'But a good meeting all the same,' said Tom, wringing Bertie's hand. 'And you look just as you did then. Sit down. Have they given you supper?'
'Enough to go on upon,' answered Bertie, laughing. 'A magnificent meal of some kind is being prepared outside. You are a regular Monte Cristo, old fellow.'
'Then if you can wait, and are able to talk, tell me for heaven's sake how they all are—the dear old General and Lady Elton and the girls.'
'They are pretty well, thank you. It was hoped, when we left, that General Elton had taken a turn for the better.'
'Has he been ill, then?' asked Tom.
'Ill? He has been at death's door. Haven't you heard of what he did?'
'I heard that he was travelling through the country with a small escort.'
'Yes, actually, after the mutiny at Meerut, when the troops were going off, regiment after regiment, like so many fire-rockets. I should think such a feat was never done before—rode through the most disturbed districts with only about fifty men, and not a soul molested him until he was close to Meerut.'
Here Bertie gave a dramatic account of the ambush near Meerut, and of how, by his pluck and resource, the General had extricated himself from it.
'What a grand old fellow he is!' said Tom, who had been listening with the deepest interest. 'And he is better?'