"I want to see Sir Colin," said Ted. "Is he likely to be about?"
"I'll point him out if we see him. And who do you think is going to conduct the force to-morrow?"
"Why, Lieutenant Roberts, the Artillery D.A.Q.M.G. at Delhi. That young man will be a major-general before any of us commands a battalion. He's a wonderful fellow, but so modest that nobody is jealous."
"Fine-looking lot those Highlanders!" Alec observed as they passed a group of men wearing the kilt and bonnet and white gaiters.
"They're the 93rd, I suppose," said Ted. "Hoot, mon, what for do ye no don the kilt yourself, Sandy?"
"I should like to," Alec replied. "The 93rd's a grand regiment, and I'm proud of being a countryman of theirs."
The three friends entered the Alambagh enclosure.
"Who are those two?" asked Claude, nodding towards a couple of distinguished-looking officers who were walking about slowly, in earnest conversation.
"Ssh!--not so loud. Why, the older man is Sir Colin himself, and the taller one with glasses is General Mansfield, his chief of staff."
The boys looked with keen interest upon the commander-in-chief. They saw a spare man, with a slight stoop, but a soldier to the backbone--an elderly man with furrowed brows, bearing the marks of long and arduous service; but there was no sign of weakness about the firm mouth, or the eyes so clear and alert.
"Yes, that's the commander-in-chief," said Paterson again. "Now, Ted, I've shown you round, and it's your turn to enlighten me now. I only know the bare facts that you have been cleared, and that Tynan is a howling cad."
So Ted had once more to tell what had befallen Tynan and himself at Lahore, and when he had finished the narrative, Alec asked:
"He was condemned to death and shot the day before I left Lahore. Colonel Woodburn and Munro were almost as pleased as I was when the truth came out, for I really think that they believed that I had been unjust to poor Tynan. But Ethel Woodburn had stuck up for me through thick and thin."
"Miss Woodburn is the nicest, jolliest girl in India," said Alec with conviction, "and your brother's a jolly lucky fellow."
"He is so. Yes, she's all that and more, and she kept my spirits up when I was feeling jolly well down in the mouth. Wasn't she glad when I was cleared! It was almost worth while having gone through it all. I don't suppose I'll ever see Tynan again. Poor beggar, I'm sorry for him, for I don't think he ever meant to do it."
