hat, in the case of the latter, it enabled him
to put up his prices. But since the sun rose and set exactly as usual,
and the flowers bloomed, and the seasons remained unchanged, and the
daily life of the District continued undisturbed, where was the need to
worry?

True, there was occasionally talk in the bazaar of battles lost and won;
but talk was the life of the bazaar. Whatever happened, or did not
happen, the bazaar always knew about it and spread rumours that none
heeded, for rumours are always unreliable. What did they amount to,
anyway? Nothing came of them, so far as the countryside was concerned.

Now and again, it was said, that So-and-So, generally a stout Pathan,
who had seen active service on the frontier, had packed his bundle and
was off on his own initiative to offer his strong right arm for the
cause of the _Sarcar_ who was his father and his mother. His ancestors
had fought and bled--or died; won medals and gained pensions; he, too,
would gain medals and a pension, or lose his life if God so willed it.
"_Kismet ke bat!_"[18] Where was he going? God knew! Some day, if it was
so willed, he would return to tell.

[Footnote 18: With Fate lay the decision.]

Like as not, he would never return. When youth went a-travelling, the
attractions of the great world seldom released him from their thrall.

At the court-house, the Magistrate and Collector, officiating for
Meredith who was still on leave at Darjeeling, tried cases and settled
disputes, while the court-yard in front was covered with squatting
humanity, chewing _pan_ and awaiting their individual turns to be called
up before the _Hakim_ to tell--anything but the truth!

At the Club, the sahibs and memsahibs played tennis and bridge and
enjoyed their cold drinks as usual, just as though there were no
sanguinary battles raging afar, such as the world had never known in all
its history.

Once, during the month of August, a strange _babu_ had appeared in the
bazaar, and, perching himself upon a cask, had talked sedition for about
an hour to apathetic ears. Muktiarbad, being mainly Mohammedan, did not
like gentlemen of the Brahmin persuasion; so he had departed much
disheartened. Shortly after, another agitator--a Mohammedan this
time--had endeavoured to incite the peace-loving population to revolt by
preaching religious antagonism towards Christians.

But Muktiarbad was not to be roused. "Live and let live" was the
prevailing sentiment among its p