"Never mind that," replied Hal. "How do you feel? Are you in pain?"
"Not much, now," was the reply. "Bento is quite a surgeon. He has fixed me up to the queen's taste. It appears the ball glanced off my third rib."
"But you won't be able to travel!"
"I am afraid not. I am so weak I cannot stand. But you must go on just the same."
"What! And leave you here?"
"Of course. I shall be perfectly safe here, more so than you will be on the road. I wish I could go with you, but I am afraid it will be a day or two before I can walk."
"Then I shall wait for you."
"What! Then how about the letter to General Givet, at Louvain?"
"It will have to wait."
Chester raised himself feebly on one elbow and looked at Hal in surprise.