re in wounded dignity,
demanding why they had not been allowed to take part in the fight, and
why Warner Sahib had turned his guns on them.

Never was there so innocent and so deeply injured a body of men. Asked
why they had fired at the doctor, they replied promptly that they
thought he was ordering them to retire from the position they held,
when they were anxious only to throw themselves upon Sher Singh's flank
and cut off his retreat, as the advance prevented by Warner could
witness. Charteris declined to take their grievances too seriously.
Their behaviour had been most suspicious, and he was fairly certain
that if Sher Singh had shown signs of winning they would have joined
him at once, but it was possible that Gerrard held a different opinion,
and he wished to consult him before taking any definite step.
Promising to consider their protest and give them an answer on the
morrow, he rode on to look for his friend, but before he could reach
the spot where he had fallen, he was stopped by a little procession of
sorely wounded Rajputs, carrying on a litter of crossed spears a body
covered with a cloak. Rukn-ud-din and several of his men, not one
unwounded, followed, and Charteris saluted as he met them.

"You carry her Highness's body to the burning?" he asked.

"Aye, sahib," answered the leader of the Rajputs, the Rani's cousin.
"Daughter and wife and mother of kings, she has died as a king should
die, and the burning of a king shall be made for her. But I beseech
your honour to be witness to a certain thing." He unwrapped from his
arm the discoloured cloth, dipped in her son's blood, which the Rani
had worn when she left Agpur to demand vengeance, and divided it
lengthwise with his sword. "Half of this I will take, and the other
shall be borne by Komadan Rukn-ud-din, who has been faithful to his
lord and his lord's mother, and to the salt he has eaten. As the dead
bore it, so will we bear it, until the blood of Kharrak Singh can be
blotted out in the blood of him who slew him."

Rukn-ud-din limped forward and received the ghastly trophy, and
Charteris saluted again and passed on. The fight had raged hotly where
Gerrard had fallen, and it was some time before they found him. The
doctor did what he could for him on the spot, and then advised his
being taken at once to the camp, where Sher Singh's bullet might be
extracted, and his other injuries properly treated. His friend's
insensibility alarmed Charte