The Major signalled with his hand, and the two watchers, guessing at his meaning, rode on a little way until they came to the spot where he had begun his descent. Dismounting, and leading the horses carefully, they picked their way, the orderly leading, down the steep and rugged hillside. When they came to the foot, and joined the party, the Major turned to the man who had come first out of the ruins with him, and with a slight smile addressed him in a strange tongue. The man drew himself up, clicked his heels together, and saluted Lawrence in military style, murmuring: "Salaam, sahib." Then the whole party mounted their horses, and made their way at a walking pace up the road towards the caravan. CHAPTER THE SECOND BEYOND THE PALE Of all the strange scenes which the Appletons had witnessed since their arrival in India, none was more surprising than the immediate sequel of the ambuscade. The hill-men rode in high good-temper behind their intended victims; and when they met the sowars, their leader exchanged laughing greetings with the dafadar, and the two parties became one. For the rest of that day they marched together, and at fall of night they formed a common encampment, the troopers acting as hosts towards the hill-men, and exerting themselves to entertain them. To the Appletons it was all very mysterious. Lawrence had put a question or two to Major Endicott as they marched; but finding him strangely uncommunicative, deferred further enquiry to the hour after supper, when he was most often in the mood to talk. Even then the young fellows’ curiosity was rather piqued than satisfied. "That man Nagdu, the leader of the hill-men, was a sergeant of yours, you say, sir?" said Lawrence. "Yes, years ago he was a dafadar in my troop." "But he was laying an ambush for you!" "He is paid by the government to guard the road." "Oh!" "Didn’t know it was you, perhaps, until he saw you," suggested Bob. "He _was_ rather surprised to see me," said the Major, and a slow smile gathered upon his face, and passed. "My heart was in my mouth when I saw you go alone into the rest-house," said Lawrence. "And I couldn’t get a word out of your man." "Pretty close, isn’t he?" said the Major. "But look here, my lads, I called you a couple of young fools a while ago. I take that back, for without you I shouldn’t have had the opportunity of enjoying the surprise of Nagdu and his crew. All the same, you _were_ fools, you know," he added reflectively. While this conversation was proceeding beneath the extended flap of the tent, another, of quite a different tenor, was going on at the nearest camp fire, fifty yards away. There Ganda Singh the dafadar and his old comrade Nagdu were seated, gazing into the glow, with their rifles across their knees.