I shall only be a soldier when
I am not wanted as a doctor. A man who really loves his profession,
as I do, is always glad to exercise it, and I fear I shall have
ample opportunities that way; besides, dear there is nothing like
being cheerful upon an occasion of this kind. The longer we laugh,
the less time there is for tears."
And so the party did not break up until it was nearly time for the
little troop to start. Then there was a brief passionate parting,
and the volunteer horse rode away to Cawnpore. Almost the first
person they met as they rode into the British lines was Wilson,
who gave a shout of joy at seeing the Doctor and Bathurst.
"My dear Bathurst!" he exclaimed. "Then you got safely down. Did
you rescue Miss Hannay?"
"I had that good fortune, Wilson."
"I am glad. I am glad," the young fellow said, shaking his hand
violently, while the tears stood in his eyes. "I know you were right
in sending me away, but I have regretted it ever since. I know I
should have been no good, but it seemed such a mean thing for me to
go off by myself. Well, Doctor, and so you got off too," he went
on, turning from Bathurst and wringing the Doctor's hand; "I never
even hoped that you escaped. I made sure that it was only we two.
I have had an awful time of it since we heard the news, on the way
up, of the massacre of the women. I had great faith in Bathurst,
and knew that if anything could be done he would do it, but when
I saw the place they had been shut up in, it did not seem really
possible that he could have got anyone out of such a hole.
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