es was likely to be
at various ranges.

About three weeks after Ahmed's arrival, Lumsden Sahib announced one day
that there was a vacancy in the cavalry. One of the men had overstopped
his leave, and was summarily dismissed. It appeared later that the
trooper had employed his leave in hunting down a hill-man whose father
had spoken disrespectfully of his own grandmother, and until the slight
was avenged the man had no other object in life.

Sherdil lost no time in conveying the news to Ahmed. There was great
bustle among the candidates and their friends, and as the day appointed
for the competition drew near, the camp outside the walls of the fort
became monstrously swollen with relatives of the competitors and people
who had come from Peshawar for the mere pleasure and excitement of the
event. Among them were representatives of every race of the borderland,
speaking a variety of dialects, and keen partisans of the men of their
own blood among the competitors.

The men of the Guides were as much excited as the rest. The corps was
divided into companies, each of which consisted of men of one race; and
though all were as loyal as any European soldiers could be, and had as
high an ideal of soldierly duty and the honour of the corps, the men of
one company would, on slight provocation, have flown at the throats of
those of another if they met when on leave. The vacancy being for a
cavalryman, the competitors were almost all exceptionally tall,
strapping fellows, and the little Gurkhas among the candidates were
vastly disappointed that the defaulting Guide had not been an
infantryman.

On a fine October morning, with a light cold wind blowing down from the
hills--herald of the winter--the competitors marched to the rifle range,
accompanied by three of the English officers--Lumsden himself, Quintin
Battye, the second in command, and Kennedy, commandant of the cavalry.
Behind them came a rabble of spectators, laughing and yelling with
excitement, and almost the whole of the corps. Arrived at the range, the
competitors, twenty-five in all, were drawn up in line--Afridis and
Sikhs, Hazaras and Waziris, Afghans and Pathans of different clans--and
answered to their names as Lumsden Sahib called over the list. Ahmed's
name came last, and as he, like the rest, answered "Hazur! I am here,"
he caught the eyes of all the officers fixed on him, and felt a strange
nervousness under the scrutiny.

"Where is that rascal Sherdil?" cri