“Kutch dar nahin hai!” King answered. “There is no such thing as fear!” and Ismail grinned at him, not knowing that King was feeling as Aladdin must have done. “I have heard you swear,” said King; “be ye true men!” “Ah-h-h!” “Have they belongings that ought to be collected first?” he asked, and Ismail laughed. “No more than the dead have! A shroud apiece! Ali gave them bitterness to eat and picked their teeth afterward for gleanings! They stand in what they own!” “Then, come!” ordered King, turning his back confidently on thirty savages whom Saunders, for instance, would have preferred to drive in front of him, after first seeing them handcuffed. But when he is not pressed for time neither pistols, nor yet handcuffs, are included in King's method. “Each lock has a key, but some keys fit all locks,” says the Eastern proverb. King has been chosen for many ticklish errands in his time, and Saunders is still in Delhi. Through the great iron door into dim outer darkness King led them and presently made them squat in a close-huddled semicircle on the paving stones, like night-birds waiting for a meal. “I want blankets for them--two good ones apiece--and food for a week's journey!” he told the astonished Saunders; and he spoke so decidedly that the other man's questions and argument died stillborn. “While you attend to that for me, I'll be seeing his dibs and making explanations. You look full of news. What do you know?” “I've telephoned all the other stations, and my men swear Yasmini has not left Delhi by train!” King smiled at him. “If I leave by train d'you suppose she'll hear of it?” “You bet! Bet your boots! Man alive--if she's interested in you by so much,”--he measured off a fraction of his little finger end--“she knows your next two moves ahead, to say nothing of your past half-dozen! I crossed her bows once and thought I had her at a disadvantage. She laughed at me. On my honor, my spine tingles yet at the mere thought of it! You've never met her? Never heard her laugh? Never seen her eyes? You've a treat in store for you--and a mauvais quat' d'heure! What'll you bet me she doesn't laugh you out of countenance the very first time you meet? Come now--what'll you bet?” “Not in the habit,” King answered, glancing at his watch. “Will you see about their rations, please, and the blankets? Thanks!” They went then in opposite directions and the prisoners were left squatting under the eyes and bayonets of a very suspicious prison guard, who made no secret of being ready for all conceivable emergencies. One enthusiast drew the cartridge out of his breech-chamber and licked it at intervals of a minute or two, to the very great interest of the Hillmen, who memorized every detail that by any stretch of imagination might be expected to improve their own shooting when they should get home again.