against three women and a child on the other; sentiment in the
balance against strategy. And strategy must win, especially since
this Rajput was offering his services.

"What are their names, you say?"

"Mrs. Leslie, wife of Captain Leslie; Mrs. Standish, wife of Colonel
Standish and mother of Mrs. Leslie; Mrs. Leslie's child--I know not
his name, he is but a child in arms--and the child's nurse."

The general still found it difficult to make up his mind.

"What proof have I of you?" he asked.

"Sahib, my honor is in question! I have a debt to pay!"

"What debt?"

"To the Raj."

"To the Raj?"

"Aye, Sahib! I have but one son, and his life was saved for me by
a British soldier. A life for a life. Four lives for a life. I ride!
I need, though, a fresh horse. And I ask for the loan of that sergeant,
and those twelve men."

"I wonder whether a man such as you can realize exactly what it means
to us to know that white women are in Jailpore, at the mercy of black
mutineers? I mean, are you sufficiently aware of the extreme horror