"And who is now our commander, then?" "Shebbeare Sahib, a good man: has he not been twice wounded? But it seems as though our commanders change with the moon, so short a time do they abide with us." And then he told of what men had been killed, and what wounded. He himself had been incapacitated for a week through a sabre cut. Ahmed asked if any new men had joined the corps. "None, though there was a man of good promise who came with us into that fight I told you of towards Alipur; a silent man, with a noble beard. Some of us thought he was a candidate; some, a sahib--thou knowest how the sahibs love strange adventures; but I have never looked upon him since." "Of what sort was he, Sherdil?" "A straight man, with a grave face, and a good seat on horseback." "Was he anything like me?" "Hai! Thou art a stripling: he was a _man_, I say. Maybe if thou live long enough thou wilt have a beard like his. Truly thou wouldst have rejoiced to see him that day. Did he not smite, Rasul? Did he not cleave his way through the Purbiyas with clean thrust and stroke? I would fain look on him again." "Thou hast seen him this day, Sherdil." "Sayest thou? Where? I knew it not." "Thou seest him now." Sherdil stared. "Dost thou not remember how thou didst thyself give me a moustache that day we went as traders to Mandan? Even so I got for myself the beard, in Karnal." The men laughed, and chaffed Sherdil uproariously on his failure to recognize his prize pupil. "Wah!" cried the new dafadar; "but those who said the man was a sahib----" He stopped, checked by a look from Ahmed. Then they talked of the prospects of the siege, and the merits of the new general, Archdale Wilson, who had succeeded General Reed. In common with the rest of the little force on the Ridge, they were restive under the long delay in assaulting the rebel city. "But we shall see something soon," said Sherdil. "Nikalsain is here." "Who is Nikalsain?" "Dost thou not know Nikalsain? Wah! He is a man! There is not one in the hills that does not shiver in his pyjamas when he hears the name of Nikalsain. Thou couldst hear the ring of his grey mare's hoofs from Attock even to the Khaibar, and the folk of Rawal Pindi wake in the night and tremble, saying they hear the tramp of Nikalsain's war-horse. There are many sahibs, but only one Nikalsain." "Hast thou not heard of what he did to Alladad Khan?" asked one of the men. "Tell it, good Rasul," said Ahmed.