After a moment Private William Green, asleep though he was, became dimly conscious that something was wrong with his tongue.
Then he awoke. There was a hideously bitter taste in his mouth.
In another instant Private Green had turned ghastly pale, shaking like a leaf. It took him but a moment to realize that he was alone on the porch. Out on the road, some two hundred yards away, a solitary male native was passing. Private Green was a quick guesser.
"Kantab!" he gasped hoarsely.
Then "Long" Green's legs got into swift action. Vaulting the porch rail, and almost falling in his trembling weakness, William made a straight line for the hospital, vanishing inside.
Five minutes later Hospital Steward Hicks appeared on the scene. He was supporting "Long" by one arm, for the soldier was not yet over his fright.
"Kelly," said Steward Hicks, "I find that I made a mistake. The medical authorities do not prescribe the stuff I gave you in a case like yours. So I'll take the capsules back."
"You're welcome," grinned Kelly, passing over the pill box.
"Two capsules; there should be three," remarked the hospital man, after having raised the lid from the box. "Green, you idiot, the kantab you're howling about came from the missing capsule that Kelly can't return to me."
"Do you give kantab at the hospital, too?" gasped "Long," looking more scared than ever.