"Oh. It is granted! Should she appeal to me, I will rip Howrah into
rags and burn this city to protect her if need be! She must first ask,
though, even as thou didst."

Mahommed Gunga saluted him, bolt-upright as a lance, and without the
slightest change in his expression.

"The word is sufficient, cousin!"

Alwa returned his salute, and raised his voice in a gruff command. A
saice outside the window woke as though struck by a stick--sprang to
his feet--and passed the order on. A dozen horses clattered in the
courtyard and filed through the arched passage to the street, and Alwa
mounted. The others, each with his escort, followed suit, and a moment
later, with no further notice of one another, but with as much pomp and
noise as though they owned the whole of India, the five rode off, each
on his separate way, through the scattering crowd.

Then Mahommed Gunga called for his own horse and the lone armed man of
his own race who acted squire to him.

"Did any overhear our talk?" he asked.

"No, sahib."

"Not the saice, even?"

"No, sahib. He slept."