"If ye're thinkin' o' askin' me to pray," broke in the alarmed Scotsman, "ye may save your breath. When I promised, I said, `if I _can_.' Noo, I can _not_ pray, an' it's nae use askin' me to try. Whatever I may come to in this warld, I'll no be a heepycrit for ony leevin' man." "Quite right, Sutherland--quite right. I had no intention of asking you to pray," replied Hardy, with a faint smile. "What I want you to do is to draw out my will for me." "Oh! I'm quite willin' to do that," returned the relieved Scot. "You see," continued the sergeant, "one never knows what may be the result of a bad wound in a climate like this, and if it pleases my Father in heaven to call me home, I should like the few trifles I possess to go in the right direction." "That's a wise-like sentiment," returned his friend, with an approving nod and thoughtful frown. "Now, as you write a capital hand, and know how to express yourself on paper," continued Hardy, "it strikes me that you will do the job better than any one else; and, being a friend, I feel that I can talk freely to you on my private affairs. So you'll help me?" "I'm wullin' to try, serjint, and ac' the legal adviser--amytoor-like, ye ken." "Thank you. Can you come to-morrow morning?" "No, serjint, I canna, because I've to start airly the morn's mornin' wi' a pairty to meet the Scots Gairds comin' back frae Tamai, but the moment I come back I'll come to ye." "That will do--thank you. And now, Gaspard, what's the news from England? I hear that a mail has just come in." "News that will make your blood boil," said Gaspard sternly. "It would take a good deal of powerful news to boil the little blood that is left in me," said Hardy, languidly. "Well, I don't know. Anyhow it makes mine boil. What d'you think of McNeill's brave defence being represented in the papers as a disaster?" "You don't mean that!" "Indeed I do. They say that it was a disaster! whereas it was a splendid defence under singularly adverse circumstances! They say that General McNeill permitted himself to be surprised! If he had tried to carry out his instructions to the full extent, it would indeed have been such a surprise that the surprising thing would have been if a single man of us had returned alive to tell the tale--as you and I know full well. The truth is, it was the fault of the Intelligence Department that nearly wrecked us, and it was McNeill's prudence and our pluck that saved us, and yet these quill-drivers at home--bah!" The soldier rose in hot indignation and strode from the room. "He's a wee thing roosed!" remarked Sutherland, with a good-humoured yet slightly cynical grin. "But guid-nicht to ye, ma man. Keep up hert an' I'll come an' draft yer wull i' the mornin'." So saying the "amytoor" lawyer took his departure, and was soon tramping over the desert sands with a band of his comrades.