"Nay, little one--though I passed within one hundred paces."

"Dost thou not know that he and Singhai would of a certainty cross at
the ford to reach the fringe of jungle from which he might watch the
eastern field? Some of you looked on the trail beside the ford, but
none looked at the ford itself. And the sound of the rifle seemed to
come from thence."

"But why did he not call out?"

"Dead men could not call, but at least ye might have frightened Nahara
from the body. But perhaps he is wounded, unable to speak, and lies
there still--"

But Puran had found another listener for his story, and speedily
forgot the boy. He hurried over to another of the villagers, Khusru
the hunter.

"Did no one look by the ford?" he asked, almost sobbing. "For that is
the place he had gone."

The native's eyes seemed to light. "_Hai_, little one, thou hast
thought of what thy elders had forgotten. There is level land there,
and clear. And I shall go at the first ray of dawn--"

"But not to-night, Khusru--?"

"Nay, little sinner! Wouldst thou have me torn to pieces?"

Lastly Little Shikara went to his own father, and they had a moment's