"My dear boy, comfort is ruin to a soldier. Ah! here's Coats; he'd better have a look at your brother at once."
The doctor rode up with another score of troopers. These the Major ordered to remain on guard at the bridge, in case the Kalmucks who were still scattered here and there on the track and the hillside should show any disposition to rally. Then the two officers crossed with Lawrence into the compound. Bob had been carried back to his chair by Shan Tai and the khansaman. The doctor made a brief examination of his wounds, got out some lint and lotion, and as he bandaged him declared that he would be quite sound in a few days. Then he went off to attend to the other wounded--almost every man of the little company. Ten had been killed outright; two were so severely injured that recovery was hopeless; the rest would be well sooner or later. Among these were Fyz Ali and Gur Buksh, though the Sikh's arm had to be amputated.
"I was never so glad of anything as I am to hand things over to you, Major," said Bob.
Major Endicott was seated on an upturned box beside his chair, with a biscuit in one hand and a hunk of corned beef in the other.
"Well, you know, I feel rather mean," he said munching. "Capital stuff, this! ... All the credit is yours and Lawrence's, and I shan't fail to say so. It's a thousand pities you are not both in the service. By the way, I saw as I came up that your aeroplane had come to grief, and it was a great relief to see Lawrence safe and sound."
"It wasn't ours," replied Bob, who then related in brief the events of the previous day.
"That's amazing. Then I suppose Lawrence can still use your machine for scouting if necessary?"
"We've no more petrol, unfortunately. What do you intend to do, then?"
"First of all secure our position here as soon as Fenton comes up. We'll make it impossible for the enemy to get round that bend yonder. Then we'll follow up the runaways and shepherd them out of the valley."
"There's such a lot of them, and you've so few!"