three upright figures and the little heap that knelt motionless by the
couch.

The crowd of savage faces hesitated, faltering an instant before the
sahibs who yesterday had been their lords and masters. Then the sahibs
fired. It was all that was needed. The room filled. There was one stifled
groan--no more than that. No cry for mercy, no whining.

Little by little the room emptied again. The cries and bloodthirsty
screams of triumphant vengeance died slowly in the distance, the grey
moonlight resumed its peaceful sovereignty. Only here and there were
dark stains its silver could not wash away.




CHAPTER II

THE DANCING IS RESUMED.


"Oh, I love India--adore it, simply!" Mrs. Cary exclaimed, in the tone of
a person who, usually self-controlled, finds himself overwhelmed by the
force of his own enthusiasm. "There is something so mystic, so enthralling
about it, don't you think? I always feel as though I were wandering
through a chapter of the _Arabian Nights_ full of gorgeous princes,
wicked robbers, genii, or whatever you call them. Isn't it so with you,
Mrs. Carmichael?"

Her hostess, a thin, alert little woman with a bony, weather-beaten face,