tered another door; a
light was struck, and though the place was deplorable enough, it did not
look so desolate, and it had evidently lately been occupied, for there
was a half-burned candle standing on a rough stool, and to this candle
Brace applied his match.

"Officers' quarters, I should say," he cried cheerily. "Why, Gil, this
is the very thing; three charpoys, and there has been eating and
drinking going on. But, look out!"

He raised the candle with one hand, and with his sword advanced, made
for a ragged purdah or curtain hanging from the roof just beyond the
farthest native bedstead.

"Here, Gil," he said sharply, "I'll defend you; come and snatch away
this piece of hangings."

I did as he told me, with my heart beating heavily the while, and,
holding my sword ready, I snatched the purdah aside, when the light fell
upon the thin, deeply lined face of an extremely old-looking Hindu,
whose white beard seemed to quiver as he threw up his arms and fell down
before us.

"My lord will not slay his servant," he cried in a trembling voice in
his own tongue. "He has done no harm."

"Come out," cried Brace in Hindustani. "Why were you hiding there?"

"Thy servant was afraid that the white sahib would slay him."

"What are you doing here?"

"Thy servant was too old to go when the budmashes came, and all the
others fled away."

"Where are the budmashes now?"

"Thy servant knoweth not. They all rode off with the great guns
directly it began to grow dark to-night."

"Put up your sword, Gil," said Brace. "The poor old fellow is
frightened out of his wits."

Then, turning to the old Hindu--

"Is there no one left in the village?"

"No, sahib. They have all fled but me."

Brace was silent for a few minutes, and then he said sharply--

"Look here, old man, you can walk?"

"Yes, sahib, a little way; not very far."

"Gil," said Brace, thoughtfully, "he could walk well enough to guide us
back to the tope. The doctor will be back by now, and anxious. Shall I
make him do it?"

"No," I said excitedly. "He may see some of the mutineers afterwards,
and tell them we are following."

"Of course. No, he must not know; and I suppose we must not kill him in
cold blood to keep him from telling tales."

"Brace!" I cried, but he only smiled, and, turning to the Hindu--

"Get water," he said. "We are thirsty."

The old man went to a corner of the room, trembling in every limb, and
taking a brass lota