might deceive us. Then suddenly he abandoned hope of
argument and flew into a rage, spitting savagely and pouring out
such a flood of words that Abraham could hardly translate fast
enough.

"That pig you gave me for a hostage played a trick!" he shouted. "He
and a man of mine knew Persian. They talked together. Then in the
night they ran away, and your hostage went to Wassmuss, and has told
him all the truth and more untruth into the bargain than ten other
men could invent in a year! So Wassmuss threw in my teeth that
letter you gave me, and I was laughed out of countenance by a
heritage of spawn of Tophet! And what has Wasmuss done but persuade
three hundred Kurds of a tribe who are my enemies to accept this
duty of escort at a great price! And so your Germans are gone into
Persia already! Now give me the gold and my hostages back, and I
will leave you to your own devices!"

It was an hour before Ranjoor Singh could calm him, and another hour
again before cross-examination induced him to tell all the truth;
and the truth was not reassuring. Wassmuss, he said, probably did
not know yet that we had taken the gold, but the news was on the
way, for spies had talked in the night with the ten Kurds whom he
left with us to be guides and to help us keep peace. We had given
those ten a Turkish rifle each and various other plunder, because
they helped us in the fight, and they had promised in return to hold
their tongues. But a savage is a savage, and there is no
controverting it.

"What is Wassmuss likely to do?" Ranjoor Singh asked.

"Do?" said the Kurd. "He has done! He has set two tribes by the ears
and sent them down to surround you and hem you in and starve you to
surrender! So give me the gold, that I may get away with it before a
thousand men come to prevent, and give me back my hostages!"

If what was happening now had taken place but a week before, Ranjoor
Singh would have found himself in a fine fix, for all except I would
have there and then denounced him for a bungler, or a knave. But now
the other daffadars who clustered around him and me said one to the
other, "Let us see what our sahib makes of it!" The men sent word to
know what was being revealed through two long hours of talk, and
Chatar Singh went back to bid them have patience.

"Is there trouble?" they asked, and he answered "Aye!"

"Tell our sahib we stand behind him!" they answered, and Chatar
Singh brought that message and I think it did Ranjoor