ried; "Sebastian could persuade the very devil! I know
the man's fiery enthusiasm, his contagious eloquence. He thrilled me
through, myself, with his electric personality, so that it took me six
years--and your aid--to find him out at last. His very abstractness
tells. Why, even in this war, you may be sure, he will be making notes
all the time on the healing of wounds in tropical climates, contrasting
the African with the European constitution."

"Oh, yes; of course. Whatever he does, he will never forget the
interests of science. He is true to his lady-love, to whomever else he
plays false. That is his saving virtue."

"And he will talk down the Matabele," I went on, "even if he doesn't
know their language. But I suspect he does; for, you must remember,
he was three years in South Africa as a young man, on a scientific
expedition, collecting specimens. He can ride like a trooper; and he
knows the country. His masterful ways, his austere face, will cow the
natives. Then, again, he has the air of a prophet; and prophets always
stir the negro. I can imagine with what air he will bid them drive
out the intrusive white men who have usurped their land, and draw them
flattering pictures of a new Matabele empire about to arise under a new
chief, too strong for these gold-grubbing, diamond-hunting mobs from
over sea to meddle with."

She reflected once more. "Do you mean to say anything of our suspicions
in Salisbury, Hubert?" she asked at last.

"It is useless," I answered. "The Salisbury folk believe there is a
white man at the bottom of this trouble already. They will try to catch
him; that's all that is necessary. If we said it was Sebastian, people
would only laugh at us. They must understand Sebastian, as you and I
understand him, before they would think such a move credible. As a rule
in life, if you know anything which other people do not know, better
keep it to yourself; you will only get laughed at as a fool for telling
it."

"I think so, too. That is why I never say what I suspect or infer
from my knowledge of types--except to a few who can understand and
appreciate. Hubert, if they all arm for the defence of the town, you
will stop here, I suppose, to tend the wounded?"

Her lips trembled as she spoke, and she gazed at me with a strange
wistfulness. "No, dearest," I answered at once, taking her face in my
hands. "I shall fight with the rest. Salisbury has more need to-day of
fighters than of healers."

"I