, but Russia has turned out
far more so than we expected; and having once taken the matter up,
the empress, if she is half as obstinate as her soldiers, is likely
to go on at it for a long time. And we are using up our army very
fast, and cannot replace our losses as Austria and Russia can do."

"I hope they are not going to make another twenty years' war of
it," Lindsay said. "If you go on in the way that you are doing,
Drummond, you will be a field marshal in a third of that time; but
you must remember about the proverb of the pitcher and the well."

"Yes, Lindsay, but you must remember that I am having a share of
hard knocks. I have been wounded twice now, to say nothing of being
stunned and taken prisoner; so you see I am having my share of bad
luck, as well as good. Now at present you have never had as much as
a scratch, and when your bad luck comes, it may come all in a
lump."

"There is something in that, Fergus, though I own that I had not
thought of it. Well, perhaps it is better to take it in small doses
than have it come all at once.

"So you have brought your man back safe, I see, though he has had
an ugly slash across the cheek.

"By the way, I hope that those two sword cuts are not going to
leave bad scars, Drummond. It would be hard to have your beauty
spoilt for life, and you only nineteen; though, fortunately,
everyone thinks you two or three years older. However, they will be
honourable scars, and women don't mind any disfigurement in a man,
if it is got in battle. It is a pity, though, that you did not get
them when defending the king's life, instead of in the cavalry
charge afterwards.

"You brought your horse safe out of the battle, I hope?"

"He has, like myself, honourable scars, Lindsay. He got an ugly
gash on the flank with a bayonet; and I am afraid, when it heals,
white hair will grow on it. He had also a bullet through the neck.
Fortunately it missed both spine and windpipe, and is quite healed
up now."

"It is really a pity to take such a horse as that under fire,"
Lindsay said regretfully.

"Well, when one risks one's own life, one ought not to mind risking
that of a horse, however valuable."

"No, I suppose not. Still, it is a pity to ride so valuable an
animal. You are paid so much for risking your own life, you see,
Drummond; but it is no part of the bargain that you should risk
that of a horse worth any amount of money."

Fergus, on his arrival, called at once on Count E