“Not that you are badly wounded—cut down same as I was when we charged?”
“When we charged?”
“Yes, when they took us front and rear in the dark wood.”
“Dark—wood?”
“Yes, lad. Some of us killed—I don’t mean us—Smithers and Pelldike. The advance escaped, and so did the rear. All of us with the prisoners got hurt more or less.”
“Oh!”
The scene in the gloomy wood came back now clearly enough; and in an excited tone Fred exclaimed—
“And the prisoners, Samson?”
“Oh, they were taken again! They’re right enough.”
“Scarlett Markham?”