he did, there can be no
doubt that the force would have been surprised and absolutely cut to
pieces.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

REFERS TO SERGEANT HARDY, AMYTOOR-LAWYER SUTHERLAND, AND OTHER MATTERS.

Among the wounded in the great fight which we have just described was
Hardy the sergeant.

His position at the time the Arabs broke into the square was close to
the right flank of the Indian Native Regiment, which gave way, so that
it was he and a number of the flank men of his company who had to do
most of the hand-to-hand fighting necessary to repair the disaster and
drive back the enemy. Of course every soldier engaged in that part of
the fight was, for a time, almost overwhelmed in the confusion, and many
of them were surrounded and severely wounded.

When the Native Infantry broke, Hardy's captain sprang to the front,
sword in hand, and cut down two of the foe. As he did so, he was, for a
moment, separated from his company and surrounded. A powerful Arab was
on the point of thrusting his spear into the captain's back when Hardy
observed his danger, bayoneted the Arab, and saved the officer. But it
was almost at the cost of his own life, for another Arab, with whom he
had been fighting at the moment, took advantage of the opportunity to
thrust his spear into the chest of the sergeant, who fell, as was
thought, mortally wounded.

This, however, was not the case, for when the fight was over, his wound,
although dangerous, was not supposed to be fatal, and he went into
hospital on returning to Suakim. He was a Blue Light, and his
temperance habits told in his favour. So did his religion, for the calm
equanimity with which he submitted to the will of God, and bore his
sufferings, went far to assist the doctor in grappling with his wound.
But his religion did more than that, for when he thought of the heaven
that awaited him, if he should die, and of being "for ever with the
Lord," his heart was filled with joy; and joy not only "does not
kill,"--it is absolutely a source of life. In the sergeant's case it
formed an important factor in restoring him to partial health.

One evening, some time after the battle of McNeill's zereba, Sutherland
and Gaspard Redgrave were seated beside the sergeant's bed--cheering him
up a bit, as they said--and chatting about the details of the recent
fight. Once or twice the sergeant had tried to lead the conversation to
religious subjects, but without success, for neither Sutherlan