headman?" cried Ahmed quickly.

"Not so. It is not a man."

"One of his wives, then?"

"Not so, O strong one: verily it is a person of the Feringhis; a missy
sahib."

A missy sahib! This was strange news. Ahmed scarcely knew what to make
of it.

"How comes the missy sahib here?" he asked.

"Thy servants tell the truth," said one of the men. "The missy sahib was
taken this very morning by the master that now lies on the ground."

"Taken? Where from? What means this? Speak the truth, and quickly, or
verily, thou son of a dog, my sword will taste somewhat of thy jellied
flesh."

"This is the truth," said the man. "The missy sahib was in the city of
the king, but she escaped the killing by the aid of an ayah and a
khitmutgar, who took her to the housetop of a man that was friendly to
the sahibs. But there were some that suspected he was not faithful to
the true king Bahadur Shah----"

"Dog, remember that I serve the sahibs, and name not that master of
cut-throats to me."

"Have mercy, O right-hand of the sahibs, we are but poor men. It was as
thy servant said: some suspected him of favouring the sahibs, and the
housetop was no longer a safe place for the missy sahib. So the ayah
clad her as our women are clothed, and put ornaments about her arms and
feet, and a veil over her face, and by ill-luck they passed through the
gates----"

"By ill-luck, thou dog! 'Twas by the favour of Heaven."

"How should our humbleness know? They came through the gates--by the
favour of Heaven--the missy sahib being called the new wife of one of
the princes. We were even on our way--the missy sahib, and the ayah, and
the khitmutgar, and we hired bearers also--to Karnal, when behold we
were met by a zamindar of the village which your mightiness has laid
waste this day. To him--it is even he that lieth now at the point of
death--the khitmutgar said even as I have told, that in the palki sat
the new wife of one of the princes of Delhi, supposing that he would
salaam and pass on with reverence. But he saw through their pretence,
and demanded that the cover should be lifted that he might see the noble
lady with his own eyes. And behold, the missy sahib, being hot and in a
great fear, had taken the veil from her face, and sat even as the
shameless women of the Feringhis----"

"Son and grandson of dogs," cried Ahmed, "tell thy tale without this
insolence, or verily I will slice thee and leave thee for carrion."

"I but repeat the wor