"Not a bit of it. He had a row with one of the Pathan officers, and he was rather zubberdusty; but as for the dishonesty, that was only a tale set afloat by busybodies. The affair was investigated by Reynell Taylor, and you'll admit that he would never condone anything wrong." "Yes," Ted agreed, "if he absolved Hodson it's all right." "Well, he did so. He said there was not an anna not accounted for, and that the books were badly kept, because Hodson wasn't cut out for a clerk, being always in the saddle, doing police and soldier work. Now, as to this other business. It was Hodson who captured the old Mogul when perhaps no other man could have done it, and he didn't put him to death. Then he offered to go and bring in the princes--the vicious brutes who'd murdered the English men and women in Delhi. With a handful of his troopers he set out for the tiger's lair and captured them. They begged him to spare their lives when they surrendered, but he resolutely refused to give any promise. On the way back he was cut off by a mob of armed fanatics, who were keen on rescuing the princes. Hodson's own account, and that of his sowars, is that if he had hesitated a moment he would have been overwhelmed and killed and they would have escaped, and he was determined that the vile murderers should be punished and made an example of. Without hesitation he answered the clamour of the mob by shooting the princes himself; and his promptness cowed the fanatics. They melted away, and not one of his men was hurt." "Yes; but was he not exaggerating the danger?" contended Ted. "He's the only one who can judge of that," Boldre replied. "And with all his faults, I believe Hodson to be an honourable man. The prisoners were bound to be hanged. No one even attempted to deny their guilt, and their lives being forfeit, I don't suppose Hodson considered it wrong to anticipate their fate by a day or two, when by so doing he could save the lives of his own men. "It was a big responsibility," Claude continued as Ted remained thoughtful, "and he had the courage to take it, believing it to be the right course. He may have been wrong. I admit I don't like the thought of it, but it was done from no motive of cruelty." "You've put the affair in a new light," Ted confessed; "but all the same, I wish he had not done it." "So do I," agreed Boldre. "But look here, Russell, suppose the princes had been rescued to spread rebellion by the magic of their name as the descendants of the Grand Mogul. Would not those who are now decrying him most have been the first to attack him for having allowed them to escape?" "Well, perhaps they would," said Ted.