"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care—and he's going to get it—I think he has a chance. This jab over the shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."
"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what he has done shall be great."
Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained hand of the unconscious man in his own.
"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not forget. And I shall find the way you made."
Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went with them.
Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.
"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared. I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."
"But you—where are you going?" Oleric asked.
Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.
"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is well, come on and find me on the other side."