t of him"
to contribute the whole amount to a pension fund for the dependents of
the regiment's dead.

"You know, that's your money," said his Colonel. "You can keep every
anna of it if you choose."

"I suppose I needn't be an officer unless I choose?" suggested
Cunningham.

"I don't know, youngster! I can't guess what your troop would do if you
tried to desert it!"

That was, of course, merely a diplomatic recognition of the fact that
Cunningham had done his duty in making his men like him, and was not
intended seriously. Nobody--not even the Brigadier--had any notion that
the troop would very shortly have to dispense with its leader's services
whether it wanted to or not.

But it so happened that one troop at a time was requisitioned to be
ornamental body-guard to such as were entitled to one in the frontier
city; and the turn arrived when Cunningham was sent. None liked the
duty. No soldier, and particularly no irregular, likes to consider
himself a pipe-clayed ornament; but Cunningham would have "gone sick"
had he had the least idea of what was in store for him.

It was bad enough to be obliged to act as body-guard to men who had
jockeyed him away because they were jealous of him. The white scar that
ran now like a chin-strap mark from the corner of his eye to the angle
of his jaw would blaze red often at some deliberately thought-out,
not fancied, insult from men who should have been too big to more than
notice him. And that, again, was nothing to the climax.

Mahommed Gunga chose to polish up his silver spurs and ride in from his
"estates" on a protracted visit to Peshawur, and with an escort that
must have included half the zemindars on the countryside as well as
his own small retinue. Glittering on his own account like a regiment of
horse, and with all but a regiment clattering behind him, he chose
the occasion to meet Cunningham when the youngster was fuming with
impatience opposite the club veranda, waiting to escort a general.

On the veranda sat a dozen men who had been at considerable pains to
put and keep the officer of the escort in his place. If the jingle and
glitter of the approaching cavalcade had not been sufficient to attract
their notice, they could have stopped their cars and yet have been
forced to hear the greeting.

"Aha! Salaam sahib! Chota-Cunnigan-bahadur, bohut salaam! Thy father's
son! Sahib, I am much honored!"

The white scar blazed, but Mahommed Gunga affected not to notice