Afzul Khân plucked at the withered bents carelessly. "Because--because it suits this slave; because the merciful Presence is my master; because I may as well wait here as anywhere else." "What are you waiting for?" He showed all his long white teeth in a grin. "Promotion, _Huzoor_. It should come speedily, since but yesterday the _sahib_ said I was worth all the rest of the gang." "I must be more careful. Where the dickens did you pick up English, Afzul?" "From you, _Huzoor_." A statement so irredeemably fictitious that it made Dick thoughtful. "You're sharp enough, Heaven knows; but I don't understand why you wanted to learn signalling. Are you going to give up your _jezail_ and become a _bâbu?_" Afzul Khân fingered the matchlock which lay beside him. "I have changed my mind," he said shortly. "I will leave it to the Presence to bring down fire from Heaven; _I_ bring it from this flash-in-the-pan." "Now what can you know about Prometheus?" He shook his head. "The Presence speaks riddles. The fire comes to some folk, to many of the _sahibs_--to you, perhaps. God knows! The Pathans are different. Our work is fighting." Dick, looking at his companion's sinewy strength, thought it not unlikely. "While we are waiting, Afzul," he said idly, "tell me the finest fight you ever were in. Don't be modest; out with it!" "Wherefore not? Victory is Fate, and only women hang their heads over success. The best fight, you say? 'Twas over yonder to the north. There is a dip; but one way up and down. Twenty of us Barakzais and they were fifteen; but they were ahead of us in count, for, by Allah! their wives were so ugly that we didn't care to carry them off." "Why should you?" "'Twas a feud. Once, God knows when, a Budakshân Nurzai carried off one of ours and began it. If the women ran out, we killed the men instead. So it was a moonlight night, and the fifteen were fast asleep, snoring like hogs. By Allah! my heart beat as we crept behind the rocks on our bellies, knowing that a rolling stone might waken them. But God was good, and _chk!_ they bled to death, like the pigs they were, before their eyes were wide open." Dick Smith stared incredulously. "You call that the best fight you ever were in? I call it--" The epithet remained unspoken as he started to his feet with a shout. "By George! I see the glitter. Yonder, Afzul! by the turn. Hurrah! hurrah!" He was off at long swinging strides, careless of the fact that the Pathan never moved. The latter's keen eyes followed the lad with a certain regret, and then turned to the straggling file of soldiers now plainly visible.