“ I think you could have done no more.”
“ Thank you. But this other place, was it as ably defended? To me a comparison of this sort is very interesting. Could it have been saved?”
“ No; everything possible was done—save only one thing.”
“ Ah! there was one omission. What was it?”
“ No one—above all, no woman—should have been allowed to fall alive into the hands of the Chinese.”
The Colonel held out his broad red hand and enfolded the long, white, nervous fingers of the Professor.
“ You are right—a thousand times right. But do not think that this has escaped my thoughts. For myself I would die fighting, so would Ralston, so would Ainslie. I have talked to them, and it is settled. But the others, I have spoken with them, but what are you to do? There are the priest, and the
