Though our gallant little Dr. Wilson permitted the removal of Keller Bey, the task before me was one to tax me to the utmost. I think I should have given it up and let Keller Bey lie, but for Rhoda Polly. She came out from a long consultation with Alida, and at once took charge of the situation, much as her father might have done. I don't know in the least what the girls said to one another, or what reason Alida gave Rhoda Polly for her presence in Aramon or for her dislike of me, but whatever these might have been, they must at least have been sufficient. As I say, Rhoda Polly took hold. She commandeered an improvised carrying stretcher, which had been prepared at the orchard end of the Chateau policies. She prevailed on her father to lend her a carrying party as far as the river. The thought of letting any fraction of his few defenders go outside even for such a purpose made Dennis Deventer frown. "It will not take ten poor minutes," pleaded Rhoda Polly. "I will see that they get safe back. Let me, Dennis!" It was not often that she called him by his Christian name save in the heat of wordy strife, and perhaps the very unexpectedness of it touched him. "Have it your own way then, but be quick--don't forget I am risking the whole defence. I do not see in the least why Wilson could not have attended to him here." She stepped up and whispered in his ear. He looked first doubtful, then incredulous, and a smile flickered a moment on his face. "Ah, so!" he exclaimed, "I did not know you were so fanciful, my lady." But he made no further objection, and we lifted up Keller Bey and put him in the stretcher, where he lay without speech or knowledge. Wilson tried his pulse and listened to his respiration. "Get him away," he commanded, "the quicker the better!" Rhoda Polly, Hugh and I helped the men over the wall with him, and held the _brancard_ in place till they could get over to our assistance. We did not try to go straight to the landing place through the bull ring, but instead cast a wide circuit about the town, and finally came out upon the little house of gardener Arcadius buried among its trees. Him I awakened with care, first a hail of pebbles on his window panes, followed the scratching teeth of a garden rake to indicate a friend, and lastly my own voice calling softly his name. He looked sleepily out, for he cared nothing about the town and its ongoings, if the early blossoms were not frosted and his young trees were not eaten by predatory goats. He made me a sign that he would be down immediately, and he was buckling an equatorial waistbelt even as he opened the door. He started back at the sight of the _brancard_. "What! A dead man?" I explained the desperate need of Keller Bey and his daughter--how they must cross the river and how we counted on him to give us porters. For the boat Rhoda Polly and I would be sufficient, but for the carrying of the stretcher up the hill we had need of four stout fellows.