dhia's Dewan for his head?"

"Afghan, there is always a reward for the head of Amir Khan; but a gift
is of little value to a man who has lost his life in the trying.
Without are guards ready to run a sword through even a shadow, and here
I could kill three."

He raised his black eyes and scanned the form of Ayub Alli. There was
a quizzical smile on his lips as he said:

"Go back and sit thee upon the divan."

When Barlow had taken his place, the Chief laughed aloud, saying, "Well
done, Captain Sahib; thou art perfect as a Patan; even to the manner of
sitting down one would have thought that, except for a saddle, thou
hadst always sat upon thy heels."

Barlow smiled good humouredly, saying, "It is even so; I am Captain
Barlow. And this,"--he tapped the loose baggy trousers of the Afghan
hillman, and the sheepskin coat with the wool inside--"was not in the
way of deceit but for protection on the road."

"It is well thought of," the Pindari declared, "for a Sahib travelling
alone through Rajasthan would be robbed by a Mahratta or killed by a
Rajput. But as to the deceiving of Amir Khan, dost thou suppose that
he gives to a Patan the paper of admittance, or of passing, such as he
gave to thee. Even at the audience I was pleased with thy manner of
disguise."

Barlow was startled. "Did you know then that I was a Sahib--how did
you know?"

"Because thou wert placed in my hand in the way of protection."

Then Barlow surmised that of all outside his own caste there could be
but one, and he knew that she was in the camp, for he had seen her.
"It was a woman."

"A rare woman; even I, Chief of the Pindaris--and we are not bred to
softness--say that she is a pearl."

"They call her the Gulab," Barlow ventured.

"She is well named the Gulab; the perfume of her is in my nostrils
though it mixes ill with the camel smell. Without offence to Allah I
can retain her for it is in the Koran that a man may have four wives
and I have but two."

"But the Gulab is of a different faith," Barlow objected and a chill
hung over his heart.

The Pindari laughed. "The Sahibs have agents for the changing of
faith, those who wear the black coat of honour; and a _mullah_ will
soon make a good Musselmani of the beautiful little infidel. Of
course, Sahib, there is the other way of having a man's desire which is
the way of all Pindaris; they consider women as fair loot when the
sword is the passport through a land. But as to the G