Turning round, the Major saw Bathurst standing up—right by the parapet, facing the point where the enemy fire was hottest. He held a rifle in his hand but did not attempt to fire; his figure swayed slightly to and fro.
“Lie down,” the Major shouted, “lie down, sir;” and then as Bathurst still stood unmoved he was about to run forward, when the Doctor from one side and Captain Forster from the other rushed towards him through a storm of bullets, seized him in their arms, and dragged him back to the center of the terrace.
“Nobly done, gentlemen,” the Major said, as they laid Bathurst down; “it was almost miraculous your not being hit.”
Bathurst had struggled fiercely for a moment, and then his resistance had suddenly ceased, and he had been dragged back like a wooden figure. His eyes were closed now.
“Has he been hit, Doctor?” the Major asked. “It seems impossible he can have escaped. What madness possessed him to put himself there as a target?”
“No, I don't think he is hit,” the Doctor said, as he examined him. “I think he has fainted. We had better carry him down to my room. Shake hands, Forster; I know you and Bathurst were not good friends, and you risked your life to save him.”
“I did not think who it was,” Forster said, with a careless laugh. “I saw a man behaving like a madman, and naturally went to pull him down. However, I shall think better of him in future, though I doubt whether he was in his right senses.”
“He wanted to be killed,” the Doctor said quietly; “and the effort that he made to place himself in the way of death must have been greater than either you or I can well understand, Forster. I know the circumstances of the case. Morally I believe there is no braver man living than he is; physically he has the constitution of a timid woman; it is mind against body.”
“The distinction is too fine for me, Doctor,” Forster said, as he turned to go off to his post by the parapet. “I understand pluck and I understand cowardice, but this mysterious mixture you speak of is beyond me altogether.”
The Major and Dr. Wade lifted Bathurst and carried him below. Mrs. Hunter, who had been appointed chief nurse, met them.