ard fellows from Cornwall
mostly, with a few Australians, and these he got together with Mackay's
help and organised into a pretty useful corps. He set them to guard
the offices, and gave them strict orders to shoot at sight any one
attempting to leave. Then he collected the bosses and talked to them
like a father. What he said Hely did not know, except that he had
damned their eyes pretty heartily, and told them what a set of swine
they were, making trouble which they had not the pluck to face.
Whether from Mackay, or from his own intelligence, or from a memory of
my neglected warnings, he seemed to have got a tight grip on the facts
at last. Meanwhile, the Labonga were at the doors, chanting their
battle-songs half a mile away, and shots were heard from the far
pickets. If they had tried to rush the place then, all would have been
over, but, luckily, that was never their way of fighting. They sat
down in camp to make their sacrifices and consult their witch-doctors,
and presently Hely arrived with the first troops, having come in on the
northern flank when he found the line cut. He had been in time to hear
the tail-end of Tommy's final address to the mineowners. He told them,
in words which Hely said he could never have imagined coming from his
lips, that they would be well served if the Labonga cleaned the whole
place out. Only, he said, that would be against the will of Britain,
and it was his business, as a loyal servant, to prevent it. Then,
after giving Hely his instructions, he had put on his uniform, gold
lace and all, and every scrap of bunting he possessed--all the orders
and 'Golden Stars' of half a dozen Oriental States where he had served.
He made Ashurst, the A.D.C., put on his best Hussar's kit, and Mackay
rigged himself out in a frock-coat and a topper; and the three set out
on horseback for the Labonga. 'I believe he'll bring it off, said
Hely, with wild eyes, 'and, by Heaven, if he does, it'll be the best
thing since John Nicholson!'

"For the rest of the way I sat hugging myself with excitement. The
miracle of miracles seemed to have come. The old, slack, incompetent
soul in Tommy seemed to have been driven out by that other spirit,
which had hitherto been content to dream of crazy victories on the
Oxus. I cursed my folly in having missed it all, for I would have
given my right hand to be with him among the Labonga. I envied that
young fool Ashurst his luck in being present at that que