"I wonder what's happened to the other columns?" said Ted as they left their wounded commandant. Jim grunted, and vouchsafed no reply. He was in a sullen mood, defeat being particularly bitter after such high hopes. "Dare say they met with no better success," hazarded the ensign. "What the dickens were they doing to send us out without guns?--the idiots! It's a badly managed business anyway!" "Oh, don't talk so much," Jim replied. "We'll know about the other columns soon enough--they're all right! And don't be so ready with your 'idiots'. A man directing operations on this large scale has a lot more to think about than an ensign has, you know; though perhaps he don't know quite as much as some, to hear you youngsters talk! Do your work, and don't growl!" Ted shut up. He would have dearly liked to say something cutting, but could not think of any suitable retort on the spot. And by the time a brilliant repartee had come to him, he had perceived that his brother was at least as much upset as himself. Thereupon he remained discreetly silent. "There's Alec lying over there. He looks bad." "Well, Alec, old chap, not very bad, I hope?" "Not dead yet! They've got the bullet out all right, and I'll soon be about again. By Jove, Ted, you're a wonder! It was a mad thing to do, but rather a good job for all of us." "What was that?" asked Jim in great surprise. He had not yet heard of Ted's great feat. "Nothing; it's all bosh," interrupted Ted, colouring and looking somewhat sheepish. "What! Do you mean that you haven't heard?" Paterson demanded, and proceeded to relate the story of their rescue by the Gurkhas. "It was one of the pluckiest things I've heard of," he concluded, "to charge a couple of hundred with twenty. You've saved fifty lives, and ought to be sure of the V.C. now, in spite of Tynan." Jim rose from his seat, and solemnly shook hands with his brother. "Ted," said he, "I'm sorry I was such a beast just now." Ted turned very red, and his hand remained limp as Jim shook it. His chum's very evident admiration did not seem to give him any pleasure. "I s'pose you've not heard anything of the other columns yet?" asked the invalid. "Not yet.... I'm afraid we shall hear soon enough." On the following day, news of the achievements of the other columns arrived; good news mixed with bad, for Nicholson lay dying, shot through the body as he headed the charge and led his men to victory. Soon came also tidings of the glorious acts of the heroes of the 3rd Column, of Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, of Sergeants Burgess, Carmichael, and Smith, and of Bugler Hawthorne--the heroes who had taken their lives in their hands and had blown up the Kashmir Gate, after overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, a deed with which all England rang. Of these six men, four were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross; and the other two, Burgess and Carmichael, would have been honoured in the same way had they survived.