"It's bad enough, sir, to be posted in the darkness upon a shelf like that over there, expecting every moment to get a bullet in you; but when it comes to anything like this, it makes a fellow feel like a coward." "Who said coward?" said Dickenson, who had followed his companion and now came up. "I did, sir," said the man through his chattering teeth. "Where is he?" said Dickenson. "I should like to look at him. I haven't seen one lately." "Here he is, sir," said the poor fellow, growing more agitated; "it's me." "Get out!" cried Dickenson good-humouredly. "You're not a coward. There isn't such a thing in the regiment." "Oh yes, there is, sir," whimpered the man. "It's all right, sir. I'm the chap: look at me." "Stop a moment," said Lennox quickly; "aren't you one of the men who have been in the infirmary?" "Yes, sir. This is the first time I've been on duty since." "What was the matter with you?" "Doctor said it was all on account of weakness, sir, but that I should be better back in the fresh air--in the ranks." "And you feel weak now?" "Yes, sir; horrid. I'm ashamed of myself for being such a coward. But I know now." "Well, what do you know?" asked Lennox, more for the sake of calming the man than from curiosity. "I thought I was going to get all right again and see the war through, if I didn't get an unlucky ball; but it's all over now. I've seen 'em, and it's a fetch." "A what?" cried Dickenson, laughing. "Don't laugh, sir, please;" said the man imploringly. "It's too awful. I see 'em as plain as I see you two gentlemen standing there." "And who were they?" continued Dickenson; "the brothers Fetch?" "No, sir; two old comrades of mine who 'listed down Plymouth way when I did. We used to be in the same football team. They both got it at Magersfontein, and they've come to tell me it's going to be my turn now." "Bah!" growled Dickenson. "Did they say so?" "No, sir; they didn't speak," said the man, shivering; "but there they were. I knew Tom Longford by his big short beard, and the other must have been Mike Lamb." "Oh, here you are," said the captain of the company. "You can go back to quarters, and be ready to appear before the colonel in the morning." "One moment, Captain Edwards," said Lennox gravely. "You'll excuse me for speaking. This man is only just off the sick list; he is evidently very ill." "Oh yes, I know that, Mr Lennox," said the officer coldly; "he has a very bad complaint for a soldier. Look at him. Has he told you that he has seen a couple of ghosts?" "Yes. He is weak from sickness and fasting, and imagined all that; but I feel perfectly certain that he has seen some one prowling about here." "Ghosts?" said the captain mockingly. "No; spies." "Psh! It's a disease the men have got. Fancy. Every fellow on duty will be seeing the same thing now. There, that's enough of it." "Look out!" cried Lennox angrily; and then in the same breath, "What's that?"