urther ceremony. He out-numbered them by four or five to one, and was
on his own ground. Whatever their intentions, at least he would be
able to pretend afterward that he had acted in defence of the sacred
treasure; and then, with the treasure in his possession, he would soon
be able to recompense himself for a mere burned and looted palace!

So he opened fire without notice, argument, or parley, and an ill-aimed
volley shrieked over the heads of Cunningham's three squadrons.

Cunningham, unruffled and undecided still, made out through puckered
eyes the six-horse carriage in which Miss McClean evidently was; it was
drawn up close beside the wall, and two regiments were between it and
his squadron. He was recalling the terms of the agreement made with
Jaimihr; he remembered it included the sparing of all of Alwa's men, and
not the firing on them.

A thousand of Jaimihr's cavalry swooped from the shelter of the
infantry, opened out a very little, and, mistaking Cunningham's delay
for fear, bore down with a cheer and something very like determination.

They were met some ten yards their side of the half-way mark by
Cunningham's three squadrons, loosed and led by Cunningham himself.
Outridden, outfought, outgeneralled, they were smashed through, ridden
down, and whirled back reeling in confusion. About a hundred of them
reached the shelter of the infantry in a formed-up body; many of the
rest charged through it in a mob and threw it into confusion.

Too late Jaimihr decided on more reasonable tactics. Too late he gave
orders to his infantry that no such confused body could obey. Before
he could ride to rally them, the Rangars were in them, at them, through
them, over them. The whole was disintegrating in retreat, endeavoring to
rally and reform in different places, each subdivision shouting orders
to its nearest neighbor and losing heart as its appeals for help were
disregarded.

Back came Cunningham's close-formed squadrons, straight through the
writhing mass again; and now the whole of Jaimihr's army took to its
heels, just as part of the five-feet-thick stone palace-wall succumbed
to the attacks of crowbars and crashed down in the roadway, disclosing a
dark vault on the other side.

Jaimihr made a rush for the six-horse carriage, and tried vainly to
get it started. Cunningham shouted to him to surrender, but he took no
notice of the challenge; he escaped being made prisoner by the narrowest
of margins, as the posi