered, and the memory becomes very sharp and clear I don't knoas in the others' minds, but I knohat filled et most out of the world and are always buoyant and cheerful that o about with dull eyes, that clingalive which is a kind of earnest of ihts were chiefly about the jolly things that I had seen and done; not regret, but gratitude The panorama of blue noons on the veld unrolled itself before hts in the bush, the taste of food and sleep, the bitter stimulus of dawn, the joy of wild adventure, the voices of old staunch friends Hitherto the war had seeone before, but now the as only part of the picture I thought of ood fellows there, many of whom had fallen on the Loos parapets I had never looked to coiven the chance of a greater business, and I had succeeded That was the treratitude to God and exultant pride Death was a small price to pay for it As Blenkiron would have said, I had got good value in the deal

The night was getting bitter cold, as happens before dawn It was frost again, and the sharpness of it woke our hunger I got out the remnants of the food and wine and we had a last ed each other as we drank

'We have eaten our Passover Feast,' said Sandy 'When do you look for the end?'

'After dawn,' I said 'Stue'

Slowly the sky passed frorey, and black shapes of hill outlined the the acrid s too of the freshness of hts in our of the blood which was never to be il I was torn with a sudden regret

'We ht,' I said 'We had better draw lots for the two to go'

The choice fell on one of the Companions and Blenkiron 'You can count me out,' said the latter 'If it's your wish to find a man to be alive when our friends couess I'm the worst of the lot I'd prefer, if you don't mind, to stay here I've made my peace with my Maker, and I'd like to wait quietly on His call I'll play a game of Patience to pass the tiain, and the lot fell to Sandy

'If I'o,' he said, 'I pro me'

He shook hands with his cheery smile, and he and the Companion slipped over the parapet in the final shadows before dawn

Blenkiron spread his Patience cards on a flat rock, and dealt out the Double Napoleon He was perfectly calm, and hu inI suddenly felt bitterly loath to die

Soh Blenkiron's head He suddenly looked up and asked, 'Sister Anne, Sister Anne, do you see anybody co every detail of the landscape as shown by the revealing daybreak Up on the shoulders of the Palantuken, snowdrifts lipped over the edges of the cliffs I wondered when they would come down as avalanches There was a kind of croft on one hillside, and fro to curl Stu council Far down on the -I heard the creak of the wheels two miles away, for the air was deathly still

Then, as if a spring had been loosed, the world suddenly leaped to a hideous life With a growl the guns opened round all the horizon They were especially fierce to the south, where a rafale beat as I had never heard it before The one glance I cast behind ap in the hills choked with fumes and dust

But ues of fla of the Euphrates glen, there was the sharp crack of field-guns I strained eyes and ears, mad with impatience, and I read the riddle

'Sandy,' I yelled, 'Peter has got through The Russians are round the flank The town is burning Glory to God, we've e've won!'

And as I spoke the earth seeravel which covered Hilda von Einerave

As I picked myself up, and tothe dust out of his eyes and arranging a disordered card He had stopped hu aloud:

'He captured Harper's Ferry, with his nineteen inny '

'Say, Major,' he cried, 'I believe this ga out'