the West ever understood a woman of the East,"
he answered.

That being obviously true--Adam did not understand Eve, and no
man from anywhere has understood any woman since--I had to rack
my brains for a different argument.

"There are two sure ways of discovering treason," I said at last.
"One way is to pick a quarrel with the person you suspect. But
the safer way is to seem very friendly.

"Now--why don't you make love to her? You're a fine, big,
handsome man. I don't suppose she'll prefer you in her heart to
Jimgrim, but she'll not be ashamed to appear to respond, and if
she has evil intentions she will surely seek to take advantage of
your passion to forward her own plans. Seeking to make use of
you, she will betray herself."

"So speaks the jackal to the tiger. `This way, sahib! That way,
sahib! A broad-horned sambhur to be killed, worthy of your
honor's strength!' Why don't you make love to her?"

"Because I'm afraid," said I quite frankly. "If I thought I could
get away with it I'd try. But she'd laugh at me, whereas your
attentions might flatter her."

"You think so?"

He stroked his great beard again, and twisted his mustache.

"I'm sure of it."

_"Atcha._ We shall see. I will give the trollop that one chance.
It may be she will preserve her head on her shoulders yet by
confiding in me; for if I can forewarn Jimgrim of her plans I
will reckon it beneath my dignity to use a sword on her. So. It
is settled. We shall see."

You know that warm glow of vanity that sweeps over you when
another fellow concedes your plan to be better than his? It is
rather like the effect of certain drugs--a highly agreeable
sensation while it lasts.

But it was tempered in my case by that reference he had made to a
jackal, and I'm still left wondering how much justice there was
in the insinuation. Narayan Singh and I are friends right down to
this minute, but I am none the less conscious of a query that
seems to spoil confidence a little.

He, being master of himself by training, and used to sleeping
when he saw fit, volunteered to take the first four-hour watch on
Ayisha, so I got as much sleep as the flies and the snores of the
rest of the gang would permit, and awoke toward evening to the
sound of unaccustomed voices outside my tent. There was one voice
with a squeak in it like a rusty wheel that I had certainly never
heard before.

It seemed we had made some prisoners. There were three seedy-looking
camels kn