"'Alla maloom!' said I; 'how should I know anything about it?' "'Who sleep in the tent with the Jemadar?' he asked, after another silence and a few more turns about the room. "'No one,' said I. 'I sleep across the doorway; but no one is ever allowed to enter.' "'You are a good lad,' he rejoined, 'and a smart fellow. How should you like to be a bhutteara?' "'Well enough,' said I; for I wanted to see what he was driving at, and I suspected no good." "Did you ever hear of such a rascal?" said Peer Khan. "Oh, if we only had him, I would wring the base neck off his shoulders." "Let him go on," said I; "don't interrupt him." "Well," continued Junglee, "he paced to and fro again several times, and at last came and sat by me, and took my hand in his. I did not like it, so I laid my other on the hilt of my dagger, which was concealed in my waistband. "'Junglee,' said he to me, 'thou art a good lad, and may be to me a son if thou wilt aid me in this matter. Young as thou art, this bloody trade can have no charms for thee; besides, I'll warrant your Jemadar does not make a pet of you as I would, and obliges you to work hard?' I nodded. "'Ay! it is even so,' said he, 'and thou wouldst be free? speak, boy, and fear not; thou shalt be a son to me. Alla help me! I have neither wife nor child.' I nodded again. "'That is right,' continued he; 'although you are ill used, you do not like to abuse the salt you have eaten, and I like you the better for it. Now listen to me. I will come, but not now. You say you lie at the entrance of the tent--good: you must sleep as sound as if you had taken opium--do you hear? I shall step quietly over you, and I know an old trick of tickling with a straw--do you understand?' "'I do,' said I; 'you would have the large bag.' "'Exactly so, my son,' said he, 'you have guessed rightly; trust me, I will have it. As I go away I will touch you; you need not follow me then, but you can watch your opportunity.' "'But the scouts,' added I; 'you have not thought of them.' "'Oh, I can easily avoid them; the night is dark and cloudy, and no one will see me; I shall strip myself naked, and throw a black blanket over me.' "'Then I agree,' said I; 'and I will quit those horrid people and become an honest man. Now what am I to say to the Jemadar?' "'Say,' replied he, 'that the herdsman's flock has often been robbed by the wolf of its fattest sheep; and the herdsman said to himself, I will catch the wolf and put him to death. And he dug a hole, and suspended a fat lamb over it in a basket, and sat and watched; and the wolf came, and saw from afar off that there was something unusual in the generosity of the herdsman, and he said to himself, Wolf, thou art hungry, but why should one lamb tempt thee? the time will come when thou mayest find the herdsman asleep; so wait, although thy stomach is empty. Say this to the Jemadar and he will understand thee.'"