-for now Hunsa was known as the murderer--was being sent on
his way. The speaker was a Rajput. "It is strange, Afghan," he said,
"that one who has slain the Chief of these wild barbarians, who are
without gods, should be allowed to depart in peace. We Rajputs worship
a god that visits the sin upon the head of the sinner, but the order
has been passed that no man shall harm the slayer of Amir Khan.
Perhaps it is whispered in the Bazaar that Commander Kassim coveted the
Chiefship."

Barlow being in the guise of a Musselman said solemnly: "Allah will
punish the murderer, mark you well, man of Rajasthan."

"As to that, Afghan, one stroke of a _tulwar_ would put the matter
beyond doubt; as it is, let us push forward, because I see from yonder
steady array of spears that the Pindaris ride toward the river, and I
think the prisoner is with them. It was one Hunsa, a thug, and though
the thugs worship Bhowanee, they are worse than the _mhangs_ who are of
no caste at all."

As Barlow came to where the town reached to the river bank he saw that
the concourse of people was heading south along the river. This was
rather strange, for a bridge of stone arches traversed by the aid of
two islands the Nahal to the other side. A quarter of a mile lower
down he came to where the river, that above wandered in three channels
over a rocky bed, now glided sluggishly in one channel. It was like a
ribboned lake, smooth in its slow slip over a muddy bed, and circling
in a long sweep to the bank. On the level plain was a concourse of
thousands, horsemen, who sat their lean-flanked Marwari or Cabul horses
as though they waited to swing into a parade, the march past. The
_sowars_ Barlow had seen in the town were in front of him, riding four
abreast, and at a command from their leader, opened up and formed a
scimitar-shaped band, their horses' noses toward the river. As he came
close Barlow saw Kassim in a group of officers, and Hunsa, a soldier on
either side of him, was standing free and unshackled in front of the
Commander. Save for the clanking of a bit, or the clang of a
spear-haft against a stirrup, or the scuffle of a quick-turning horse's
hoofs, a silence rested upon that vast throng. Wild barbaric faces
held a look of expectancy, of wonderment, for no one knew why the order
had been passed that they were to assemble at that point.

Kassim caught sight of Barlow as he drew near, and raising his hand in
a salute, said: "Come cl