sitting on Mulledwiney's head to keep him quiet, and Bleareyed is
chained to an elephant."

"Perhaps," I suggested, "you are unnecessarily severe."

"Do you really think so? Thank you so much! I am always glad to
have a civilian's opinion on military matters--and vice versa--it
broadens one so! And yet--am I severe? I am willing, for
instance, to overlook their raid upon a native village, and the
ransom they demanded for a native inspector! I have overlooked
their taking the horses out of my carriage for their own use. I am
content also to believe that my fowls meekly succumb to jungle
fever and cholera. But there are some things I cannot ignore. The
carrying off of the great god Vishnu from the Sacred Shrine at
Ducidbad by The Three for the sake of the priceless opals in its
eyes"--

"But I never heard of THAT," I interrupted eagerly. "Tell me."

"Ah!" said the Colonel playfully, "that--as you so often and so
amusingly say--is 'Another Story'! Yet I would have overlooked the
theft of the opals if they had not substituted two of the Queen's
regimental buttons for the eyes of the god. This, while it did not
deceive the ignorant priests, had a deep political and racial
significance. You are aware, of course, that the great mutiny was
occasioned by the issue of cartridges to the native troops greased
with hog's fat--forbidden by their religion."

"But these three men could themselves alone quell a mutiny," I
replied.