"Oh no," he said, as he interpreted my look. "I'm not feverish or
delirious. Quite calm and cool, sir. Listen!"
I bent down, and he began talking in a low whisper, full of earnestness,
as he unrolled his plan, and as he went on my heart began to beat, and
my cheeks to flush.
"That makes your eyes sparkle, sir, doesn't it?" he said. "That will
do, won't it?"
"Do, Craig!" I whispered. "It's glorious. If it succeeds, they ought
to give you a commission."
"Think so?" he said. "Ah, well, perhaps I shan't live to want it. But
what are you going to do?"
"Go and tell the captain, of course," I cried.
"That's right; go and tell him, sir," whispered the wounded man; "and
good luck to you. Oh, if I could only have been in the game!"
"I wish from my heart you could have been, Craig," I said, pressing his
hand.
"And you won't leave me behind, sir, to the crows?"
"If you are left behind, Craig, I shall be left behind too," I said.
"But left! Why, you'll be riding on a limber or in the waggon, man.
There, I must go and tell him. Hurrah! Oh, Craig, if I had only been
born with a brain like yours!"
"Perhaps you would have only wasted your life, sir, as I did. But go
along and tell him, and God bless your efforts, for it may mean saving
thousands of innocent lives, and preventing the pandies from running
riot over the country, and marking their track in blood."
The next minute I was seeking Brace, feeling that I had the guns under
my hands; and so occupied that I did not notice a peculiar fact.
Our prisoners were not in their customary places, though the sentries
were on guard!