the scene of action with their own horses in good shape. I'm sure it's
awfully good of you to have offered them!"

Outside, where the late afternoon sun was gradually letting things cool
down, Mahommed Gunga leaned against the wall and roared with laughter,
as he explained a few details to the admiring troopers.

"A horse or two, says he! How many? Oh, just a horse or two,
Maharajah-sahib--merely a horse apiece! Fifteen hundred horses! A horse
or two! Oh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ho! Allah! But that boy will make a better
soldier than his father! As a favor, he asked them--no compulsion,
mind you--just as a favor! Allah! What is he asking now, I wonder!
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ho-ho-ho!"

And inside, with a perfectly straight face and almost ghastly
generosity, young Cunningham proceeded to impose on Howrah the
transferred, unwelcome, perilous allegiance of Jaimihr's reassembling
army. The mere keeping of it in subjection, it was realized by donor and
recipient alike, would keep the Maharajah's hands full.

"Are you satisfied that your homes will be safe, now?" he asked Alwa.
And Alwa looked him in the eyes and grinned.

CHAPTER XXXIV

Now, fifteen hundred, horse and man,
Reel at the word of one!
Loosed by the brazen trumpet's peal--
Knee to knee and toe on heel--
Troop on troop the squadrons wheel
Outbrazening the sun!

WITHIN a fortnight of the outbreak of the mutiny, men spoke with bated
breath about the Act of God. It burst at the moment when India's reins
were in the hands of some of the worst incompetents in history. A week
found strong men in control of things--the right men, with the right
handful behind them.

Some of the men in charge went mad, and were relieved. Some threw
up their commands. Some of the worst incompetents were killed by the
mutineers, and more than one man who could have changed the course
of history for the worse were taken sick and died. Instead of finding
themselves faced by spineless nincompoops, the rebels reeled before
the sudden, well-timed tactics of real officers with eyes and ears
and brains. The mask was off on both sides, and the sudden, stripped
efficiency of one was no less disconcerting than the unexpected
rebellion of the other.

Byng-bahadur--"Byng the Brigadier"--was in command of a force again
within three days of the news of the first massacre; and because he was
Byng, with Byng's record, and Byng's ability to handle loyal natives,
t