CHAPTER XVIII — A NOBLE GIFT
The pace at which the party started soon slackened, for neither Albert nor Hal Carter could maintain it. However, it was not long before they heard the sentry challenge:
"Who go there?"
"Sir Albert De Courcy and Sir Edgar Ormskirk escaped from Ypres," Edgar answered.
"Stand where you are till I call the sergeant," the man said, and shouted "Sergeant!" at the top of his voice. In five minutes a sergeant and two men-at-arms came up.
"Hurry, sergeant, I pray you," Edgar said. "We have swum three ditches, and my companions, being weakened by their wounds, are well-nigh perished."
"Come on," the sergeant said, "it is clear at any rate that you are Englishmen." He had brought a torch with him, and as they came up looked at them narrowly, then he saluted. "I know you, Sir Edgar, disguised as you are. I was fighting behind you on the wall five weeks since, and had it not been for the strength of your arm, I should have returned no more to England."
"How is Sir Hugh Calverley?" Edgar asked, as they hurried towards the camp.
"His wounds are mending fast," the sergeant said, "and he went out of his tent to-day for the first time. I saw him myself."