When they awoke they ate a hearty meal; after which they agreed that, in a day or two, they would be fit for duty again.
"I shall mention your conduct in my despatches," the colonel said, next day.

"You have not only saved your own lives; but have rendered very important service, in inducing those two chiefs and their followers to submit.

From the information that we have been able to get, their camp was very strongly fortified, and could only have been taken after hard fighting; and even then, as has happened on all previous occasions, the main body would have escaped, rallied again a short distance away, and given us all the trouble of dispersing them, once more.

As it is, I have no doubt that the influence of their chiefs will keep them quiet and, indeed, scattered as they will be among their villages, it will be difficult to persuade them to take up arms again.
"On second thoughts, I allowed them to leave this morning, with a column that was starting to collect the arms of the garrison.

They seemed quite in earnest; and will, I have no doubt, succeed in inducing their men to part with their arms, without a squabble." The detachment, indeed, returned in the evening.