had been repeated to him, and with emphasis. In a letter from the
Council he had been told that "slight disturbances, of a purely local
character, were not without the bounds of possibility, due partly
to religious unrest and partly to local causes. Under no circumstances
were any extended reprisals to be undertaken until further orders,
and generals commanding districts were required to keep the bulk of
their commands within cantonments."

The countryside was up. All India probably was up. His own men,
set by himself to watch with one definite idea, had confirmed his
worst fears. And he was under orders to stay with the bulk of his
command in Bholat! Corked up in cantonments, with three thousand
first-class fighting-men squealing for trouble, and red rebellion
running riot all around him though it might be quelled by instant action!

And then worse happened. Juggut Khan clattered in to Bholat, spurring
a horse that was so spent it could barely keep its feet. It fell
in a woeful heap outside the general's quarters, and Juggut Khan--
all but as weary as the horse--swung himself free, staggered past
the sentry at the door and rapped with his hilt on the tough teak
panel. They had to give him brandy and feed him before he could
summon strength enough to tell what he had seen and heard and done.

"And Brown stayed on at the crossroads?"

"Aye, General sahib! He stayed!"

The general sat back and drummed his heels together on the floor in
a way that his aides had come to recognize as meaning trouble.