“I am very glad he is safe; he is very kind hearted and nice, Mr. Bathurst, and a thoroughly natural, unaffected young fellow, very loyal and stanch. I am quite sure he would have done anything he could, even at the risk of his life.” “I like him very much, too, Miss Hannay. Before the siege I thought him a careless, happy go lucky lad, but as I got to know him well, I found he was much more than that, and he will make a good man and an excellent officer one of these days if he is spared. He is thoroughly brave without the slightest brag--an excellent specimen of the best class of public school boy.” “And who are the troops coming up, Mr. Bathurst? How strong are they? I have heard nothing about them.” “About twelve hundred white troops and four or five hundred Sikhs; at least that is what the natives put them at.” “But surely they will never be able to fight their way to Cawnpore, where there are the mutineers and Nana Sahib’s troops and the Oude men and the people of the town. Why, there must be ten to one against them.” “Not far short of that, I think, but I feel sure our men will do it. They know of the treachery of the Nana, they know of the massacre by the river, and they know that the women and children are prisoners in his hands, and do you think that men who know these things can be beaten? The Sepoys met them in superior force and in a strong position at Futtehpore, and they drove them before them like chaff. They will have harder work next time, but I have no shadow of fear of the result.” Then their talk went back to Deennugghur and of their friends there--the Doolans, the Hunters, the Rintouls, and others--and Isobel wept freely over their fate. “Next to my uncle I shall miss the Doctor,” she said. “He was an awfully good fellow,” Bathurst said, “and was the only real friend I have had since I came to India, I would have done anything for him.” “When shall we start?” Isobel asked presently. “Directly the sun goes down a little. You would find it terribly hot now. I have been talking it over with Rujub, and he says it is better not to make a long journey today. We are not more than twenty miles from Dong, and it would not do to move in that direction until we know how things have gone; therefore, if we start at three o’clock and walk till seven or eight, it will be quite far enough.” “He seems a wonderful man,” said Isobel. “You remember that talk we had at dinner, before we went to see him at the Hunters!”