Draw Swords! Part 25

"Something horrible to see a man of your birth and education--a gentleman--flogged."

"Hold your tongue!" roared the man fiercely, and the sentry unlocked the door quickly and threw it open.

"Shut that door," said d.i.c.k quietly to the sentry; "there is nothing the matter."

The man obeyed, and the occupants of the cell stood facing each other for some moments, the prisoner breathing hard, and the visitor struggling hard mentally to acquit himself of what was a very difficult task.

"That will do, my lad," said Hanson at last. "You mean well; you've always behaved well to me, but you are doing no good. You don't know, and you couldn't understand. I suppose you have been sent."

"No; I obtained leave to see you, and I have come just as I would to see any man of the troop who had been hurt."

"Ah, you're young," said the man hoa.r.s.ely.

"So are you, Hanson," said d.i.c.k quickly. "You can't be above six or seven and twenty."

"Ha, ha!" laughed the prisoner; "why, I feel seventy, and want to get to the end of the miserable business. I've tried times enough to get killed."

"Yes! We heard how brave you are in action."

"Brave!" cried the man mockingly. "Bah!"

"Look here, Hanson," said d.i.c.k gently, "you called me a boy just now."

"So you are. A fine fellow to set over seasoned men!"

d.i.c.k winced, but went on quietly: "You can't be more than ten years older than I am. Isn't it time to turn over a new leaf?"

"There's only one left in my book," said the man scornfully, "and that has 'finis' printed at the bottom."

"Nonsense, Hanson! Come, turn it over. Don't let's have this horrible, degrading scene, with you, one of the smartest soldiers in the troop, the princ.i.p.al actor."

"Smartest soldiers in the troop! Humbug! The biggest black," cried the man scornfully.

"Both true," said d.i.c.k.

"Who said that?"

"Every one says it. I've heard the captain and Mr Wyatt say it a score of times. Old Stubbs, too."

"Then you've been sticking up for me?"

"In some things--yes. Why, it was only yesterday Captain Hulton said there was not a finer soldier in the troop. Yes; and he said it went against his grain to see a brave man treated like a dog, but that discipline must be preserved for every one's sake."

"Ah, it's all too late--too late, sir."

"Nonsense, Hanson! It's never too late to mend."

"Yes, it is, sir, when the stuff's all rotten. I've gone to the bad, and I'm done for, and the sooner I'm hung and out of my misery the better."

"You think so now because you're sentenced to be flogged."

"Yes; and that's the last straw."

"I say, Hanson, weren't you once a gentleman? Tell me."

"Silence!" cried the man fiercely, and the sentry once more came to the door.

"Nothing: all right."

"Don't you ever speak to me again like that," said the man in a hoa.r.s.e whisper.

"Very well, I will not: but I know now, and I shall think as much as I like."

"There, go now, sir, before I get mad."

"No: you will not hurt me."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. You respect me too much."

"It's a lie. I hate you for your youth and good looks and luck, and the way in which other people spoil you, boy."

"Nonsense! You do like me, and if we were in action you'd do anything to save me from being hurt."

The man uttered a low growl like some savage animal, but his dark eyes softened, and he turned away his face from the light which streamed in through the bars as d.i.c.k went on:

"The natural result of knowing that is that I've got to like you."

The man gazed at him mockingly.

"What!" he cried. "You, an officer, and I the most blackguardly private in the troop?"

"I meant as a brave man and a good soldier, and it hurts me to see such a one as you going to the dogs."

"You don't know what you're talking about this morning, boy," said Hanson bitterly.

"Boy? I am your officer, Private Hanson."

"Yes, sir, I was forgetting myself; and I shall forget myself more if you stay, so please go."

"That's what I want you to do," said d.i.c.k earnestly.

"I want you to forget what you are now, and be what you used to be."

The prisoner drew his breath hardly, as if he were in pain.

"I want to be a friend to you as much as I, an officer, can be to one of our men."