s if a previous conversation had been
interrupted, "since the war, governments have lost their grip, so I
resigned from the army. You look to me like a kind of God-send. Is
Meldrum Strange as wealthy as they say?"

I nodded.

"Is he playing for power?"

"He's out to do the world good, but he enjoys the feel of it. He is
absolutely on the level."

"I have a letter from Strange, in which he says you've hunted and
prospected all over the world. Does that include India?"

I nodded.

"Know any of the languages?"

"Enough Hindustani to deceive a foreigner."

"Punjabi?"

I nodded.

Mind you, I was supposed to be this fellow's boss.

"I think we'll be able to work together," he said after another long
look at me.

"Are you familiar with the facts?" he asked me.

"I've the _dossier_ with me. Studied it on the ship of course."

"You understand then: The Princess Yasmini and the Gray Mahatma are the
two keys. The Government daren't arrest either, because it would inflame
mob-passion. There's too much of that already. I'm not in position to
play this game alone--can't afford to. I've joined the firm to get
backing for what I want to do; I'd like that point clear. As long as
we're in harness together I'll take you into confidence. But I expect
absolutely free rein."

"All right," I said. And for two hours he unfolded to me a sort of
panorama of Indian intrigue, including dozens of statements of sheer
fact that not one person in a million would believe if set down in cold
print.

"So you see," he said at last, "there's something needed in the way of
unobtrusive inspection if the rest of the world is to have any kind of
breathing spell. If you've no objection we'll leave Bombay to-night and
get to work."

* * * * *

Athelstan King and I arrived, after certain hot days and choking nights,
at a city in the Punjab that has had nine names in the course of
history. It lies by a winding wide river, whose floods have changed the
land-marks every year since men took to fighting for the common
heritage.

The tremendous wall, along whose base the river sucks and sweeps for
more than a third of the city's whole circumference, has to be kept
repaired by endless labor, but there are compensations. The fierce
current guards and gives privacy to a score of palaces and temples, as
well as a burning ghat.

The city has been very little altered by the vandal hand of progress.
There is a red s