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The tribesmen drew off at length baffled, to wait for the moon to rise. They were pretty sure of their prey despite the determined resistance they had encountered. They did not know of the new force that had come to strengthen that forsaken little knot of men. Had they known, their estimate of the task before them would have undergone a very material amendment.

“Hullo!” said Derrick, rubbing his sleeve across his forehead. “Where on earth did you spring from?”

A steady voice answered him out of the gloom. “I came up from the valley. The troops are halted at the entrance of the ravine. There will be no further advance to-night.”

Derrick swore a sudden, fierce oath.

“No further advance! Do you mean that? Then Carlyon doesn’t know we are here.”

“Oh, yes, he knows,” answered the man indifferently. “But he says very reasonably that he didn’t order you to come up here, and he can’t sacrifice twice the number of men here to get you down again. Unfortunate for you, of course; but we all have to swallow bad luck at one time or another. Make the best of it!”

Derrick swore again with less violence and greater resolution.

“And who, in wonder, may you be?” he broke off to enquire. “I’m a war correspondent myself.”

There was a vein of humour in the quiet reply.

“Oh, I’m a non-combatant, too. It’s always the non-combatants that do the work. Have you got a revolver? Good! Any cartridges? That’s right. Now, look here, it’s out of the question to remain in this place till moonrise.”

“I won’t go back,” said Derrick doggedly. “I’ll see Carlyon hang first.”

“Quite right. I wasn’t going to propose that. It’s impossible, in the first place. Perhaps it is only fair to Colonel Carlyon to mention that he had no notion that there is anything so important as a newspaper man at the head of this expedition. It’s a detail, of course. Still, if you get through, it is just as well that you should know the rights of the case.”

Derrick broke into an involuntary laugh.

“Did Carlyon get you to come and tell me so?” He turned and peered through the darkness at the man beside him. “You never got up here alone?” he said incredulously.

“Oh, yes. It wasn’t difficult. I was guided by the noise you made. How many men have you?”

“Ten or twelve; not more–all Goorkhas.”

“Good! We must quit this place at once. It will be a death-trap when the moon rises. There are some boulders higher up, away to the right. We can occupy them till morning and fight back to back if they try to rush us. There ought to be plenty of shelter among those rocks.”

The man’s cool speech caught Derrick’s fancy. He spoke as quietly as if he were sitting at an English dinner-table.

“You had better take command,” said Derrick.

“No, thanks; you are going to pull this through. Are you ready to move? Pass the word to the men! And then all together! It is now or never!”

A few seconds later they were stumbling in an indistinguishable mass towards the haven indicated by the latest comer. It was a difficult scramble, not the least difficult part of it being the task of keeping in touch with each other. But Derrick’s spirits returned at a bound with this further adventure, and he began to rejoice somewhat prematurely in his triumph over Carlyon’s caution.

The man who had come to his assistance kept at his elbow throughout the climb. Not a word was spoken. The men moved like cats through the dimness. Below them was a confused din of rifle-firing. Their advance had evidently not been detected.

“Silly owls! Wasting their ammunition!” murmured Derrick to the man beside him. He received no response. A warning hand closed with a grip on his elbow. And Derrick subsided.

When the moon rose, magnificent and glowing from behind the mountains, Derrick and his men looked down from a high perch on the hillside, and watched a furious party of tribesmen charge and occupy their abandoned position.