and whistled.

Almost at once he heard sandals come pattering from both directions.
As they emerged out of the mist he sat silent and still. It was
Darya Khan who came first and stood gaping at him, but Ismail was
a very close second, and the other three were only a little behind.
For full two minutes after the man with the sore stomach had come
they all stood holding one another's arms, astonished. Then--

"Where is he?" asked Ismail.

"Who?" said King, the hakim.

"Our sahib--King sahib--where is he?"

"Gone!"

Even his voice was so completely changed that men who had been
reared amid mutual suspicion could not recognize it.

"But there are his loads! There is his mule!"

"Here is his bag!" said Ismail, pouncing on it, picking it up and
shaking it. "It rattles not as formerly! There is more in it
than there was!"

"His two horses and the mule are here," said Darya Khan.

"Did I say he took them with him?" asked the hakim, who sat still
with his back to a rock. "He went because I came! He left me here