"Did Mahommed Gunga-sahib leave you here with any orders relative to
me?" she asked.

The Rajput bowed.

"Before he went away, he spoke to me of safety, and told me he would
leave a link between me and men whom I may trust."

The Rajput bowed again. Neither of them saw an elbow laid on the
window-ledge of a room above the arch; it disappeared, and very gingerly
a bared black head replaced it. Then the head too disappeared.

The girl's eyes sparkled as the reassurance came that at least one good
fighting man was waiting to do nothing but assist her. For the moment
she threw caution to the winds and remembered nothing but her plight and
her father's stubbornness.

"My father will not come away, but--"

Ali Partab's eyes betrayed no trace of concern.

"But--I thought--Are you all alone?"

"All alone, Miss-sahib, but your servant."

"Oh! I thought--perhaps that"--she checked herself, then rushed the
words out as though ashamed of them--"that, if you had men to help you,
you might carry him away against his will! Where are these others who
are to be trusted?"

Ali Partab grinned and then drew himself up with a movement of polite
dissent. It was not for him to question the suggestions of a Miss-sahib;
he conveyed that much with an inimitable air. But it was his business to
keep strictly to the letter of his orders.

"Miss-sahib, I cannot do that. So said Mahommed Gunga: 'When the hag
brings word, then take three horses and bear the Miss-sahib and her
father to my cousin Alwa's place.' I stand ready to obey, but the
padre-sahib comes not against his will."

"To whose place?"

"Alwa's, Miss-sahib."

"And who is he?" She seemed bewildered. "I had hoped to be escorted to
some British residency."

"That would be for Alwa, should he see fit. He has men and horses, and
a fort that is impregnable. The Miss-sahib would be safe there under all
circumstances."

"But--but, supposing I declined to accept that invitation? Supposing I
preferred not to be carried off to a--er--a Mohammedan gentleman's fort.
What then?"

"I could but wait here, Miss-sahib, until the hour came when you
changed your mind, or until Mahommed Gunga by letter or by word of mouth
relieved me of my trust."

"Oh! Then you will wait here until I ask?"

"Surely, Miss-sahib."

The head again peered through the window up above them, but disappeared
below the ledge furtively, and none of the three were aware of it.
For that matter, the old woman