.

"I wish to see him," said Ahmed. "Tell me where he is."

"Come, my boy, this is your first meeting with an Englishman, I take it,
and you don't know our ways. Your father is in prison: we cannot tell
you where he is; but if your tribe behaves itself and gives us no more
trouble, it is possible that his Excellency may reduce the sentence."

"I want to ask Jan Larrens to set him free. That is why I came."

The officer smiled as he translated this to Lawrence. The governor did
not smile. Had it been Sir Henry Lawrence instead of Sir John, the
interview might have ended differently; the former had a sympathetic
manner and understood the natives; the latter was of sterner stuff.

"Tell him it's absurd," he said gruffly. "The man is well out of the
way, and if his people try any more tricks, we'll serve them the same.
The youngster has no claim on us; make that clear, and send him about
his business."

And thus it happened that within five minutes of his entering the room
Ahmed was outside again, disheartened but not abashed. The officer had
spoken to him not unkindly, toning down the governor's sternness, and as
he was speaking Ahmed felt a momentary impulse to blurt out that he too
was English. But he was held back by the same consideration as had moved
him when discussing the matter with Ahsan, and by another motive--the
feeling that such a statement now would savour an appeal to charity. The
Pathans are a proud race; and Ahmed had, besides the pride fostered
among them, a pride that was his birthright. As he stood before his
fellow-countrymen that pride surged within him; there was no humbleness
or subservience in his bearing, and when he left them his unspoken
thought was: "They shall know some day that I am even as they
themselves, and they shall be proud to know it."

He was tingling with excitement, too; some of the words used by the
Englishmen had fallen familiarly upon his ear. "Boy," "business"--these
were two of the words that woke echoes in his memory, and he glowed with
the thought that, if he could spend a little time among Englishmen, he
might soon recover his native speech. So it was with a light in his eyes
that he stepped forth into the street again--a light that deceived his
Pathan friend who had been awaiting him at the door.

"Wah! were the words of Jan Larrens words of honey, then?" he said.

"No; he would tell me nothing that I knew not already, but he will
assuredly tell me more some day.