"We, indeed!" said Charteris, releasing himself with strong disgust.
"General Desdichado, I suppose?"
But the General, apparently unconscious of his momentary lapse of memory, was not responsive to English. "The Sahib was pleased to say——?" he inquired politely.
"I say this, you old villain, that you nearly lost us the battle, and if Lieutenant Gerrard should die, I give you my word I'll have you shot for neglect of duty in the face of the enemy!" cried Charteris furiously.
"The Sahib is pleased to forget that I am accountable only to my own master," said the General, and retired in good order, though with as much haste as was compatible with a very unsteady walk.
The unpleasant business of extracting the bullet brought Gerrard to his senses, and Charteris found his hand wrung almost to numbness as he knelt by his side. Those were the days before anaesthetics, and a bullet in the shoulder required a good deal of torture before it could be got rid of.
"I thought it was all up with me, Bob," whispered Gerrard when the operation was over.
"Not just yet, old boy. If it had been an inch or two more to one side, now——"
"When I went down among the horses' feet, I meant. It was you got me out, old fellow, I know."
"Had to do a good many things first, I'm afraid, and it wasn't very easy to find you. Case of 'None could see Valerius, And none wist where he lay.' By the bye, Hal, should you say that those dangawalas[1] of Granthis were playing fair to-day, or not? Did they fire as Sher Singh advanced?"
"Oh yes, they fired," said Gerrard dreamily.