“It is not a cottage; it is a tent.”
“But surely they would not stop at a place like that.”
“Why not?” he replied. “They have something to do now that they have seized the guns—to manage them.”
“Then you think they have stopped there to drill?” I cried.
“I fancy so; but we shall see after the reconnaissance to-night.”
“Whom shall you send?” I cried eagerly. “Let me go.”
“It is too important a task to trust to another,” he replied. “I am going myself. You can go with me if you like.”
I eagerly snatched at the opportunity, and then sat down with him near the edge of the jungle patch to watch the village and note everything that passed. In the course of conversation Brace told me that the doctor would also start on his expedition at dark, Dost accompanying him to the lane in the city, where he could attend to the major’s wounds and learn whether there was any news of the women.
Brace kept on chatting to me; but I soon found out that it was to keep down his excitement, and his mind employed, so that he should not dwell upon the terrible enforced delay; for quite a fever was consuming him, his eyes looked unnaturally bright, and his fingers kept twitching and playing with the handle of his sword.
That night seemed as if it would never come, and I never suffered so from the heat; but it came at last, and, almost before I realised it, Brace was giving the doctor his final instructions and a message for the major.