"There's something in that, certainly," said Dickenson sadly; "but he'll want opportunities. Suppose he had the chance to save the major's life; how do we know that he too wouldn't set it about that Lennox was more cowardly still? Saving lives doesn't seem to pay." "Nonsense, my lad! You're speaking bitterly now." "Enough to make me, sir. It isn't only Roby; Lennox saved Corporal May as well." "Never mind that. You tell Lennox to try again. Third time, they say, never fails." "Humph!" said Dickenson. "Well, we shall see." "Yes," said the doctor; "we shall see." CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. THE MUD THAT STUCK. "It's a bad business, Mr Lennox," said the colonel sternly, some weeks later, when matters looked very dreary again in the camp, for the supplies of provisions had once more begun to grow very short, and the constant strain of petty attacks had affected officers and men to a degree that made them morose and bitter in the extreme. "But surely, sir, you don't believe this of me?" said Lennox, flushing. "As a man, no, Mr Lennox; but as your commanding officer I am placed in a very awkward position. The captain of your company makes the most terrible charge against you that could be made against a young officer." "But under what circumstances? He was suffering from a serious injury to the head; he was delirious at the time." "But he is not delirious now, Mr Lennox, and that which he accused you of in a state of wild frenzy he maintains, now that he is recovering fast, in cold blood." "Yes, sir; it seems cold-blooded enough after what I did for him." "Unfortunately he maintains that this is all an invention on your part." "And my being dragged away for some distance by one of the Boers, sir?" "Yes; he declares that he was not insensible for some time after his hurt, and that had what you say occurred he must have seen it." "Then it is his word against mine, sir?" said Lennox. "Unfortunately it is not, Lennox," said the colonel gravely. "If it were only that I should feel very differently situated. Your conduct during the war has been so gallant that, without the slightest hesitation, I should side with you and set down all that Captain Roby has said to a hallucination caused by the injury to his head. But, you see, there is the testimony of Corporal May, who declares that he witnessed your conduct--conduct which I feel bound to say seems, when weighed by your previous actions, perfectly inexplicable." "Then I am to consider, sir, on the testimony of this man, that I am unworthy of holding a commission in Her Majesty's service?" said Lennox bitterly. "Stop," said the colonel. "Don't be rash, and say things of which you may repent, Lennox."