CHAPTER XXVIII
Osborne's Reward
THE three officers stood aghast. They could do little or nothing toseparate the struggling, heaving forms of the canine combatants. Inordinary circumstances Laddie would have been more than a match forthe mongrel, but with a recently healed injury the sheep-dog wasconsiderably handicapped.
"He'll break that jaw again!" exclaimed Dixon, alarmed at theprospect of three weeks' work being thrown away.
Webb said not a word. Anxiously he watched the struggle, his thoughtsdwelling upon the effect the impending calamity would have on hiswounded chum. Captain M'Bride at length made an effort to separatethe antagonists, but wisely desisted.
In less than a minute the fight was over and Laddie was the victor.The mongrel, making for the most vulnerable part of his opponent--forthe thick under-coat of the sheep-dog forms an almost completeprotection--had seized him by the ear. With a quick wrench Laddieshook himself clear, and gripped the cur by the neck. Then, like aterrier shaking a rat, the sheep-dog banged his foe's head thriceupon the hard ground. The aggressor had had more than enough.
Anxiously Dixon knelt down, and examined the jaw of thedust-smothered and foam-flecked Laddie. Then he gave a whoop ofsatisfaction.
"Sound as a bell!" he exclaimed. "My word! Some successful operationthat--eh, what?"
"We must give the brute a drink of water and a good brush down," saidCaptain M'Bride. "By Jove! he's a tough customer. We can't take himin that horrible state to see his master."
Adjournment for Laddie's refreshment and toilet followed. This done,the "deputation", as Captain M'Bride insisted upon calling it,proceeded on its delayed visit.
It had been the captain's intention to keep Laddie in the backgrounduntil Osborne had been given an opportunity of greeting his chum, andhad been introduced to the army officer who had been instrumental insaving the dog's life. It was M'Bride's idea of "breaking newsgently". But Laddie, not having been consulted in the matter, thoughtfit to do otherwise.
His instinct told him that his master was in the buildings. With arun he bounded into Osborne's room, and in an ecstasy of delightrubbed his head against the Lieutenant's hand.
"I don't know how to thank you enough," said Osborne, when Dixon hadbeen introduced and his part in the saving of Laddie's life related.
"No need," replied Dixon protestingly. "Quite an interestingoperation. Mere professional motives. Difficult case--rather out ofthe ordinary, don't you know--so I tackled it, and it came off allright."
"He's too modest, Osborne," declared Webb. "Some day, when he's nothere, I'll tell you what he did and the trouble he took."
"If you do," said Dixon with mock severity, "I'll let Osborne knowwhat _you_ were doing when first I called at your quarters."
"Hallo, what's this?" enquired the wounded Lieutenant, noticing theadditional gold ring on the sleeve of Webb's uniform. "Congrats.,Tom; the heartiest!"
"And he has the D.S.O.," added Captain M'Bride.
"Goodness only knows what for!" said Webb. "I did no more than therest of us, and yet---- You ought to have had the distinction, oldman."
Osborne smiled.
"It's reward for having done your duty, old chap," he said. "I, too,have mine--I have Laddie back again."
"Can you stand the receipt of serious news, Osborne?" asked CaptainM'Bride gravely.
Webb and Dixon looked at the skipper with ill-disguised astonishment.The idea of breaking bad news to a sick man seemed, to say the leastof it, rather out of place.
"I'm afraid that, when this war's over," continued Captain M'Bride,"you'll never go back to the old British and Pacific Company."
"Has the company smashed?" asked Osborne with evident concern.
"Smashed? Not it," replied the skipper. "Who ever heard of a shippingconcern going smash in these days of high freightage? No, Osborne,it's not that. In recognition of your services the Admiralty havetransferred you from the R.N.R. to the Royal Navy--a signal honour."
"And that means," added Osborne, "that not for the period of the waronly, but after, I'll still be under the White Ensign."
"Ay," exclaimed Webb. "Under the White Ensign--you lucky bounder!"
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_
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