'Go on, Jones,' said the Colonel. 'This is very queer.'

'Pris'ner were about ten yards off, sir, 'an, as 'e says, Peters MIGHT 'a hit 'im,' said Sergeant Jones, with solemn humour, 'but afore he'd made up 'is mind to fire, 'e'd come so close Peters saw 'ow small he was, an' therefore didn't, sir.'

'Quite right,' remarked Sunni. 'Peters might have killed me.'

The Colonel nodded. He was looking with absorbed interest into Sunni's eyes. He came out of his instant of abstraction with a start, while Jones went on with respectful volubility.

'Beggin' pardon, sir, Peters says as 'ow 'e were all struck of a heap, sir, at 'earin' the young 'un call out in English, sir, an'

bein' so light complected fer a native, sir, an' even lighter in that light, Peters didn't rightly know wot 'e might be firin' at, sir. Peters do be a bit superst.i.tious.'

'Peters took him then, I suppose?' The Colonel smiled ironically.

'Beggin' YOUR pardon, sir, it was rather 'im as took Peters. 'E walked strite up to 'im, an' "Ware is the burra[9] sahib?" says 'e.

Peters sends 'im into the guard tent to me as 'e pa.s.sed on his beat, and pris'ner says "YOU ain't the burra sahib," says he. Then I says to pris'ner, "You bito[10] an' give an account of yerself,"

says I. Says 'e quite 'aughty like, "I'll account fer myself to the burra sahib," an' wouldn't take no chaff. But 'e bitoes, an'

curls 'isself up in the sand, an' goes sound asleep in no time--an'

'ere 'e is, sir.'

[9] 'Princ.i.p.al.'

[10] 'Sit down on the ground.'

'Also,' corrected Sunni, 'he gave me some coffee. He is a good man. Are you the burra sahib?' he asked the Colonel.

But Colonel Starr was not in a mood to answer questions regarding his dignity. He looked at the queer slender figure before him, in its torn coat of embroidered silk, and its narrow, shapeless, dirty cotton trousers; and especially he looked at the boy's hair and eyes--his wavy yellow hair and his blue eyes.

'You are not a Rajput, you are an English boy,' he said finally, with amazed conviction.

At another time the Colonel would have been wild with excitement at such a discovery, but for the moment his mind was full of graver things. In an hour he meant to attack Lalpore. He dismissed his kindling enthusiasm, and added simply, 'How came you here?'

'I came by a rope from the palace to the pipal-tree, and thence to the south wall, and thence to the river bed. It was not hard.

Knowing the shallows of the river, I arrived quite easily by wading.'

'You come from the fort? Are there any other English there?' The Colonel's voice was quick and eager.

'Not even one! Ee-Wobbis was there, but he is killed.'

'Ah!' said Colonel Starr. 'When was he killed?'

'In the evening on the tenth day of the month. I do not properly know for why. It was not the Maharajah,' added Sunni quickly; 'it was Maun Rao. Ee-Wobbis was my countryman, and I hate Maun Rao.'

The orderly came for the final message that was to be sent to the Maharajah. Colonel Starr told him it would be ready in half an hour.

'Have they given you any breakfast?' he asked.

'No, thank you--not yet,' answered Sunni politely.

The Colonel wrote an order, and gave it to Thomas Jones. 'Be smart,' he added.

Until Thomas Jones returned with some bread and bacon and a bowl of milk, and until Sunni had eaten the bread and drunk the milk, the Colonel looked at the boy as seldom as he could, and said only two words. 'No bacon?' he asked.

Sunni flushed. 'If it is excusable,' said he, 'I do not eat of the pig.'

At which Colonel Starr's face expressed curiosity, amus.e.m.e.nt, and interest all at once; but he kept silence until Sunni had finished.

'Now,' said he pleasantly, 'listen, my small prisoner. I am sure you have a great deal to tell me about yourself. Very good, I will hear it. I should like to hear it. But not now--there is no time.

Since you have taken the trouble to escape from this place, you do not want to go back again, I suppose?'

'I want to go to my own country--with you,' said Sunni. 'I can march.'

The Colonel smiled. It was the smile of a brave man, and kindly.

His men knew it as well as they knew his sterner looks. Sunni thought it a beautiful smile.

'You shall go,' he said, 'but we are not quite ready to start yet.

Perhaps in a few days, perhaps in a few weeks, we shall be. A good deal depends on what you can tell me.'

Sunni looked straight into the Colonel's eyes, a little puzzled.

'How do they get water in Lalpore?' asked the Colonel, to begin with.

'There are four wells,' said Sunni, 'and two of them have no bottom.'

'H'm! And what is that white building with the round roof that we see from here?'

'That is the mosque of Larulla,' said Sunni, 'but it is no longer of consequence; there is so little Mussulmans in Lalpore. The soldiers hang their guns there now.'

'Ah! And has the Maharajah many soldiers, and have they good guns--new guns?'

Sunni looked into the Colonel's face with eager pleasure to reply; but there he saw something that made him suddenly close his lips.

He had not lived ten years among the Rajputs without learning to read faces, and in Colonel Starr's he saw that all this talk the Colonel desired about Lalpore was not for Lalpore's good. The boy thought for a minute, and tightened his lips, while a little firm line came on each side of his mouth. He only opened them to say, 'Burra sahib, I cannot tell you that.'

'But you must tell me,' said Colonel Starr firmly.

'No,' returned Sunni, 'not that, nor any more informations about the fort.'

The Colonel's face grew stern. He was not accustomed to disobedience.

'Come,' he said; 'out with it, boy. I have no time to waste.' His tone was so serious that Sunni felt a little nervous thrill run all over him.

'No,' said he.

The Colonel tried another way:

'Come, my little chap,' said he gently, 'you are English, are you not?'

Sunni nodded.