up like a powder magazine if you set them alight bye bye tlie two men crawled under their and sank instantly into the easy sleep of those whose lives are spent in the open young stood with his back against a palm tree and his between his lips thinking over the advice which he had received after all they were the heads of the profession these men and it was not for him the to reform their methods if they served their papers in this fashion then he must do the i same they had at least been frank and in teaching him the rules of the game if it was good enough for them it was good enough for him it was a afternoon and those thin � of foam round the black glistening necks of the looked delightfully cool and but it would not be safe to for some hours to come the air and over the stretch of sand and rock there was not a breath of wind and the and of the insects inclined one for sleep somewhere above a was calling knocked out his ashes and was turning towards his couch when his eye caught something moving in the desert to the south it was a riding towards them as swiftly as the broken ground would permit a messenger from the army thought and then as he watched the sun suddenly struck the man on the side of the head and his chin into gold there could not be two with of a colour it was the engineer and he was returning what on earth was he returning for he had been so keen to see the general and yet he was coming back with his mission was it that his pony was hopelessly it seemed to be moving well picked up s and a foam horse and a weary man came up the centre of the field but there was nothing in his appearance to explain the mystery of his return then as he watched them they dipped down into a hollow and disappeared he could see that it was one of those narrow which led to the river and he waited glass in hand for their immediate the three but minute passed after minute and there was no sign of them that narrow appeared to have swallowed them up and then with a curious and start he saw a little grey cloud itself slowly from among the rocks and drift in a long over the desert in an instant he had torn scott and from their get up you he cried i believe has been shot by and not here i cried the two clutching at their shot where when how in a few words explained what he had seen � you heard nothing well a shot loses itself very easily among rocks by george look at the two large brown birds were soaring in the deep blue heaven as scott spoke they down and dropped into the little that s good enough said with his nose between the leaves of his book headed stop returned stop shot stop communications how s that you think he was headed off why else should he return in that case if they were out in front of him and others cut him of there must be several small i should how about the i ve fought against before the green flag etc where are you off to i think race you in said scott stared in astonishment at the absolutely way in which these men regarded the situation in their zeal for news it had apparently never struck them that they their camp and their servants were all in the lion s mouth but even as they talked there came the harsh rat of an irregular from among the rocks and the high whistle of bullets over their heads a palm spray fluttered down amongst them at the same instant the six frightened servants came running wildly in for protection it was the cool headed who the defence foi scott s soul was so at all this copy in hand and more to come that he was too boisterous for a commander the other with his spectacles his stem face soon had the servants in hand i what the deuce are you frightened about put the between the that s right now get the knee on them did you never hear bullets before now put the here not much � you don t get my to make a with the between the grove and the river out of danger s way these fellows seem to fire even higher than they did in that s got home anyhow said scott as they heard a soil like a stone in a mud bank who s hit then the brown that s the as he spoke the creature its jaw still working laid its three long neck along the ground and closed its large dark eyes that shot cost me fifteen pounds said how many of them do you make four i think only four at there may be some i think not it is a little party of by the way youve never been under fire before have you never said the young who was conscious of a curious feeling of nervous love and poverty and war they are all experiences necessary to make a complete life pass over those this is a very mild that you are for behind these you are as safe as if you were sitting in the back room of the authors club as safe but hardly as comfortable said scott a long glass of and would be exceedingly acceptable but oh what a think of the general s feelings when he hears that the first action of the war has been fought by the press column think of who has been at the front for a week think of the evening just 