sting--isn't a kink in him! Look at the angle of his chin!"

"You can tell his Sikh officers; they imitate him."

"Do I understand you to refuse me point--blank?" asked the man in
the drab suit, still fidgeting with his watch--guard. Perhaps he
guessed that two men in the window were discussing him.

"Yes," said Kirby.

"I shall have to go over your head."

"Understand me, then. If an order of that kind reaches me, I shall
arrest Ranjoor Singh at once, so that he may stand trial and be
cleared like a gentleman. I'll have nothing done to one of my
officers that would be intolerable if done to me, so long as I
command the regiment!"

"What alternative do you suggest?" asked the man in gray, with a wry
face.

"Ask Ranjoor Singh about it."

"Who? You or I?"

"He wouldn't answer you."

"Then ask him yourself. But I shall remember, Colonel Kirby, that
you did not oblige me in the matter."