this fine suit
of clothes?"

"I ran back to the hotel--through the back door, where the smoke was
not so stifling--because I thought that sahib would perhaps have taken
refuge there. I did not find sahib, but I found these clothes, and
thought it better to put them on than to leave them to burn."

"Quite right, my brave fellow! you will hardly be brought up for this
little theft."

"I looked for sahib everywhere, where English prisoners are; and when
I came to Anar Kali just at the moment that Mrs. Irwin was being driven
away in a carriage, I knew that I was at length on the track of my
master."

Heideck violently clutched his arm.

"You saw it? and you know, too, who it was that took her away?"

"Yes, sir, it was Siwalik, the Master of the Horse to Prince Tasatat;
and the lady is now with him on the road to Simla."

"Simla! How do you know that?"

"I was near enough to hear every word that the Indians spoke, and they
said that they were going to Simla."

"And Mrs. Irwin? She didn't resist? She didn't cry for help? She allowed
herself to be carried off quietly?"

"The lady was very proud. She did not say a word."

An orderly officer stepped into the tent and brought the Prince an order
to appear at once before the Commander-in-Chief.

"Do you know what about?" asked the Colonel.

"As far as I know, it concerns a report of Captain Obrutschev, who
commanded the file of men told off for the execution. He reported that
the Colonel had carried away a spy who was to be shot by order of the
court-martial."

Heideck was in consternation.

"Your act of grace is, after all, likely to land you in serious
difficulties," he said. "But, as I need now no longer conceal my quality
as German officer, I can, in case the field telegraph is working, be
able to establish my identity by inquiry at the General Staff of the
German Army."

"Certainly! and I entreat you not to be uneasy on my account; I shall
soon justify the action I have taken."

He disappeared in company of the orderly officer; and Heideck the
while plied the brave Morar Gopal afresh with questions as to the
circumstances connected with Edith's kidnapping.

But the Hindu could not tell him anything more, as he had not dared
approach Edith. He was only concerned with the endeavour to find his
master. He had learnt that Heideck had been carried off by Cossacks and
indefatigably pursued his investigations until at last, with the inborn
acumen peculiar t