"No, sahib, except only what the temple will give: Wana Affghar must know nothing of this, lest it encourage him to rush upon us."
"He would do so, if he knew that half our defensive force is gone."
"But he must know, sahib, about his murderer."
Luchman deliberately picked up the body of his fallen foe, slung it over his shoulder, strode several rods out upon the plain, until the report of a gun warned him that he was venturing too far, when he stopped, and threw the load to the ground. Disdaining to hurry, he strode back with the exclamation:
"There! that will teach Wana Affghar a lesson."
The thought seemed to give the native satisfaction, but the sorrow of Avery drove everything else from his mind. His profession tends to make one indifferent, perhaps, to suffering and death, but when affliction strikes home, the physician suffers as poignantly as the rest of us.
Circumstances would not allow him to mourn the noble fellow as he wished. As a duty to him, he searched the person and took charge of the effects. There were data and memoranda that would give him what knowledge he needed, provided the party ever escaped from the perils that environed them. Within the shooting jacket, close to the heart that had been so cruelly pierced, was a small picture. Avery struck a match so as to see it more plainly. It was that of a fair, sweet face, with an abundance of nut brown tresses and eyes as blue as the heavens.
"Poor Jennie," murmured the surgeon, with dimmed vision, "there is One who has promised to wipe away the tears from all eyes, and He is the only friend who can comfort you now."
The weapons of the dead man were added for the present to the armament of Avery. It was then decided to leave the body where it lay until morning, when it would be impossible to keep the sad truth from the others. Then it would be carried into the smaller room, and left to await the summons at the resurrection morn. Perhaps no more fitting sepulture could be given it.
"Now," said the doctor, when nothing more remained to be done, "we must face the future; you have been outside; what did you learn?"