a time, but I could not bring myself to do it."

"'Well, sir, I have carried the bracelet ever since. I have done
as he did, and always had it in my musket barrel--When we had
fighting to do I would drop it out into my hand and slip it into
my ammunition pouch; but I know that I have always been followed,
just as Bill was. I suppose they found out that I went to see him
before he died. Anyhow, my tent has been rummaged again and again.
I have no doubt that fellow whom you killed last night had been
watching me all the time, and thought that I had come out to hide
the things. However, there they are, sir. One of my mates brought
my musket here a quarter of an hour ago, and emptied the barrel
out for me. Now, sir, you did your best to save my life last night,
and you killed that fellow who did for me, and you pretty nearly
got killed yourself. I have got no one else I could give the things
to, and if I were to give them to one of my mates in the regiment
they would probably cost him his life, as they have cost me mine.
But you will know what to do with the things; they are worth a lot
of money if you can get them home. Mind, sir, you have got to be
careful. I have heard tales of how those priests will follow up
a temple jewel that has been lost for years, and never give it up
until they get it back again.'

"'I ought to give it up,' I said.

"'You don't know where it came from, sir,' he replied. 'I was one
of a party of convalescents who were sent up just before that fight,
and my own regiment was not there: it might have been here, and it
might have been in the Carnatic. Bill never told me, and I have no
more idea than a babe unborn.'