s will
all be blown to little pieces?"

Fazl Hak threw a keen sidelong look at this informative sepoy.

"Though I would not counsel thee to write word of that on thy little
scrolls to Hodson Sahib," added Ahmed, lowering his voice to a whisper.

The maulavi started; an angry flush suffused his cheeks.

"Thou misbegotten son of----!" he exclaimed; but Ahmed interrupted him.

"Let it be peace, good maulavi," he said. "There is little thou dost not
know; thou knowest now that the Pathan trader was not such a sorry spy,
since I am he. It is pardonable for a man to prove himself, to one of
such honoured merit as thou."

"Thou sayest well," said the maulavi, somewhat mollified. "When the
troubles are over, come to me; I will pay thee well."

"Nay, I have other service. But if thou hast aught now that thou wouldst
send to Hodson Sahib, deliver it to me; I go to him."

Without hesitation Fazl Hak took from beneath his thumbnail a tiny
scroll of paper, which he handed secretly to Ahmed, and then with a
negligent salutation he walked slowly away.

Ahmed's conversation with the maulavi attracted little attention among
the sepoys. And when, after a delay of two hours, the order came to
march, he went with them out from the Ajmir gate, and into Kishenganj.

At dead of night he crept out very stealthily, stole along the
tree-shaded road until he reached the Jumna canal, then stripped off his
tell-tale red coat, and swam across. Hastening along the further bank
for half-a-mile, he struck northward through the gardens on the
outskirts of Sabzi Mandi, and just before dawn reached a picket of
Irregular Native Cavalry. Half-an-hour later he was in Hodson's tent,
relating his discovery of Craddock Sahib, and much more that Hodson
regarded as of greater importance.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH

Nikalsain

Ahmed's return to the corps set his comrades' tongues wagging.

"Why, where hast thou been, Ahmed-ji?" cried Sherdil, when they met.
"Verily the sight of thee is as ointment to sore eyes."

There was now no reason why the men should not know the errand on which
he had been, saving such particulars as were confidential with Hodson
Sahib. So Ahmed related to Sherdil and a group of Guides his adventures
since he had first left them. Two facts he omitted: his disguise, and
his share in the fight with the rebels as they returned from Alipur. The
men listened with amazement, and Sherdil frankly declared his envy.

"Thoug