hen again "_Voltigeurs de la Garde!_"

He waved his hat above is head, and suddenly pitching forwards upon his
face on the sand, he lay all huddled into a little brown heap.

Jim Horscroft and I stood and stared at each other. The coming of the
man had been so strange, and his questions, and now this sudden turn.
We took him by a shoulder each and turned him upon his back. There he
lay with his jutting nose and his cat's whiskers, but his lips were
bloodless, and his breath would scarce shake a feather.

"He's dying, Jim!" I cried.

"Aye, for want of food and water. There's not a drop or crumb in the
boat. Maybe there's something in the bag."

He sprang and brought out a black leather bag, which with a large blue
coat was the only thing in the boat. It was locked, but Jim had it open
in an instant. It was half full of gold pieces.

Neither of us had ever seen so much before--no, nor a tenth part of it.
There must have been hundreds of them, all bright new British
sovereigns. Indeed, so taken up were we that we had forgotten all about
their owner until a groan took our thoughts back to him. His lips were
bluer than ever, and his jaw had dropped. I can see his open mouth now,
with its row of white wolfish teeth.

"My God, he's off!" cried Jim. "Here, run to the burn. Jock, for a
hatful of water. Quick, man, or he's gone! I'll loosen his things the
while." Away I tore, and was back in a minute with as much water as
would Stay in my Glengarry. Jim had pulled open the man's coat and
shirt, and we doused the water over him, and forced some between his
lips. It had a good effect; for after a gasp or two he sat up and
rubbed his eyes slowly, like a man who is waking from a deep sleep.
But neither Jim nor I were looking at his face now, for our eyes were
fixed upon his uncovered chest.

There were two deep red puckers in it, one just below the collar bone,
and the other about half-way down on the right side. The skin of his
body was extremely white up to the brown line of his neck, and the angry
crinkled spots looked the more vivid against it. From above I could see
that there was a corresponding pucker in the back at one place, but not
at the other. Inexperienced as I was, I could tell what that meant.
Two bullets had pierced his chest; one had passed through it, and the
other had remained inside.

But suddenly he staggered up to his feet, and pulled his shirt to, with
a quick suspicious glance at us