His eyes were closed now.
"Has he been hit, Doctor?" the Major asked. "It seems impossible he
can have escaped. What madness possessed him to put himself there
as a target?"
"No, I don't think he is hit," the Doctor said, as he examined him.
"I think he has fainted. We had better carry him down to my room.
Shake hands, Forster; I know you and Bathurst were not good friends,
and you risked your life to save him."
"I did not think who it was," Forster said, with a careless laugh.
"I saw a man behaving like a madman, and naturally went to pull
him down. However, I shall think better of him in future, though
I doubt whether he was in his right senses."
"He wanted to be killed," the Doctor said quietly; "and the effort
that he made to place himself in the way of death must have been
greater than either you or I can well understand, Forster. I know
the circumstances of the case. Morally I believe there is no braver
man living than he is; physically he has the constitution of a
timid woman; it is mind against body."
"The distinction is too fine for me, Doctor," Forster said, as he
turned to go off to his post by the parapet. "I understand pluck
and I understand cowardice, but this mysterious mixture you speak
of is beyond me altogether."
The Major and Dr. Wade lifted Bathurst and carried him below. Mrs.
Hunter, who had been appointed chief nurse, met them.
"Is he badly wounded, Doctor?"
"No; he is not wounded at all, Mrs.
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