give me some?" said Bracy sadly.

"I hope so, for I am going to appeal to your manliness, your strength of
mind. You must try to bear your sufferings, and I will help you by
means of sedatives."

"Thanks, Doctor. If you could only get me to be strong enough to act in
some way."

"Go out with the men and help them to shoot a few of the enemy--eh!"

"Yes," cried Bracy eagerly. "It would keep me from thinking so, and
wearing myself out with dread of my helpless future."

"Well, listen to reason," said the Doctor cheerily. "Your helpless
future, in which you see yourself a miserable cripple, old before your
time, and utterly useless--"

"Yes, yes," cried Bracy eagerly; "it is all that which keeps me back."

"Of course; and what is all that but a kind of waking ill-dream, which
you invent and build up for yourself? Come, you must own that."

"Yes," said Bracy, with a sigh; "but I am very bad, Doctor."

"Were."

"I am still; but I will and can fight harder--"

"No, no; not as you did this morning," said the Doctor, smiling.

"I say, I can fight harder if you tell me that I may recover from these
terrible fits."

"I tell you, then, that you may and will. There, you've talked enough.
Shake hands, and I'll go."

He held out his hand, but there was no response, for Bracy's right arm
lay motionless by his side, and a look of misery crossed the poor
fellow's face.

"Never mind," said the Doctor quietly; and he took Bracy's hand in his,
when the fingers contracted over his in a tremendous pressure, which he
had hard work to hear without wincing. But he stood smiling down at his
patient till the contraction of the muscles ceased, and Bracy did not
know till afterwards the pain that his grip had caused.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

ON THE BALANCE.

The enemy had been very quiet for some days. The weather had been bad.
Heavy rains had changed the rills and streams which ran along the
gullies and ravines into fierce torrents, which leaped and bounded
downward, foaming and tearing at the rocks which blocked their way, till
with a tremendous plunge they joined the river in the valley, which kept
up one deep, thunder-like boom, echoing from the mountains round.

Before the rain came the sun had seemed to beat down with double force,
and the valley had become intolerable during the day, the perpendicular
rocks sending back the heat till the fort felt like an oven, and the
poor fellows lying wounded under the doc