his hearers' religious feelings,
appealed also to their cupidity. He knew his men well. Like many of the
Guides, they were by nature and training robbers. The prospect of
unlimited plunder fired their imagination, and they received his last
speech with a grunt of approval. He was quick to seize his advantage.

"Listen, brothers," he said in a mysterious whisper which Ahmed could
barely catch. "'Tis nigh a hundred years since the Feringhi Clive, that
son of perdition, defeated the host of Siraj-uddaula at Plassey. A holy
man foretold that when the evil dominion of the Feringhis had endured
for a hundred years, it should fade and vanish as a dream. The time is
at hand, my brothers. Have I not lately received the sign from the hands
of the Maulavi himself, the saint who now goes to and fro to stir the
hearts of the faithful? Behold!"

Ahmed turned his eye quickly to the hole, and saw the fakir produce from
his loin-cloth a chapati--a flat cake of unleavened bread--which he
handed with a solemn gesture to one of the Guides. The man took it as
though it were a sacred object.

"That is the sign chosen by the holy Maulavi Ahmed Ullah of Faizabad.
Pass it to your comrades, brother, such of them as are true. I myself
may no longer stay: I have far to go. Work in silence and discreetly,
but with no loss of time. The hour is at hand; no man knoweth when the
Maulavi may give the word. The train is laid from Meerut to Calcutta.
The prize--wealth in this world and bliss in the world to come--is for
him who leads, not for him who follows, in the blessed work. I will
record your names, so that the Maulavi may have you in remembrance."

Ahmed had been so intently watching, that, being unable to hear and see
at the same time, he lost part of this address. When he put his ear
again to the hole, he could not catch the whispered words. With his
knife he slightly enlarged the opening, and was straining his ears when
he heard a light footfall behind him. Before he could turn, an arm was
flung round his neck, a hand was pressed over his mouth, and in spite of
his struggles to free himself he was held there until his captor, joined
by others, securely gagged and trussed him. The man nearest him in the
hut had heard the scratching of his knife, and crept out; his companions
had followed him; and Ahmed was a prisoner.

While one of the men was scouting to make sure that nobody approached,
the others dragged their captive round the hut and in