ly an inch or two to spare.

Being safely over, Ahmed pulled up his horse and called down to Sherdil
to hear if he was hurt.

"A sprained ankle, no more, Allah be praised," his friend replied.

"And the horse?"

"I am feeling his joints. Do not wait, Ahmed-ji; ride after the sons of
perdition. Hai! It will not be I that am made a dafadar, but you a naik.
It is fate. Go on; we will follow."

Ahmed at once set his horse to a gallop. The palki-wallahs were out of
sight now, hidden by a slight wooded undulation of the ground. Eager
that they should not escape him, and fired with the excitement of the
chase, Ahmed did not wait to see how the rest of his comrades fared, but
pressed on as fast as he could. He glanced round once and saw that the
troopers had halted on the further side of the nullah; but he had no
doubt that they would soon find a means of crossing or skirting it and
follow at his heels.

As he reached the crest of the rising ground, he saw the fugitives
hurrying across the plain not more than half-a-mile distant. Apparently
they were aware of the chase, for they were straining every effort, and
the horsemen every now and then plied the flats of their swords
vigorously on the bearers' backs to encourage them. Again they
disappeared from Ahmed's view, entering a small copse. He gave Ruksh a
touch of the spur, followed the party through the copse, and caught
sight of them again, now no more than two hundred yards away.

The two horsemen were at some little distance apart. They were both
somewhat corpulent, and there was no look of the warrior about them. One
of them turned, and, catching sight of the figure in khaki coming at
speed, he shouted to his companion and then dug his spurs into his horse
and rode with all haste towards a patch of woodland beyond. Ahmed set
him down as a cowardly Hindu, yet felt some surprise at his flight.
Surely six men might have the courage to try conclusions with a single
horseman. If he had had time to think he might have concluded that the
runaway was not aware that his pursuer was for the moment alone; but
having previously seen the whole party of Guides, feared that they were
close behind. Whatever his thoughts may have been, his companion was
made of sterner stuff. He disregarded the other's warning shout; at the
very instant when his companion fled, he wheeled his horse and stood to
face the attack.

Ahmed now saw that the man had a pistol in one hand and a talwar in t