"That settles _that_!" said Hamilton.
He had pitched his camp on the scene of his exploit, the bivouac fires of the Houssas gleamed redly amongst the anemones.
"Did you see me in action?" asked Bones, a little self-consciously.
"No,cheap jordans, I didn't notice anything particularly striking about the fight in your side of the world," said Hamilton.
"I suppose you did not see me bowl over a big Congo chap?" asked Bones, carelessly, as he opened a tin of preserved tongue. "Two at once I bowled over," he repeated.
"What do you expect me to do?" asked Hamilton unpleasantly. "Get up and cheer, or recommend you for the Victoria Cross or something?"
Bones carefully speared a section of tongue from the open tin before he replied.
"I had not thought about the Victoria Cross, to tell you the truth," he admitted; "but if you feel that you ought to recommend me for something or other for conspicuous courage in the face of the enemy, do not let your friendship stand in the way."
"I will not," said Hamilton.
There was a little pause, then without raising his eyes from the task in hand which was at that precise moment the covering of a biscuit with a large and generous layer of marmalade, Bones went on.
"I practically saved the life of one of Bosambo's headmen. He was on the ground and three fellows were jabbing at him. The moment they saw me they dropped their spears and fled."
"I expect it was your funny nose that did the trick," said Hamilton unimpressed,chanel 2.55 bags.
"I stood there," Bones went on loftily ignoring the gratuitous insult, "waiting for anything that might turn up; exposed, dear old fellow, to every death-dealing missile, but calmly directing, if you will allow me to say so, the tide of battle. It was," he added modestly, "one of the bravest deeds I ever saw."
He waited, but Hamilton had his mouth full of tongue sandwich,air jordans for sale.
"If you mention me in dispatches," Bones went on suggestively.
"Don't worry--I shan't," said Hamilton.
"But if you did," persisted Lieutenant Tibbetts, poising his sticky biscuit, "I can only say----"
"The marmalade is running down your sleeve," said Hamilton,retro jordans; "shut up, Bones, like a good chap."
Bones sighed.
"The fact of it is, Hamilton," he was frank enough to say, "I have been serving so far without hope of reward and scornful of honour, but now I have reached the age and the position in life where I feel I am entitled to some slight recognition to solace my declining years."
"How long have you been in the army?" asked Hamilton, curiously.
"Eighteen months," replied Bones; "nineteen months next week, and it's a jolly long time, I can tell you, sir."
Leaving his dissatisfied subordinate, Hamilton made the round of the camp. The red field, as he called it, was in reality a low-lying meadow, which rose steeply to the bank of the river on the one side and more steeply--since it first sloped downward in that direction--to the Ochori forest, two miles away. He made this discovery with a little feeling of alarm. He knew something of native tactics, and though his scouts had reported that the enemy was effectually routed, and that the nearest body was five miles away, he put a strong advance picquet on the other side of the river, and threw a wide cordon of sentries about the camp. Especially he apportioned Abiboo, his own sergeant, the task of watching the little river which flowed swiftly between its orderly banks past the sunken camp. For two days Abiboo watched and found nothing to report.
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