er with a handful of men, had been detailed to make a
reconnaissance.

Sara could picture the little party stealing out on their dangerous
errand--dangerous, indeed, if the withdrawal of the tribesmen were but
a bluff, a scheme devised to lull the besieged into a false sense of
security in order to attack them later at a greater disadvantage. And
then--the sudden spit of a rifle, a ringing fusillade of shots in the
dense darkness! The reconnaissance party had run into an ambuscade!

Sara could guess well the frayed nerves, the low vitality of men who
were short of food, short of sleep, and worn with incessant watching
night and day. But--Could it be possible that Englishmen had flinched
at the crucial moment--lost their nerve and fled in wild disorder?
Englishmen--who held the sacred trust of empire in their hands--to show
the white feather to a horde of rebel natives! It was inconceivable!
Sara, reared in the great tradition by that gallant gentleman, Patrick
Lovell, refused to credit it.

She drew a long, shuddering breath.

"I don't believe it," she said.

Elisabeth looked at her with a pitying comprehension of the blow she had
just dealt her.

"I'm afraid," she said gently, almost deprecatingly, "that there is no
questioning the finding of the court-martial. Garth must have lost
his head at the unexpectedness of the attack. And panic is a curious,
unaccountable kind of thing, you know."

"I don't believe it," reiterated Sara stubbornly.

Elisabeth bent forward.

"My dear," she said, "there is no possibility of doubt. Garth was
wounded; they brought him in afterwards--_shot in the back_! . . . Oh!
It was all a horrible business! And the most wretched part of it all was
that in reality they were only a few stray tribesmen whom our men had
encountered. Perhaps Garth thought they were outnumbered--I don't know.
But anyway, coming on the top of all that had gone before, the surprise
attack in the darkness broke his nerve completely. He didn't even
attempt to make a stand. He simply gave way. What followed was just a
headlong scramble as to who could save his skin first! I shall never
forget Garth's return after--after the court-martial." She shuddered a
little at the memory. "I--I was engaged to him at the time, Sara, and I
had no choice but to break it off. Garth was cashiered--disgraced--done
for."

Sara's drooping figure suddenly straightened.

"_You--you_--were engaged to Garth?" she said in a queer, hi