cousin' for putting her nose out of joint. Defrauded of
her due importance, she told her complacent lover they must 'save up the
news till to-morrow.' Meantime, they rode, very much at leisure, behind
the barouche;--and no one troubled about them at all.

Lance and Vincent, having cantered on ahead, called in for Miss Hammond
and left word at Sir Lakshman's house that Aruna had met with a slight
accident; and would he and her brother come out to the Residency after
dinner?

Before the meal was over, they arrived. Miss Hammond was upstairs
attending to Aruna; and Sir Lakshman joined them without ceremony,
leaving Dyan alone with Roy, who was nursing his ankle in an arm-chair
near the drawing-room fire.

In ten minutes of intimate talk he heard the essential facts, with
reservations; and Roy had never felt more closely akin to him than on
that evening. Rajput chivalry is no mere tradition. It is vital and
active as ever it was. Insult or injury to a woman is sternly avenged;
and the offender is lucky if he escapes the extreme penalty. Roy frankly
hoped he had inflicted it himself. But for Dyan surmise was not enough.
He would not eat nor sleep till he had left his own mark on the man who
had come near killing his sister--most sacred being to him, who had
neither wife nor mother.

"The delicate attention was meant for me, you know," Roy reminded him;
simply from a British impulse to give the devil his due.

"Tcha!" Dyan's thumb and finger snapped like a toy pistol. "No
law-courts talk for me. You were so close together. He took the risk. By
Indra, he won't take any more such risks if I get at him! You said we
would not see him here. But no doubt he has been hanging round Amber,
making what mischief he can. He must have heard your party was coming,
and got sneaking round for a chance to score off you. Young Ramanund,
priest of Kali's shrine, is one of those he has made his tool, the way
he made me. If he is in Amber, I shall find him. You can take your oath
on that." He stood up, straight and virile, instinct with purpose as a
drawn sword. "I am going now, Roy. But not _one word_ to any soul.
Grandfather and Aruna only need to know I am trying to find who toppled
those stones. I shall not succeed. That is all:--except for you and me.
Bijli, Son of Lightning, will take me full gallop to Amber. First thing
in the morning, I will come--and make my report."

"But look here--Lance knows----"

"Well, your Lance can suppo