He declined that offer a little testily, for the insolence behind the
offer was less than half concealed. Jaimihr sneered as he rode away.

"Perhaps a month or two of undisturbed enjoyment will induce the
padre-sahib to change his mind about my invitation!" he said nastily.
And he made no secret then, as he ordered them about before he went,
that the men who lounged and watched at every vantage-point were his.




CHAPTER X


They looked into my eyes and laughed,--
But, what when I was gone?
Have strong men made me one of them?
Or do I ride alone?

ON the morning after Mahommed Gunga's daring experiment with
Cunningham's nervous system he was anxious to say the least of it; and
that is only another way of saying that he was irritable. He watched
the Englishman at breakfast, on the dak-bungalow veranda, with a
sideways restless glance that gave the lie a dozen times over to his
assumed air of irascible authority.

"We will see now what we will see," he muttered to himself. "These who
know such a lot imagine that the test is made. They forget that there
be many brave men of whom but a few are fit to lead. Now--now--we
will see!" And he kept on repeating that assurance to himself, with