d you sleep now?"

"No, no; we must talk, or I shall go off my head. That brute hurt me
so, it has made me rather strange. Yes, I must talk. I say: God bless
you, old fellow! You saved my life from those wretches, and now you're
keeping me from going mad. I say! The air is all right."

"Yes; I can breathe freely, and I am not cold."

"I am hot. I say, let's talk. Tell me how you came to be here."

"Afterwards; the words would not come now. You tell me how you came."

"Yes; it will keep off the horrors; it's like a romance, and now it does
not seem to be true. And yet it is, and it happened just as if it were
only yesterday. I never thought of coming out here. I was going to be
a soldier."

He spoke in a hurried, excited way, and the listener heard him draw his
breath sharply through his teeth from time to time, as if he shivered
from nervous dread.

"I was not fit for a soldier. Fate knows best. See what a coward I
am."

"I thought you brave."

"What!"

"For the way in which you have fought and mastered the natural dread;
but go on."

"Oh, no; it seems nonsense to talk about my troubles at a time like
this."

"It is not. Go on, if you can without hurting yourself more."

"I'll go on because it will hurt me more. It will give me something
else to think of. Can you understand my croaking whisper?"

"Oh, yes."

"An uncle of mine brought me up after father and mother died."

"Indeed?"

"Dear old fellow! He and aunt quite took my old people's place; and
their boy, my cousin, always seemed like my brother."

The listener made a quick movement.

"What is it? Hear anything?"

"No; go on."

"They were such happy times. I never knew what trouble was, till one
day poor uncle was brought home on a gate. His horse had thrown him."

There was a pause, and then the speaker continued in an almost inaudible
whisper:

"He was dead."

The listener uttered a strange ejaculation.

"Yes, it was horrible, wasn't it? And there was worse to come. It
nearly killed poor dear old aunt, and when she recovered a bit it was to
hear the news from the lawyers. I don't quite understand how it was
even now--something about a great commercial smash--but all uncle's
money was gone, and aunt was left penniless."

"Great heavens!" came in a strange whisper.

"You may well say that. Bless her! She had been accustomed to every
luxury, and we boys had had everything we wished. My word! it was a
kn