But the rough uncivilised Cossacks of the Don were not bad fellows after all.

Although they at first looked askance at him when he spoke to them, these simple boors were presently won over by the distress and sufferings of their prisoner.

McKay was in great pain; his bonds cut into his flesh, he was exhausted by the night’s work, dejected at the ruin of his enterprise, uneasy as to his fate.

No food had crossed his lips for many hours, his throat was parched and dry under the fierce heat of the sun.

He begged piteously for water, speaking in Russian, and using the most familiar style of address.  The men who rode on each side of him soon thawed as he called them “his little fathers,” and implored them to give him a drink.

“Presently, at the first halt,” they said.

And so he had to battle with his thirst while they still hurried on.

Suddenly the officer in command called a halt—­they had now reached the picket-house at Tractir Bridge—­and rode out to the flank of the party.  He seemed perturbed, anxious in his mind, and raised his hand to shroud his eyes as he peered eagerly across the plain.

“Here!” he shouted, rising in his stirrups and turning round.  “Bring up the prisoner.”

McKay was led to his side.

“What is the meaning of that?” asked the officer haughtily, speaking in French, as he pointed to a cloud of dust in the distant plain.

“How can I tell you?” replied McKay, shortly:  but in his own mind he was certain that this was the contemplated extension of the French and Sardinian lines towards the Tchernaya.  For a moment his heart beat high with the hope that this movement might help him to escape.

“You know, you rogue!  Tell me, or it will be the worse for you.”

“I don’t know,” replied McKay stoutly; “and if I did I should not tell you.”

“Dirty spy!  You would have sold us for a price, do the same now by the others.  You owe them no allegiance; besides, you are in our power.  Tell me, and I will let you go.”

“Your bribe is wasted on me.  I am a British officer—­”

“Pshaw!  Officer?” and the fellow raised his whip to strike McKay, but happily held his hand.

“Here! take him back,” he said angrily, and McKay was again placed in the midst of the party.

He renewed his entreaties for a drink, and a Cossack, taking pity on him, offered him a canteen.

It was full of vodkhi, an ardent spirit beloved by the Russian peasant, half-a-dozen drops of which McKay managed to gulp down, but they nearly burned his throat.

“Water! water!” he asked again.

And the Cossack, evidently surprised at his want of taste, substituted the simpler fluid; but the charitable act drew down upon him the displeasure of his chief.

“How dare you! without my permission?” cried the officer, as he dashed the water from McKay’s lips, and punished the offending Cossack by a few sharp strokes with his whip.