“Certainly not. He’s as bad as any of them, now that I’ve managed to put his back up. It’s all his own fault, too. If he had been like some men, one could have asked him long ago in a chaffing sort of way about the suspicious facts that had come to one’s knowledge, and we should have been saved a lot of trouble. You stand by me, and keep your mouth shut, and we shall do it.” CHAPTER XIV. INTO THE TERRIBLE LAND. It was not long before Ferrers’ request for an accession of force reached Major Keeling, but it came at an unfortunate moment, for the Commandant was just setting out in the opposite direction, taking with him every man he could muster except those needed to guard the town. News had arrived that a band of Nalapuri raiders had crossed the frontier to the westward two days before, and as nothing more had been heard of them, it was evident they were hiding in the hills and waiting for an opportunity to swoop down and attack the labourers engaged upon the new canal works. The various raids of the kind which had occurred hitherto had been dealt with by the native police, but having received timely warning of this organised and more formidable incursion, Major Keeling meant to make an example of its promoters. They should not cut up his coolies in future, however tempting and defenceless the prey might appear. The matter was urgent, for delay would enable the raiders either to accomplish their object, or, on learning his intention, to make good their retreat over the frontier. Once in their own country they need only separate and mingle among their fellow-countrymen, who were all as villainous in looks and character as themselves, and there would be no hope of tracking them. Hence Major Keeling’s face was perturbed when he sent for Colin to his office shortly before the hour fixed for starting. “I have just had a _chit_ from Ferrers, asking for a small reinforcement in order to effect the capture of Shir Hussein, and suggesting that you should be sent in charge of it,” he said. “Had you any idea that he had found out where he was?” “He mentioned to me that he had reason to believe Shir Hussein had taken refuge in a fort which he knew very well, sir.” “And that was when he was here the other day? Most extraordinary of him not to have said anything to me.” “I think he meant to reconnoitre the place, sir, and see how large a force would be needed, before he said anything about it.” “Lest I should rush in and carry off the honour, I suppose? And he promised to ask for you--and you are wild to go? It won’t do, Ross. He can’t have reconnoitred the place to much purpose, I fear, from his letter. He talks about Shir Hussein’s ‘sheltering in a ruined fort,’ and ‘hopes to turn him out of it.’ Curiously enough, independent information on the subject reached me only this morning, from which it appears that Shir Hussein has between two and three hundred men with him, and that he has repaired his ‘ruined fort’ in a very workmanlike way.”