ere grave enough to warrant the massacre of
every living thing in the zenana, it called also for the death of the
avenger by his own hand as a finishing touch, but it was universally
allowed that this could hardly be expected in the case of a man who had
left himself no heir. Much was said also as to Partab Singh's lavish
treatment of his soldiers and his presumable intention in training
them, his encouragement of merchants and crusade against large
landholders, who were either persecuted out of existence or compelled
to reside in Agpur under his own eye, and the fortune he was heaping up
for his one precious son. Thus the voluminous reports forwarded to
Darwan for transmission to Ranjitgarh were by no means deficient either
in detail or interest.

In the natural course of his leisurely progress, equally unhasting and
unresting, Gerrard was now approaching the neighbourhood of the city of
Agpur, not without experiencing an occasional constricted feeling about
his throat, as though he was walking into a trap the entrance into
which had obligingly been made easy for him. He was surprised to find
that he was entering upon a scene of desolation. The half-ripe harvest
had been roughly reaped in part, but was elsewhere trampled down, and
the villages were deserted by their inhabitants; or if by chance a man
or two were seen, they fled with the utmost speed. It seemed as if an
army had been passing through the country, and presumably it was Partab
Singh's own army, since no one was known to be invading him. But why
should he be moving his army about at this particular season, and in
the absence of any outside enemy? That the answer to this question
might prove to have an unpleasant effect upon his own fortunes Gerrard
was aware, and his thoughts were not altogether agreeable as he sat in
his tent during the heat of the day. It seemed prudent to put his
papers in order--perhaps to destroy one or two which might be liable to
misinterpretation in unfriendly hands, and this he was proceeding to do
when an orderly came to say that a local Sirdar and his son, who had
become separated from their attendants in a hunting expedition, asked
if they might take shelter in the Sahib's camp until the sun was a
little cooler. The idea of a hunting expedition was strange in the
desolate state of; the district, but Gerrard hoped to gain some
information from the strangers, and ordered that they should be brought
to his tent. As he ros