Gunga nodded grim approval.

"Thy father saw fit to bequeath me much in the hour when death came on
him, sahib. I am no boaster, as he knew. Remember, then, to tell me
if I fail at any time in what is due. I am at thy service!"

Tact was inborn in Cunningham, as it had been in his father. He
realized that he ought at once to show his appreciation of the high
plane of the service offered.

"There is one way in which you could help me almost at once, Mahommed
Gunga," he answered.

"Command me, sahib."

"I need your advice--the advice of a man who really knows. I need
horses, and--at first at least--I would rather trust your judgment
than my own. Will you help me buy them?"

The Raiput's eyes blazed pleasure. On war, and wine, and women, and a
horse are the four points to ask a man's advice and win his approval by
the asking.

"Nay, sahib; why buy horses here? These Bombay traders have only
crows' meat to sell to the ill-advised. I have horses, and spare
horses for the journey; and in Rajputana I have horses waiting for
thee--seven, all told--sufficient for a young officer. Six of them
are country-bred-sand-weaned--a little wild perhaps, but strong, and
up to thy weight. The seventh is a mare, got by thy father's stallion
Aga Khan (him that made more than a hundred miles within a day under a