Indeed, Bob could have hit upon no more effective means of attaching the Pathans to his cause. This evidence of the sahib’s thoughtfulness profoundly impressed the men, and as they made ravenous onslaught on their rations they were loud in praise of their young master, whom it was good to serve. By this time Bob was very tired of his continual journeys up and down the river; his petrol, too, was running low, and it was with a feeling of great relief that he set off on what was to be his last flight for many a day. When Lawrence had returned, Bob meant to hold a serious consultation with him as to the possibility of holding the mine. If it were decided that this was hopeless, he would have to make immediate arrangements for evacuation. The thought of leaving the aeroplane gave him a pang. That he must leave it seemed inevitable, for he felt that his presence would be necessary as leader of the march. He might, indeed, fly miles ahead, alight, and wait for his little force to reach him; but it seemed more important to share his brother’s difficulties than to secure the safety of the aeroplane. After replacing the machine in its shed, he returned to the house and called for dinner. For several hours there was nothing to be done. When he had finished his meal, he lit his pipe and settled himself in an easy chair to think over the position. It was the first opportunity of rest and quiet meditation since Nurla Bai’s defection had so fatally disturbed the peaceful life of the settlement. Of his uncle he could now think only as of one irrevocably lost. It was the end of mining in the Hindu Kush. Whatever the immediate future might bring forth, it was clear that Lawrence and he must seek some other career. And when he reckoned up the chances, he felt more and more doubtful whether either of them would escape from this valley of tragedy with their lives. Yet Fate had been kind to them, even through the instrumentality of Nurla Bai. But for that man’s villainy, there would have been no pursuit down the river, no discovery of the army encamped forty miles away. They would have had no warning of the approach of this great host, and defence and flight would have been equally impossible. Such chances as they had of weathering the storm were due to Nurla Bai. Bob’s thoughts centred on that wily Kalmuck. His presence among the men halted half a mile off was puzzling. Bob did not guess that Nurla Bai and his henchman had been among a band who had crossed the river in the night, and attacked Lawrence and his Pathans. These two men alone of the party had not recrossed when the rest were beaten back. They had slipped up the bank under cover of the darkness, and marched all night along the track. Warned by the sound of horses’ hoofs they had hidden until the Pathan reinforcements had passed, then hurried on to the mine. Arriving there at dawn, they had instigated the attack on the Pathans, of whom Nurla Bai had led the pursuit.