lly. "But he will not
find it," in afterthought.

"To-morrow?"

"At dawn."

These two men were spiders in that great web of secret service that the
British Raj weaves up and down and across Hind, to Persia and
Afghanistan, to the borders of the Bear.

Even as Lal Singh picked up his mouthpiece again and Ahmed sallied
forth into the bazaars Umballa had brought to him in the armory that
company of soldiers who had shown such open mutiny, not against the
state but against him.

Gravely he questioned the captain.

"Pay our wages, then, heaven born," said the captain, with veiled
insolence. "Pay us, for we have seen not so much as betel money since
the last big rains."

"Money," mused Umballa, marking down this gallant captain for death
when the time came.

"Ai, money; bright rupees, or, better still, yellow British gold. Pay
us!"

"Let us be frank with each other," said Umballa, smiling to cover the
fire in his eyes.

"That is what we desire," replied the captain with a knowing look at
his silent troopers.

"I must buy you."

The captain salaamed.

"But after I have bought you?" ironically.

"Heaven born; our blood is yours to spill where and when you will."

From under the teak table Umballa drew forth two heavy bags of silver
coin. These he emptied upon the table dramatically; white shining
metal, sparkling as the candle flames wavered. Umballa arranged the
coin in stacks, one of them triple in size.

"Yours, Captain," said Umballa, indicating the large stack.

The captain pocketed it, and one by one his troopers passed and helped
themselves and fell back along the wall in military alignment,
bright-eyed and watchful.

"Thanks, heaven born!"

The captain and his troopers filed out. Umballa fingered the empty
bags, his brow wrinkled. Cut off a cobra's head and it could only
wriggle until sunset. Umballa gave the vanishing captain two weeks.
Then he should vanish indeed.

The next morning while the council and Umballa were in session relative
as to what should be done with Kathlyn in the event of her refusal to
bend, two soldiers entered, bringing with them a beautiful native young
woman, one Pundita, wife of Ramabai, found in murder.

Umballa wiped his betel stained lips and salaamed mockingly. Not so
long ago he had been attentive to this young woman--after her marriage.
She had sent him about his business with burning ears and a hot cheek,
made so by the contact of her strong young