n, sir. He disappeared one night.
The story went that he fell over a precipice. Some old native beggar
told the tale. No one knows who the man was."

"But you have your eye upon Rustam Karin?" suggested Sir Reginald.

Burton hesitated again. "One doesn't trust these fellows, sir," he said.

"True!" Sir Reginald's voice sounded very dry. "Perhaps it is a mistake
to trust any one too far. This is all the evidence you can muster?"

"Yes, sir." Burton looked suddenly embarrassed. "Of course it is not
evidence, strictly speaking," he said. "But when mysteries coincide, one
is apt to link them together. And the death of Captain Dacre always
seemed to me highly mysterious."

"The death of Captain Ermsted was no less so," put in the Colonel
abruptly. "Have you any theories on that subject also?"

Burton smiled, showing his teeth. "I always have theories," he said.

Sir Reginald made a slight movement of impatience. "I think this is
beside the point," he said. "Captain Ermsted's murderer will probably be
traced one day."

"Probably, sir," agreed Major Burton, "since I hear unofficially that
Captain Monck has the matter in hand. Ah!"

He broke off short as, with a brief knock at the door, Monck himself
made an abrupt appearance.

He came forward as if he saw no one in the room but the Colonel. His
face wore a curiously stony look, but his eyes burned with a fierce
intensity. He spoke without apology or preliminary of any sort.

"I have just had a message, sir, from Bhulwana," he said. "I wish to
apply for immediate leave."

The Colonel looked at him in surprise. "A message, Captain Monck?"

"From my wife," Monck said, and drew a hard breath between his teeth.
His hands were clenched hard at his sides. "I've got to go!" he said.
"I've got to go!"

There was a moment's silence. Then: "May I see the message?" said the
Colonel.

Monck's eyelids flickered sharply, as if he had been struck across the
face. He thrust out his right hand and flung a crumpled paper upon the
table. "There, sir!" he said harshly.

There was violence in the action, but it did not hold insolence. Sir
Reginald leaning forward, was watching him intently. As the Colonel,
with a word of excuse to himself, took up and opened the paper, he rose
quietly and went up to Monck. Thin, wiry, grizzled, he stopped beside
him.

Major Burton retired behind the Colonel, realizing himself as
unnecessary but too curious to withdraw altogether.

In the paus