Muriel sat slowly up in response to it.

She looked down at the thin hand that grasped hers, and wondered at its strength; but she lacked the spirit at that moment to resent its touch.
He leaned down upon the table, his face close to hers, and began to unfold his plan.
"We shall leave the fort directly the moon is down.

I have a disguise for you that will conceal your face and hair.

And I shall fake as a tribesman, so that my dearest friend would never recognise me.

They will be collecting the wounded in the dark, and I will carry you through on my shoulder as if I had got a dead relation.