“Here, stop that fellow!” shouted one of the officers, for, in spite of his heaviness, Anson proved that he could be active enough upon occasion, and this was one; for, seizing his opportunity, he dived under the wagon, and by the time the soldiers had run round to the other side he was off, dodging in and out among the wagons in the mad idea that he could escape; but before he had gone a hundred yards he came out suddenly upon a mounted man, and the next instant he went sprawling over a lance-shaft, and the steel-shod butt end was planted upon his back to keep him from rising.
“Pity you should have taken all that trouble!” said the sergeant, as he came panting up, followed by his men, “because we might want you to tell us all a bit about the value of them stones! Now then, up with you. Let him get up, Lancer! And see here, my lad, if you cut and run again—being a prisoner caught in the act of trying to escape—my men have orders to fire, and you’re so broad and fat that they are sure to bring you down first shot.”
Anson glared at the men’s rifles and fixed bayonets, but he said nothing, marching back between the men to the spot where he had left the General and his old fellow-clerks; but the barrel had been carried to a place of safety, and those who had witnessed his discomfiture had gone.
Half-an-hour later he had been marched out of the camp, and was under lock and key in the military prison, a sentry being posted at the door.
Chapter Forty.
Winding Up.
The adventures of Oliver West and his friend Ingleborough were pretty well at an end; and it was time, for between wounds and exposure they had been brought to a state which necessitated plenty of rest and comforts to enable them to quite recover themselves. Of feasting, praising, and complimenting they had their fill—more than enough, West said, for he declared that the hues of returning health which were coming into his cheeks were only blushes caused by the way in which people talked about his bravery, dash, “and all that stuff.”
Ingleborough took it all more contentedly.