“We are too much reduced in available men to run any risks.” There was no reply to this, and the colonel continued: “Then there is nothing else to be done, gentlemen, but take up another hole in our belts, keep on sending messages when we can get a Kaffir runner, and wait patiently for help.”
As the officers sauntered away from the rough hut which had been built in a niche for the colonel, Roby was limping along with the aid of a stick and Lennox’s arm, while Dickenson was rolling up a cigarette composed of the very last dust of his tobacco, ready to hand it to the captain, who suffered a good deal still from the bullet wound, the missile having passed right through his thigh. They had to pass two of their men, seated upon a rock in a shady corner, one of them being minus his right leg, which had been removed half-way between knee and hip; the other was recovering very slowly from a bullet wound in the face, an injury which had mended very slowly and kept him low-spirited, fretful, and ready to affect the companionship of one as fretful and as great a sufferer as himself. The group of officers stopped to say a few kind words to the men, and then, having nothing hopeful to hold out for their comfort, passed on.
“See that Captain Roby?” said the one-legged man.
“Of course I do.”
“Well, I did have some hopes of him as being a man, but he isn’t. He’s a sneak, that’s what he is—a sneak.”
“Better not let him hear you say so,” said the other.
“Tell him if you like.”
“Tell him yourself.”
“You know how he let on about Mr Lennox running away in the fight?”
“Oh yes, of course; but it was all a mistake. He was off his head, Captain Roby was.”