once passed him in the
street; and if you once saw him smile you'd begin to like him. It's the
prettiest thing I've ever seen."

"I expect I'll run across him somewhere," said Lewis, "and I want badly
to know him. Would you mind giving me an introduction?"

"Charmed!" said Gribton. "Shall I write it now?" And sitting down at a
table he scribbled a few lines, put them in an envelope, and gave it to
Lewis.

"You are pretty certain to know him when you see him, so you can give
him that line. You might run across him anywhere from Hyderabad to
Rawal Pinch, and in any case you'll hear word of him in Bardur. He's
the man for your purpose; only, as I say, I never liked him. I suspect
a loop somewhere."

"What are Logan and Thwaite like?" Lewis asked.

"Easy-going, good fellows. Believe in God and the British Government,
and the inherent goodness of man. I am rather the other way, so they
call me a cynic and an alarmist."

"But what do you fear?" said George. "The place is well garrisoned."

"I fear four inches in that map of unknown country," said Gribton
shortly. "The people up there call it a 'God-given rock-wall,' and of
course there is no force to speak of just near it. But a tribe of
devils incarnate, who call themselves the Bada-Mawidi, live on its
skirts, and there must be a road through it. It isn't the caravan
route, which goes much farther east and is plain enough. But I know
enough of the place to know that every man who comes over the frontier
to Bardur does not come by the high-road."

"But what could happen? Surely Bardur is strongly garrisoned enough to
block any secret raid."

"It isn't bad in its way, if the people were not so slack and easy.
They might rise to scratch, but, on the other hand, they might not, and
once past Bardur you have the open road to India, if you march quick
enough."

"Then you have no man sufficiently adventurous there to do a little
exploring?"

"None. They care only about shooting, and there happens to be little in
those rocks. Besides, they trust in God and the Government of India. I
didn't, so I became unpopular, and was voted a bore. But the work is
waiting for you young men."

Gribton rose, yawned, and stretched himself. "Shall I tell you any
more?"

"I don't think so," said Lewis, smiling; "I fancy I understand, and I am
sure we are obliged to you. Hadn't we better have a game?"

They went to the billiard-room and played two games of a hundred up,
both of whic