“I am, Sergeant,” said the man, smiling.
“Let it be a lesson to you, my lad. Never turn your back to the enemy. Always show ’em your face.”
“Shouldn’t keep our guns long if we did, Sergeant,” said the man grimly.
“Do I hurt you?” said Dick.
“Well, it isn’t what one might call pleasant, sir. Not the sort of thing a man would choose to amuse him.”
“But you can bear it?”
“Oh, yes, sir, I can bear it.”
“Because I find I can touch the bullet, and it will be better out.”
“Out with it, then, sir,” said the sergeant; “Joe won’t mind. Nasty ragged kind of bullets these are which they fire from their matchlocks, and they irritate.”
“That hurt you, Dundas?”