a superhuman effort I
succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.

"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
He could not resist the bribe.

"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"

I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
ancestors.

"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
that is all."

We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
_mahouts_ ur