from the line of the rails. The rich jewel
vender clutched in his bosom the handle of Mirzah Shah's poisoned
dagger, the deadly dagger of a merciless prince.

He had long pondered over the sudden demand made upon him by the Lady of
the Silver Bungalow. And he greatly desired to re-adjust his relations
with Hugh Johnstone and Major Alan Hawke. The daily usefulness of "Lying
as a Fine Art" was never before so apparent to Ram Lal. He slunk away on
foot to his own bit of a zenana.

"I must try to deceive them both! Fool that I was not to see it before!
These two Generals are her friends, of old! The secret protector of the
wonderful moon-eyed beauty here is General Willoughby, and the other
General will secretly help her down at Calcutta. She came up here,
secretly, to see her old lover Willoughby, and that is why she would be
able to have a guard arrest me. For she said just what they said about
the prison. Willoughby goes down often to Calcutta! Ah! Yes! They are
all the same, these English! Fools! Not to lock their women up, when
they have once bought them, with a secret price! And now, Hawke must
never know of this paper I gave her. She would find out, and then have
the General punish me. Now I know why she went not to the great English
Mem-Sahibs here! And these two great General Sahibs have had her spy
upon this old man, Hugh Fraser--the man who would steal away with the
Queen's jewels. They would have them. By Bowanee! I will have them
first! For I can hide them where they never will find them! I will trade
them off to the Princes, who know the old jewels of Oude. They will
give me double weight, treble value." Ram Lal crept into his hidden
love nest, his skinny hand clutching the golden shaft of Mirzah Shah's
dagger. "I might surrender them later and get an enormous reward from
the Crown," he mused.

At the Delhi Club, Major Alan Hawke, in a strange unrest, paced his
floor half the night. "I stand now nearly eleven thousand pounds to
the good, with outlying counties to hear from, as the Yankees say." He
smiled, "that is, if the old fox does not stop these drafts. If he does,
I'll stop him!" he swore. And yet, he was troubled at heart. "I know
Alixe Delavigne will call me back and pay me well. How did she find out
about my bold bluff to Johnstone? Some servant may have overheard, and
she is a deep one. She may even have her own spies there!"

"Justine, I can count on you to help me later. But, how to treat old
Hu