Raffles, with no nursery oath, as we
strolled within the lines that night.

He merely smiled in my face.

"And have you only just found it out, Bunny? I have known it almost
ever since we joined; but this morning I did think we had him on toast."

"It's disgraceful that we had not," cried I. "He ought to have been
shot like a dog."

"Not so loud, Bunny, though I quite agree; but I don't regret what has
happened as much as you do. Not that I am less bloodthirsty than you
are in this case, but a good deal more so! Bunny, I'm mad-keen on
bowling him out with my own unaided hand--though I may ask you to take
the wicket. Meanwhile, don't wear all your animosity upon your sleeve;
the fellow has friends who still believe in him; and there is no need
for you to be more openly his enemy than you were before."

Well, I can only vow that I did my best to follow this sound advice;
but who but a Raffles can control his every look? It was never my
forte, as you know, yet to this day I cannot conceive what I did to
excite the treacherous corporal's suspicions. He was clever enough,
however, not to betray them, and lucky enough to turn the tables on us,
as you shall hear.

III

Bloemfontein had fallen since our arrival, but there was plenty of
fight in the Free Staters still, and I will not deny that it was thes
gentry who were showing us the sport for which our corps came in.
Constant skirmishing was our portion, with now and then an action that
you would know at least by name, did I feel free to mention them. But
I do not, and indeed it is better so. I have not to describe the war
even as I saw it, I am thankful to say, but only the martial story of
us two and those others of whom you wot. Corporal Connal was the
dangerous blackguard you have seen. Captain Bellingham is best known
for his position in the batting averages a year or two ago, and for his
subsequent failure to obtain a place in any of the five Test Matches.
But I only think of him as the officer who recognized Raffles.

We had taken a village, making quite a little name for it and for
ourselves, and in the village our division was reinforced by a fresh
brigade of the Imperial troops. It was a day of rest, our first for
weeks, but Raffles and I spent no small part of it in seeking high and
low for a worthy means of quenching the kind of thirst which used to
beset Yeomen and others who had left good cellars for the veldt. The
old knack came back t