any attempt at treachery would be fatal to
them, while, on the other hand, there would be much bakshish if the
missy sahib was brought safely to her friends. Then, a little after
darkness had fallen, he mounted his horse, which had meanwhile been
quietly browsing, bade the men take their places at the poles, and gave
the order to start.

They marched on steadily for an hour or more, then took a short rest and
set off again. Ahmed was by no means easy in mind. While he felt pretty
sure that there was no enemy in sufficient force across the Delhi road
to interrupt communications, he suspected that the whole country was
infested with disaffected persons, and that parties of rebels and
robbers were roving about, ready to swoop down upon any one worth
plundering. It would matter nothing whether such a person were well or
ill affected to the sahibs: unless he were accompanied by an adequate
escort he would stand small chance against the rebel troops and the
lawless element of the population, who had taken advantage of the
disturbances to plunder their own countrymen and the hated Feringhis
impartially. As he rode, therefore, Ahmed was ever on the alert to catch
the first sound of a body of men approaching, or anything that should
indicate the neighbourhood of a village.

But nothing occurred to cause alarm. The party marched on, through
fields, over slight nullahs and across small streams, until, some time
after midnight, they struck into a broad dusty track which the men said
was the high-road to Delhi. Here Ahmed called a halt, and sat his horse
intently listening. Had the Guides passed? he wondered. For the moment
he could not tell. He heard nothing but the faint barking of dogs in the
distance. He asked the men the name of the village whence the sound
came. It was Panipat, they told him, about six koss south of Karnal, and
probably half-a-koss from where they were at that moment standing. He
was in a quandary. If the Guides had not passed, it would be well to
wait for them. On the other hand, if they had passed he stood a poor
chance of overtaking them. Well he knew the rate at which they could
march! The four bearers, encumbered with the palki, could not move at
anything like the pace of the Guides. He dared not leave them; they
could not be relied on, no matter what bakshish were promised, when it
was a Feringhi lady who was concerned: they might get more bakshish by
delivering her up. He thought for a moment of setti