w can I do anything if you bukh [babble] all round the shop?'

Hurree Babu reached for the pipe, and sucked it till it gurgled again.

'Now I will speak vernacular. You sit tight, Mister O'Hara ... It
concerns the pedigree of a white stallion.'

'Still? That was finished long ago.'

'When everyone is dead the Great Game is finished. Not before. Listen
to me till the end. There were Five Kings who prepared a sudden war
three years ago, when thou wast given the stallion's pedigree by Mahbub
Ali. Upon them, because of that news, and ere they were ready, fell
our Army.'

'Ay--eight thousand men with guns. I remember that night.'

'But the war was not pushed. That is the Government custom. The
troops were recalled because the Government believed the Five Kings
were cowed; and it is not cheap to feed men among the high Passes.
Hilas and Bunar--Rajahs with guns--undertook for a price to guard the
Passes against all coming from the North. They protested both fear and
friendship.' He broke off with a giggle into English: 'Of course, I
tell you this unoffeecially to elucidate political situation, Mister
O'Hara. Offeecially, I am debarred from criticizing any action of
superiors. Now I go on.--This pleased the Government, anxious to avoid
expense, and a bond was made for so many rupees a month that Hilas and
Bunar should guard the Passes as soon as the State's troops were
withdrawn. At that time--it was after we two met--I, who had been
selling tea in Leh, became a clerk of accounts in the Army. When the
troops were withdrawn, I was left behind to pay the coolies who made
new roads in the Hills. This road-making was part of the bond between
Bunar, Hilas, and the Government.'

'So? And then?'

'I tell you, it was jolly-beastly cold up there too, after summer,'
said Hurree Babu confidentially. 'I was afraid these Bunar men would
cut my throat every night for thee pay-chest. My native sepoy-guard,
they laughed at me! By Jove! I was such a fearful man. Nevar mind
thatt. I go on colloquially ... I send word many times that these two
Kings were sold to the North; and Mahbub Ali, who was yet farther
North, amply confirmed it. Nothing was done. Only my feet were
frozen, and a toe dropped off. I sent word that the roads for which I
was paying money to the diggers were being made for the feet of
strangers and enemies.'

'For?'

'For the Russians. The thing was an open jest among the coolies. Then
I w