“You were telling me what you would have done if you had been chief.”
“Bah! Yah! Don’t you pretend to be so sharp. That’s what the old man ought to do, though—send out a messenger, and if he didn’t find the General he’d find out how things are going. I believe the Boers are licking our regular troops.”
“Oh, nonsense!” I said, looking startled. “Impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible in war, my boy. I’m getting uncomfortable. You’d go with a message if you were ordered?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Of course you would. That’s what the chief ought to do, and I’ve a good mind to tell him so. But I say,” he added, in alarm, “don’t you go and tell any one what I’ve been talking about.”
I looked him in the face and laughed.
“Of course you will not,” said Denham confidently. “Hullo! Going?”
“Yes; I want to go and see how the great Irish captain is,” I replied.
“What do you want to go and see him for?” said my companion angrily.