“I would not have believed it if I had not seen it,” Captain Rintoul said. “The man was absolutely helpless with fright; I never saw such an exhibition; and then his fainting afterwards and having to be carried away was disgusting; in fact, it is worse than that.” There was a general murmur of assent. “It is disgraceful,” one of the civilians said; “I am ashamed that the man should belong to our service; the idea of a fellow being helpless by fright when there are women and children to be defended--it is downright revolting.” “Well, he did go and stick himself up in front,” Wilson said; “you should remember that. He may have been in a blue funk, I don’t say he wasn’t; still, you know, he didn’t go away and try to hide himself, but he stuck himself up in front for them to fire at. I think we ought to take that into consideration.” “Dr. Wade says Bathurst put himself there to try and accustom himself to fire,” Captain Forster said. “Mind, I don’t pretend to like the man. We were at school together, and he was a coward then and a sneak, but for all that one should look at it fairly. The Doctor asserts that Bathurst is morally brave, but that somehow or other his nerves are too much for him. I don’t pretend to understand it myself, but there is no doubt about the Doctor’s pluck, and I don’t think he would stand up for Bathurst as he does unless he really thought he was not altogether accountable for showing the white feather. I think, too, from what he let drop, that the Major is to some extent of the same opinion. What do you think, Doolan?” “I like Bathurst,” Captain Doolan said; “I have always thought him a first rate fellow; but one can’t stick up, you know, for a fellow who can’t behave as a gentleman ought to, especially when there are women and children in danger.” “It. is quite impossible that we should associate with him,” Captain Rintoul said. “I don’t propose that we should tell him what we think of him, but I think we ought to leave him severely alone.” “I should say that he ought to be sent to Coventry,” Richards said. “I should not put it in that way,” Mr. Hunter said gravely. “I have always esteemed Bathurst. I look upon it as a terribly sad case; but I agree with Captain Rintoul that, in the position in which we are now placed, a man who proves himself to be a coward must be made to feel that he stands apart from us. I should not call it sending him to Coventry, or anything of that sort, but I do think that we should express by our manner that we don’t wish to have any communication with him.” There was a general expression of assent to this opinion, Wilson alone protesting against it.