"Nothing very serious, I hope," said Bob with a smile, as Lawrence bent over him. "A bullet in my arm just below the shoulder, and a whack in the skull from a splinter of rock. Any news, old chap!"
"Yes, thank God! Endicott himself is within less than thirty miles, with three or four hundred men, field pieces and mountain batteries. There's a medico with him, so we'll soon put you to rights."
"Tell the men, will you?"
Lawrence gathered the men about him and quickly gave the information. A company of British soldiers would have received it with a ringing cheer: these Asiatics merely murmured praises to Allah, mingled with triumphant execrations of the enemy.
"It'll be as much as we can do to hold out until the Major arrives," said Bob in a low tone. "Is he coming on at once?"
"No, unluckily. His horses were dead beat: he said they must have three or four hours' rest, and I'm afraid he can't be here until four or five o'clock in the morning at the earliest. But he has sent some ammunition, and a dozen men are coming in advance on a raft; they should arrive about three o'clock. I intend to meet them a little way up, and bring them in on the aeroplane. I've just enough petrol left."
"That's good. We're practically helpless here. They've knocked the wall about with their field pieces from the breastwork, and smashed the machine gun. We couldn't hold the wall any longer. The carbide has given out, so that we can't make any more acetylene for the searchlight, and the track's free for them now. I only hope that as they've forced the passage they won't trouble us any more, but go straight ahead in the morning. They little suspect what's in store for them!"
"They may possibly leave us alone, but they're hardly human if they don't try a shot or two at the aeroplane, especially when they discover what has happened to their own."
"What did happen to it, by the way?"
Lawrence described the incidents of the manoeuvring up and down river, and the extraordinary scene at the turning-place. It was then that he and Bob argued about the cause of the final collapse, almost forgetting their actual circumstances in discussing the scientific problem. They were suddenly recalled to realities, however, by sounds from the opposite bank--the ringing clatter of horses' hoofs and the rumble of wheels.