‘He had that same, and may the divil fly away wid him, for in about half-an-hour we suddintly saw him coming back wid a troop of Hussars and Cossacks at his heels. Somehow they seemed to have got all round us. I sounded the alarm, and our fellows came tumbling out. In a jiffy they were mounted and formed up. We answered the Rooshians blitherin’ fire wid a volley, and then charged ’em, going through ’em like a knife and bowling over a good number of the ugly bastes, wid a loss of only two of our men.’ Jack then related their adventure, which made Larry’s eyes sparkle. ‘By the piper, I’d loike to have been wid you!’ he said. Linham and Barrymore presently came into the cottage, and after the latter had congratulated Jack on his escape, he said, ‘This news about the convoy is most important. Captain Norreys learnt something of it from a prisoner we took, and that is why we remained here. Our captain wanted to go in search of it, but the captain of the 11th, who was senior officer, would not agree. He, poor chap, has just died of the cholera, so Captain Norreys is now in command. Jimmy and I are going to wake him up and tell him what you’ve seen.’ Captain Norreys was delighted with the news. ‘We ‘ll have that convoy,’ he said; and summoned all the officers at once to consult with him. Half-an-hour later, the little body of cavalry, picking up their vedettes as they went along, were on the move. Captain Norreys, having Linham with him as guide, led the way with his own troop; the Hussars followed. Silence was imposed on all; there was to be no talking or smoking in the ranks, and on no account were any bugle-calls to be sounded. Progress, of course, was slow, and it was fully a couple of hours before word was passed along for the party to halt. Then part of the Lancers were ordered to dismount. Leaving their lances behind, and taking only their pistols and swords, they then began to advance stealthily on foot, Captain Norreys leading them. The other troops were for the present to remain halted. Jack and his companions were with the captain, and they went on and on; but no sign of the convoy did they see. ‘I hope we haven’t lost our way,’ whispered Cornet Leland to Jack. ‘It would be a feather in our cap to take in a string of wagons. The cavalry don’t get much chance, and the infantry are always sneering at us as “do-nothing popinjays.”’ ‘We’ll prove to them if ever we get the chance that a man in a laced jacket can do as much as one in a red coat, sir,’ replied Jack; and the day was not far distant when the prophecy was to be fulfilled by the immortal ‘Six Hundred.’ Presently they reached the road and marched silently along beside it till there came a stern whisper for caution; then the thirty odd Lancers heard faintly on the still night air a rumble getting rapidly louder.