"I just do, sir. Think of you talking like that to me? Why, twice over when I was in the Dragoons I was bowled over and had to go into hospital, up north there, in Egypt. Thirsty, gentlemen? I was thirsty, double thirsty, in the nasty sandy country--thirsty for want of water, and twice as thirsty to get to know how things were going on. That's why I always come, when I'm off duty, to tell you gentlemen all I can." "There, Val," cried Denham, beaming. "Didn't I always say that old Briggs was a brick?" "I don't remember," I replied. "Well, I always meant to.--Now then, Sergeant, go ahead." "Nay! I don't want to damp your spirits, sir, seeing how bad you are." "I'm not bad, Sergeant; neither is Moray. We're getting better fast, and news spurs us on to get better as fast as we can. Now then, don't make us worse by keeping us in suspense. Tell us the worst news at once." "That's soon done, sir. These Doppies, as they call 'em--these Boers-- shoot horribly well." "Yes," sighed Denham; "they've had so much practice at game." "They've got so close in now, with their wagons to hide behind, that I'm blessed if it's safe for a sentry to show his head anywhere." "But our fellows have got stone walls to keep behind, and they ought by now to shoot as well as the Boers," I said. "That's quite right, Mr Moray," cried the Sergeant, angrily puffing at his pipe; "they ought to, but they don't--not by a long way. Every time they use a cartridge there ought to be one Doppie disabled and sent to the rear. I keep on telling them this fort isn't Purfleet Magazine nor Woolwich Arsenal; but it's no good." "But, Sergeant," cried Denham anxiously, "you don't mean to say that we're running out of cartridges?" "But I do mean to say it, sir; and the time isn't so very far off when we shall either have to hang out the white flag--" "What!" cried Denham, dragging himself up into a sitting position. "Never!" "Or," continued the Sergeant emphatically, "make a sortie and give the beggars cold steel." "Ah! that sounds better," cried Denham, dropping back upon his rough pillow. "That's what we shall have to do."