e camp, causing several casualties, the total
losses being over thirty.

By this time the troops were all convinced that the campaign would
be a most serious one. Before them lay a country of which they were
absolutely ignorant, into which no Englishman had ever penetrated;
and defended by an enemy who were, for the most part, armed with
first-class rifles, and were marvellous skirmishers. If the
tribesmen kept to guerrilla warfare, there was no saying how long
the campaign would last.

Lisle had passed through the fight unhurt. He had been almost
bewildered as he crossed the fatal path, running at top speed, with
men falling thickly around him. Halfway across Lieutenant Blunt,
who was one of his great chums, and had joined just before him,
fell. Lisle sheathed his sword and threw himself down beside him,
pressing him to the ground to prevent him from moving; while he
himself remained perfectly still. When the next rush of men came
along, he lifted his wounded friend with great effort on to his
back, and then ran on. Blunt was again twice hit; but Lisle
escaped, almost by a miracle, and arrived at the foot of the
precipice a minute after the last man got in. He was loudly
cheered, by the men, as he did so.

He had the satisfaction of knowing that Blunt's wounds, although
serious, were not considered mortal. When the regiment halted on
the plateau, Lisle was warmly congratulated by the colonel and
officers on the feat he had performed; but he disclaimed any
particular merit.

"When Blunt fell," he said, "it was the most natural thing in the
world that I should go and pick him up; and I did so almost
mechanically. Luckily he was a light man but, even if he had been a
heavy one, I don't think I should have felt his weight. I was
scarcely conscious of the bullets whistling round me. When he fell,
I knew that the tribesmen would shoot any wounded man who tried to
rise, and that the only chance was to lie perfectly still, until
another batch of men came along."

"You showed no end of coolness," the colonel said, "and the idea of
pressing him down, and yourself lying quietly beside him showed
that, in spite of confusion, your brain was clear, and that you had
all your senses about you. It was a gallant action, which I shall
not forget to mention when I send in my report. You deserve the
V.C., but I don't suppose you will get it; so many gallant deeds
were done that only a few can get the cross."

The two divisions ma