w asked.

Driscoll's good hand motioned to the left. "Four ... five ... some
there. Standish--he got it with a shell--no head ... not any more--" He
gave a sound like a giggle, and then his hand went hastily to his mouth
as he retched dryly.

Drew caught the other's shoulder, shaking him.

"The others!" he demanded more loudly, trying to pierce the curtain of
shock to Driscoll's thinking mind.

"Four ... five ... some--" Driscoll repeated. "Standish, he's dead. Did
I tell you about Standish? A shell came along and--"

"Yes, you told me about Standish. Now show me where the others are!"
Still keeping his shoulder grip, Drew edged Driscoll about until the
trooper was pointed in the general direction to which he had gestured.
Now Drew gave the man a push and followed.

"Rennie!" That was Captain Campbell. He was kneeling by a man on the
ground, a canteen in his hand.

Drew lurched forward. He was so sure that that inert casualty was Boyd,
and that Boyd was dead.

"Boyd--" he murmured stupidly, refusing to believe his eyes. The man
lying there had a brush of grayish beard on his chin, a mat of hair
which moved up and down as he breathed in heavy, panting gasps.

"Boyd?" This time the scout made a question of it.

One of the men in that little group moved. "He got it--out there."

Drew shifted his weight. He felt as if he were striving to move a body
as heavy and as inert as that of an unconscious man. It took so long
even to raise his hand. Before he could question the trooper further,
another was before him.

Kirby, his powder-blackened face only inches away from that of the man
he had seized by a handful of shirt front, demanded: "How do you know?"

The man pulled back but not out of Kirby's clutch. "He was right beside
me. Went down on the slope before we fell back--"

So--Drew's thinking process was as slow as his weary body--he had been
right back there on the field! Boyd had been in the first line, and he
was still out there.

Again, Drew made one of those careful turns to keep his unsteadiness
under control. If Boyd was out there, he must be brought back--now!
Hands closed on Drew's shoulders, jerking him back so that he collided
with another body, and was held pinned against his captor.

"You can't go theah now!" Kirby spoke so closely to his ear that the
words were a roaring in his head. But they did not make sense. Drew
tried to wrench loose of that hold, the pain in his half-healed arm
answeri