rrior, softened as he looked at the slight
figure,--"our noble Chief had spoken soft words of thee, and passed the
order that thou wert Begum, that whatsoever thou desired was to be."

"Commander," Bootea said, and her voice was like her eyes, trembling,
vibrant, "let me look upon the face of Amir Khan; then there are things
to be said that will avenge his death in the sight of Allah."

Kassim hesitated. Then he said; "It matters not--we have the killer."
And reverently, with his own hands, he turned the Chief on his back,
saying, softly, "In the name of Allah, thou restest better thus."

The Gulab, kneeling, pushed back the black beard with her hand, and
they thought that she was making oath upon the beard of the slain man.
Then she rose to her feet, and said: "There is one without, Hunsa,
bring him here, and see that there is no weapon upon him."

Kassim passed an order and Hunsa was brought, his evil eyes turning
from face to face with the restless query of a caged leopard.

"There is no paper, Commander Sahib," the jamadar said, returning from
his search of the iron-box.

"There was none such," Kassim growled; "it was but a Patan lie; the
message is yonder," and he pointed to the smear of blood upon the
marble floor.

Then he turned to Bootea: "Now, woman, speak what is in thy mind, for
this is an affair of action."

"Commander Sahib," Bootea began, "yonder man,"--and she pointed a slim
hand toward Barlow--"is not an Afghan, he is a Sahib."

This startling announcement filled the room with cries of astonishment
and anger; _tulwars_ flashed. Barlow shivered; not because of the
impending danger, for he had accepted the roll of the dice, but at the
thought that Bootea was betraying him, that all she had said and done
before was nothing--a lie, that she was an accomplice in this murder of
the Chief, and was now giving the Pindaris the final convincing proof,
the reason.

To deny the revelation was useless; they would torture him, and he was
to die anyway; better to die claiming to be a _messenger_ from the
British rather than as one sent to murder the Chief.

Kassim bellowed an order subduing the tumult; then he asked: "What art
thou, a Patan, or as the woman says, an Englay?"

"I am a Sahib," Barlow answered; "a Captain in the British service, and
came to your Chief with a written message of friendship."

Kassim pointed to the blood on the floor: "Thou wert a good messenger,
infidel; thou hast slain a