"Silence, son of a dog!" cried Ahmed. "I will tell all at a fitting time. And thou, Sherdil, wilt lock thy tongue and say nothing of these matters, or verily it will be a sad day for thee. Swear by the grave of thy grandmother." Sherdil looked astonished at the sudden vigour of Ahmed's speech. He took the oath required. Then ensued a long conversation, at the end of which Ahmed rode back to Peshawar and Sherdil sought an interview with his commander. "Well, what can I do for you?" shouted Lumsden in his breezy way as Sherdil stood before him, saluting humbly. "If it please the heaven-born," said Sherdil, "I have a friend who wishes to put on the khaki and serve the Kumpani." "Aha! another son of a dyer, like Sherdil, son of Assad?" Sherdil gasped. Was his origin known after all? "The heaven-born knows everything," he said, with a sigh. "No; this friend is of high caste and the son of a chief--a good man." "His name?" "Ahmed, son of Rahmut Khan." "The villain we chased not long ago!" "The heaven-born says; and the same villain is my own chief, and is now laid up in the sahibs' prison, and can make no more trouble; but there is trouble in the village----" "Disputed succession, I suppose?" "Hazur! Dilasah, a fat rascal, makes himself chief until I can slay him, and Ahmed wishes to serve the heaven-born until such time as his father is mercifully set free." "How old is he?" "I cannot tell that to a day, heaven-born. He seems somewhat younger than Sherdil thy servant, but he is well-grown, and can ride a horse and hit a mark. Moreover, he is exceeding skilful in the nazabaze." "Well, well, I have put his name down. He makes the thirty-second. Is he here? Is he the boy I saw with you on the parade-ground?" "Heaven-born, how could it be? Ahmed is in Peshawar: that boy was his cousin." Sherdil lied without a blush. "Well, take yourself off now. I will let you know when a vacancy occurs, and then your friend must take his chance with the rest." And next day, in the serai where he had put up in Peshawar, Ahmed learnt from Sherdil that his name stood thirty-second on the list of candidates for the Guides. CHAPTER THE EIGHTH A Competition Wallah