esence, there were times
when the atmosphere of The Green Bungalow was almost more than he could
bear. He was powerless to help, and the long drawn-out misery weighed
upon him unendurably. He infinitely preferred smoking a silent pipe in
Ralston's company or messing about with him in his little surgery as he
was sometimes permitted to do.

On the evening before the day fixed for the execution at Khanmulla, they
were engaged in this fashion when the _khitmutgar_ entered with the news
that a _sahib_ desired to speak to him.

"Oh, bother!" said Ralston crossly. "Who is it? Don't you know?"

The man hesitated, and it occurred to Tommy instantly that there was a
hint of mystery in his manner. The _sahib_ had ridden through the jungle
from Khanmulla, he said. He gave no name.

"Confounded fool!" said Ralston. "No one but a born lunatic would do a
thing like that. Go and see what he wants like a good chap, Tommy! I'm
busy."

Tommy rose with alacrity. His curiosity was aroused. "Perhaps it's
Monck," he said.

"More likely Barnes," said Ralston. "Only I shouldn't have thought he'd
be such a fool. Keep your eyes skinned!" he added, as Tommy went to the
door. "Don't get shot or stuck by anybody! If I'm really wanted, I'll
come."

Tommy grinned at the caution and departed. He had ceased to anticipate
any serious trouble in the State, and nothing really exciting ever came
his way.

He went through the bungalow to the dining-room still half expecting to
find his brother-in-law awaiting him. But the moment he entered, he had
a shock. A man in a rough tweed coat was sitting at the table in an odd,
hunched attitude, almost as if he had fallen into the chair that
supported him.

He turned his head a little at Tommy's entrance, but not so that the
light revealed his face. "Hullo!" he said. "That you, Ralston? I've got
a bullet in my left shoulder. Do you mind getting it out?"

Tommy stopped dead. He felt as if his heart stopped also. He
knew--surely he knew--that voice! But it was not that of Everard or
Barnes, or of any one he had ever expected to meet again on earth.

"What--what--" he gasped feebly, and went backwards against the
door-post. "Am I drunk?" he questioned with himself.

The man in the chair turned more fully. "Why, it's Tommy!" he said.

The light smote full upon him now throwing up every detail of a
countenance which, though handsome, had begun to show unmistakable signs
of coarse and intemperate habits.