"Yes, as a rule, sir, without a single exception." "And took fright and ran?" "Rubbish, sir! He couldn't." "Just as Roby says?" "Roby's mad." "And as Corporal May holds to in corroboration?" "No, sir, no; and I should like to see Corporal May flogged." "Rather an unpleasant sight, my lad," said the doctor quietly, "even when a culprit richly deserves it. But about Lennox. He might, though as a rule brave as a lion, have had a seizure like that." "No, he mightn't sir," said Dickenson stoutly. "You don't know, my lad." "Oh yes, I do, sir. I know Drew Lennox by heart." "But there is such a thing as panic, my lad." "Not with him, sir." "I say yes, my lad. Recollect that he had a terrible shock a little while ago." Dickenson's lips parted. "He was plunged into that awful hole in the dark, and whirled through some underground tunnel. Why, sir, I went and looked at the place myself with Sergeant James, and he let down a lantern for me to see. I tell you what it is; I'm as hard as most men, through going about amongst horrors, but that black pit made me feel wet inside my hands. I wonder the poor fellow retained his reason." "But he got the better of that, sir," said Dickenson hoarsely. "How do you know, sir? He seemed better; but a man can't go through such things as that without their leaving some weakening of the mental force." "Doctor, don't talk like that, for goodness' sake!" "I must, my lad, because I think--mind you, I say I think--" "Doctor, if you begin to think Drew Lennox is a coward I'll never respect you again," cried Dickenson angrily. "I don't think he's a coward, my dear boy," said the doctor, laying his hand upon the young officer's arm. "I think he's as brave a lad as ever stepped, and I like him; but no man is perfect, and the result of that horrible plunge into the bowels of the earth shook him so that in that fierce fight he grew for a bit very weak indeed." "Impossible, doctor!" cried the young man fiercely. "Quite possible," said the doctor, pressing his companion's arm; "and now let me finish. I tell you, I like Drew Lennox, and if I am right I shall think none the less of him." "_Ur-r-r-r_!" growled Dickenson. "It is between ourselves, mind, and it is only my theory. He lost his nerve in the middle of that fight--had a fit of panic, and, as Roby and the corporal say (very cruelly and bitterly), ran for his life--bolted." "I'll never believe it, sir." "Well, remain a heretic if you like; but that's my theory." "I tell you, sir--" "Wait a minute, my lad; I haven't done. I suggest that he had this seizure--" "And I swear he had not!" "Wait till I've finished, boy," said the doctor sternly. Dickenson stood with his brow knit and his fists clenched, almost writhing in his anger; and the doctor went on: "I suggest, my dear boy, that he had this fit of panic and was aware that it must be known, when, after running right away--"