“Kris, sir,” said the lad; and crossing the floor of the great building, he climbed cleverly up to the thatch and passed out, and Archie heard a faint rustling, and then sat listening in the dark till, after what seemed to be an impossibly short space of time, the rustling began again, and a few minutes afterwards Peter, panting heavily, dropped down on his knees by the subaltern’s side.
“Well, was it still too light for you to venture?” asked Archie.
“Poof!” ejaculated the lad. “Ketch hold ’ere, sir;” and he thrust the pistol-butt-like handle of a kris into his companion’s hand. “Sound as a top, sir. Ain’t that prime! Don’t I wish he had had a mate, so that I could have got two!”
“But he will miss it as soon as he wakes,” exclaimed Archie.
“Not ’im, sir; and if he does, he’ll think that one of his mates has been larking. Wait a bit, and I shall get another chance, for we ought to have two.”
But Fate was going to smile again, for the very next morning, in a wild state of excitement, the lad gripped his young officer’s hand tightly between his own.
“No larks, sir,” he half-sobbed. “Don’t gammon me. If you don’t feel strong enough, say so, and we’ll wait.”
“What do you mean? What’s the matter?” whispered back Archie.
“Look there, sir! The helephants are coming, and there ain’t no sentry.”
“Oh!” ejaculated Archie, wild now with excitement, “I’m strong enough for anything.”