serve one Queen;
thy honor is my honor. Entrust thy memsahib to my keeping!"

"You will guard her?"

"I will bring her in to Jundhra!"

"You alone?"

"Nay, sahib! I, and my sons, and my sons' sons--thirteen men all told!"

"That is good of you, Mahommed Khan. Where are your sons?"

"Leagues from here, sahib. I must bring them. I need a horse."

"And while you are gone?"

"My half-brother, sahib--he is here for no other purpose--he will answer
to me for her safety!"

"All right, Mahommed Khan, and thank you! Take my second charger, if you
care to; he is a little saddle-sore, but your light weight--"

"Sahib--listen! Between here and Siroeh, where my eldest-born and his
three sons live, lie seven leagues. And on from there to Lungra, where
the others live, are three more leagues. I need a horse this night!"

"What need of thirteen men, Mahommed? You are sufficient by yourself,
unless a rebellion breaks out. If it did, why, you and thirteen others
would be swamped as surely as you alone!"

"Thy father and I, sahib, rode through the guns at Dera thirteen strong!
Alone, I am an old man--not without honor, but of little use; with
twelve young blades behind me, though, these Hindu rabble--"

"Do you really mean, Mahommed Khan, that you think Hanadra here will
rise?"

"The moment you are gone, sahib!"

"Then, that settles it! The memsahib rides with me!"

"Nay, listen, sahib! Of a truth, thou art a hot-head as thy father was
before thee! Thus will it be better. If the heavenborn, thy wife, stays
behind, these rabble here will think that the section rides out to
exercise, because of the great heat of the sun by day; they will watch
for its return, and wait for the parking of the guns before they put
torch to the mine that they have laid!"

"The mine? D'you mean they've--"

"Who knows, sahib? But I speak in metaphor. When the guns are parked
again and the horses stabled and the men asleep, the rabble, being many,
might dare anything!"

"You mean, you think that they--"

"I mean, sahib, that they will take no chances while they think the guns
are likely to return!"

"But, if I take the memsahib with me?"

"They will know then, sahib, that the trap is open and the bird flown!
Know you how fast news travels? Faster than the guns, Sahib! There
will be an ambuscade, from which neither man, nor gun, nor horse, nor
memsahib will escape!"

"But if you follow later, it will mean the same thing! When they see