“That will do,” said the general, nodding pleasantly; “but recollect this—you have undertaken an onerous task. You promised me to be answerable for this man.”
“I did, Sir George, and I honestly believe I can.”
“Of course you do. Well, I shall watch the progress of your efforts—mind that. There, I have work on hand. Take your letter to Captain Hulton. I have given your protégé a clean slate, so that he may start free, and I shall expect you to turn him from the brute he has been into a credit to his troop.”
“A clean slate, Sir George!” stammered the lad. “Will he have no punishment to undergo?”
“No, Mr Darrell; as a soldier I never do anything by halves.”
He walked to the door, mounted, and rode away, leaving Dick half-suffocated, for he had succeeded beyond his wildest hopes.
“Oh,” he cried to himself as he hurried off with his letter, “if Hanson will only mend!”
Chapter XVII.
On Service.
“Here, Dick, lad—bit of news for you,” said Wyatt a few hours later, after giving a heavy thump with his fist on the door, and then striding into his friend’s room.