ind this, the
main interest, so far as he was concerned, Bootea; as a woman appealing
to the senses or to the subtlest mentality she was the sweetest woman
he had ever known.

There was a flicker of grim humour in Kassim's dark eyes: "Captain
Sahib," he said, "that evil-faced Bagree has a curious deep cunning, I
believe. I'll swear now by the hilt of my _tulwar_ that he made up the
whole story for the purpose of having audience with me, and in his
heart was a favour desired, for, as I was leaving, he asked that I
would have his turban given back to him to wear on his going; he
pleaded for it. Of course, Sahib, a turban is an affair of caste, and
I suppose he was feeling a disgrace in going forth without it. It
appears that Gulab had taken it as an evidence that he had been killed,
but when I sent a man for it she told him that the cloth was possessed
of vermin and she had burned it."

"But still, Chief, though Hunsa has an animal cunning, yet he could not
make up such a story--he has heard it somewhere."

Barlow felt his heart warm toward the grizzled old warrior as he,
dropping the nebulous matter of Kumari, said: "And to think, Captain
Sahib, that but for the Gulab we would have slain you as the murderer
of Amir Khan. As a Patan, even if I had wished it, I could not have
fended the _tulwars_ from your body. And you were a brave man, such as
a Pindari loves; rather than announce thyself as an Englay--the paper
gone and thy mission failed--thou wouldst have stood up to death like a
soldier."

He put his hand caressingly on Barlow's knee, adding: "By the Beard of
the Prophet thou art a man! But all this, Sahib, is to this end; we
hold the Gulab in reverence, as did Amir Khan, and if it is permitted,
I would have her put in thy hands for her going. Those that were here
in the camp with her fled at the first alarm, and my riders discovered
to-day, too late, that they hid in an old mud-walled fort about three
miles from here whilst my Pindaris scoured the country for them; then
when my riders returned they escaped. So the Gulab is alone. I will
send a guard of fifty horsemen and they will ride with thee till thou
turnest their horses' heads homeward, and for the Gulab there will be a
_tonga_, such as a Nawab might use, drawn by well-fed, and well-shod
horses. That, too, she may keep to the end of her journey and
afterwards, returning but the driver."

"My salaams to you, Chief, for your goodness. To-morrow