und him, and the hat with
the high red plume was lying on the ground beside him. He was very
pale, and had dark blotches under his eyes, but otherwise he was as he
had ever been, with the keen, hungry nose, the wiry moustache, and the
close-cropped head thinning away to baldness upon the top. His eyelids
had always drooped, but now one could hardly see the glint of his eyes
from beneath them.

"Hola, Jock!" he cried. "I didn't thought to have seen you here, and
yet I might have known it, too, when I saw friend Jim."

"It is you that has brought all this trouble," said I.

"Ta, ta, ta!" he cried, in his old impatient fashion. "It is all
arranged for us. When I was in Spain I learned to believe in Fate.
It is Fate which has sent you here this morning."

"This man's blood lies at your door," said I, with my hand on poor Jim's
shoulder.

"And mine on his, so we have paid our debts."

He flung open his mantle as he spoke, and I saw with horror that a great
black lump of clotted blood was hanging out of his side.

"This is my thirteenth and last," said he, with a smile. "They say that
thirteen is an unlucky number. Could you spare me a drink from your
flask?"

The Major had some brandy and water. De Lissac supped it up eagerly.
His eyes brightened, and a little fleck of colour came back in each of
his haggard cheeks.

"It was Jim did this," said he. "I heard someone calling my name, and
there he was with his gun against my tunic. Two of my men cut him down
just as he fired. Well, well, Edie was worth it all! You will be in
Paris in less than a month, Jock, and you will see her. You will find
her at No. 11 of the Rue Miromesnil, which is near to the Madeleine.
Break it very gently to her, Jock, for you cannot think how she loved
me. Tell her that all I have are in the two black trunks, and that
Antoine has the keys. You will not forget?"

"I will remember."

"And madame, your mother? I trust that you have left her very well.
And monsieur, too, your father? Bear them my distinguished regards!"

Even now as death closed in upon him, he gave the old bow and wave as he
sent his greetings to my mother.

"Surely," said I, "your wound may not be so serious as you think.
I could bring the surgeon of our regiment to you."

"My dear Jock, I have not been giving and taking wounds this fifteen
years without knowing when one has come home. But it is as well, for I
know that all is ended for my little man