.'

"The youth soon convinced us that he was none other than he claimed to
be, an additional guarantee to the possession of the ring being afforded
by the full and detailed messages which he brought from his father. At
the council which followed I was privileged to be present. The son of
Mustafa Khan first recounted the story we already knew, of the deadly
insult inflicted on his father, and then told briefly the tale of the
morning flight and fight. His fleeing clansmen were now concealed in a
gorge not a mile away, some two hundred fighting men, and would be glad
to join their forces with those of Shir Jumla Khan, so that they might
wipe out the stain of the dishonour they had suffered. If the gates were
opened to them, they would come to the citadel that very night.

"But, watching my grandfather's face, I could see him smiling through
his beard.

"'I want no more mouths to feed, young man,' replied The Tiger of the
Pathans. 'But take this message to your sire. Let him come here, alone
and unattended, and thus serve as a hostage for his own good faith. Then
shall we two together concert a plan whereby an attack by his men from
the other side of the camp will be made at the same moment as a sortie
by my men on this side, so that together we shall crush our common enemy
as we would break a nut between two stones. I have spoken.'

"'But my mother,' faltered the youth, 'and my sister? They and two women
attendants are with my father, and he cannot leave them alone and
unprotected.'

"Shir Jumla Khan stroked his beard; the appeal was one that reached his
benignant heart.

"'How could they come here?' he asked, addressing the young man.

"'We have a camel with panniers. In that they escaped from the camp last
night. I myself could lead them hither.'

"'Then in the name of God let the women too come into this place of
refuge. You and your father, and the camel with the panniers, will be
admitted, if you can reach the gates before the breaking of the dawn.'

"'And a place of seclusion for the ladies?'

"'What need to ask that?' exclaimed my grandsire, abruptly and angrily.
'I will show the respect to Mustafa Khan's women which I should expect
him to show to mine. A house will be got ready ere you return.'

"And he waved the youth from his presence.

"I was at the gateway in the grey of the morrow's dawn when the
fugitives arrived--Mustafa Khan, a big burly figure wrapped in his camel
robe, the son still in the