indhia."

"True, Sahib Bahadur, but a decoity was made upon a merchant on the
road and he and his men were killed, but also two English _sowars_ were
slain."

"By heavens!" The cool, trained, bloodless machine, that was a British
Resident at a court of intrigue, was startled out of his composure; his
eyes flashed to those of Barlow.

But the Captain, knowing all this beforehand, had an advantage, and he
showed no sign of trepidation.

Then the thin drawn face of the Resident was flattened out by control,
and he commanded the decoit to talk on.

"I tried to save the two sepoys, and one was a sergeant, but I was
stricken down with a wound and it was in the way of treachery."

Ajeet laid a hand upon his wounded shoulder, saying, "When the two
_sepoys_ rode suddenly out of the night into our camp, where there in
the moonlight lay the bodies of the merchant and his men, the Bagrees
were afraid lest the two should make report. They rushed upon the two
riders, and it was then that I was wounded. I would have been killed
but for this protection," and Ajeet rubbed affectionately the beautiful
strong shirt-of-mail that enwrapped his torso.

"And observe, Sahib, the wound is from behind, which is a wound of
treachery. As I rushed to the two and cried to them to be gone, a ball
from a short gun in the hands of some Bagree smote me upon the
shoulder, and this,--" he again touched the shirt-of-mail,--"and my
shoulder-blade turned it from my heart. Even then Hunsa thought I was
dead. And he was in league with the Dewan to obtain for Nana Sahib a
girl of my household, who is called the Gulab because she is as
beautiful as the moon."

At this statement Barlow knew why the man he had beaten with his pistol
had tried to seize the Gulab. It was startling. The leg that had
rested across a knee clamped noisily to the floor, and a smothered
"Damn!" escaped from his lips. What a devilish complicated thing it
was.

Ajeet resumed: "Hunsa rushed to where the Gulab was in hiding and
helped the men who had been sent by Nana Sahib to steal her. Then he
came back to our camp saying that many men had beaten him, and that he
had been forced to flee."

At this vagary Barlow chuckled inwardly.

"What of the two soldiers?" Hodson asked; "why were they here in this
land and at the camp of the Bagrees?"

"I know not, Sahib."

"Were the bodies robbed by your men--they would be--did they find
papers that would indicate the two were