“All right. Let them come!” laughed Major Keeling. “If they are fools enough to hurl themselves on our guns they must. I have done all I could to keep the peace. When is it to be--at the end of the week?” “Nay, not so soon. They will but inflame the minds of the Sardars, and send them home to prepare for war. It cannot begin yet.” “Then what were you afraid of? You seemed to expect danger of some sort.” “I feared one of those false steps of which I spoke. The Amir and Gobind Chand might have acted foolishly in trying to seize or murder some of the Sardars, or the Sardars might have sought to avenge their wrongs by killing them. Then the country would have fallen into such confusion that I must needs act, and the time is not come.” “Then you have an axe of your own to grind!” cried Major Keeling. “It can’t be allowed, Sheikh. You must not plot against a neighbouring power while you are on British territory.” The Sheikh looked at him with something like contempt. “Why does Kīlin Sahib thus allow his wrath to bubble up? To what purpose should I plot against the Nalapur usurper? For myself I need no more than I have here.” “But what do you mean? Why should you take action?” “Does not Kīlin Sahib see that it might fall to me to use all possible efforts to restore peace if there should be civil war in Nalapur? I am known to all parties, but attached to none of them, and I am near of kin to the royal house.” “I don’t believe that was what you meant, but you look honest enough,” muttered Major Keeling in English. Aloud he said, “Well, Sheikh, understand that you must not undertake anything of the kind on your own account. I am responsible for this frontier, and I may be very glad to make use of your good offices, but I can’t have you forcing my hand.” “Fear not,” said the Sheikh. “For another month I can do nothing, and it is my strongest hope that Nalapur will remain peaceful at least as long. If there is opportunity, I will send word to Alibad before taking any step, but if Wilayat Ali and Gobind Chand move first, do not blame me.” “I don’t like all these mysteries, Sheikh. What is it that holds you back for a month, and also keeps Nalapur quiet?” “They are two different things, sahib. The lapse of time will set me free to act, but the Amir and Gobind Chand will not go to war until their embassy has returned from Gamara.” “From Gamara? Why, that was the very---- What are they doing there?” “Their embassy to the Mirza Fazl-ul-Hacq,” said the Sheikh, evidently enjoying his visitor’s astonishment. “But I came to speak to you about that very man. What in the world have they got to do with him at Nalapur?”