Then the door opened and with a confederate mysterious air the orderly announced Bahadur Rai. (Heavens!) "And the Sahib?" the Bahadur was asking in swift Nepalese after a wealth of salutations was over. "Can but one arm do all this?" waving towards my bulging files. "One does not want two hands to write with, you know, Bahadur." "True. But the shooting?" he added sadly. "We'll have that again too some day. Great things are done in Vilayat, where I go when peace comes. And you? You have done well, Bahadur." "Well enough," he admitted with a trace of pride, Then, after a pause, "The 2nd Battalion starts on service to-morrow, Sahib?" "Yes. A few men will be left at the depôt--not those of any use." "And Naik Indrase, does he go?" "No. The Colonel-Sahib put his name down long ago for station duty." "Then I desire leave, your Honour. I want to visit 2nd Battalion lines." "Ah! Put it off a bit," I urged weakly. "It's rough getting across the nullah, and with that crutch--" There was silence. "Your son?" I began irrelevantly. "My son does well and grows fast, Allah be praised. Later he will come to the hills to learn the ways of a gun. Even now he has the heart of a lion," added the proud father with a return of the old twinkle in his eyes. "But of this other matter. Perhaps the Sahib has heard what the Naik has done?" "Yes," I admitted reluctantly. "I visited your house this morning. All was in order, and I gave instructions about the roof, which--" "It is already repaired," interrupted the old fellow quickly, "and my mother has arranged all things well within. But the Naik, Sahib. It is necessary that I should beat him. The Sahib has heard--" "About Bibi? Yes. But he will give her up," I said confidently. "Bibi? He can keep Bibi. She was ever swift with her tongue and liked not the ways of _shikaris_. Yes, he can keep Bibi," added Bahadur Rai without bitterness. "But, Sahib"--and here the little man's voice rose almost to a scream of indignation--"that was not the _worst_. The Naik must be beaten, and _well_ beaten, for he took, not Bibi alone--he took _my umbrella!_" * * * * * [Illustration: "YOU'VE GOT _SOME_ ROCKERY HERE, DAD, SINCE I LEFT." "HUSH! NOT A WORD. IT'S COAL, MY BOY, WHITEWASHED! CELLAR'S FULL UP."] * * * * * PROPAGANDA FRIGHTFULNESS. (_It is reported that the German Minister to Patagonia, with the assistance of the Swedish Chargé d'Affaires, has caused the following Proclamation to be distributed, along with a translation into the vernacular, among the natives; alleging that it reproduces a leaflet composed by the ALL-HIGHEST and dropped from a German aeroplane over the London district._) This is a know-making to my Britisch Underthanes addressed. Be it known that from to-day on the Britisch Empire my Empire is, and all Britisch Men, Fraus and Childer are Germans. The folgende are now rules:--