"Now tell me how it was that you were the only officer captured the
other day."
Charlie briefly related how he, with the pikemen of his company,
had stayed behind to check the pursuit of the Russian horse, and to
gain time for the main body to lose themselves in the darkness. The
Russian struck his fist on the arm of his chair.
"It was well done," he said. "There is the difference. A Russian
captain would have done it, if he had been ordered, and he and his
men would, without a question, have sacrificed themselves to cover
the retreat of the rest, but he would never have done it on his own
initiative. The idea would never have struck him. He would have
plodded along until the enemy's cavalry came up and annihilated
them all. By the way, why did you not ask for me at once?"
"I had asked for Doctor Kelly the day after I was taken prisoner,
and was told that he had gone to the Volga. I thought that he would
be back before long, and it was only when I heard of his death that
it occurred to me to endeavour to find one who had kindly promised,
after a few hours' acquaintance only, to befriend me should I ever
find myself in a similar scrape."
"It would have saved you the journey down to Moscow. I heard, of
course, that a Swedish captain had been made prisoner that night,
but I was myself at Moscow at the time, and did not happen to
notice the name of the officer taken.
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