'There were two--the Miss Sahib and the child. What the Soubahdar would have with them I knew not. He was known in the villages about, and I tracked him from place to place; but was never swift enough to come up with him. Then I lost him. He had gone out of a village in the morning, and his prisoners, who were still alive, were with him. It was thought that he was taking them to the hill-countries of the north. But of this I know nothing, save that they were going north, and that they travelled by unfrequented ways. After that village, O brother, I lost him. Some said he was dead; but his body was not found. Miss Sahib and the child I lost too; but I went on, seeking everywhere.' 'Courage!' whispered Hoosanee. 'My master will make your family rich.' 'I thought I heard of them at last,' he went on. 'But they were alone, and how could that be? Where was the Soubahdar who had taken them from the fort?' 'Could he have deserted them?' said Hoosanee--'left them in some jungly place to be fallen upon by the wild beasts.' 'Why should he do so, O brother, when he could take them out himself and kill them with the sword? He is not of my religion. He is a Moslem. This I said to myself, and my trouble was great. But the lakh of rupees and the eyes of the Miss Sahib, who, as my brother knows, will sometimes smile graciously on her servants, kept me from going back. I travelled on till I reached the camp of the Ghoorkas, where I told my story, and where I was given men and food to take me on.' 'Is that all?' said Hoosanee, very sadly. 'Has my brother come back unsuccessful?' 'Am I going back?' cried the poor creature, starting up and locking round with a fierce glitter in his bloodshot eyes. Pain conquered him, and he lay back groaning. 'I could stand and walk no longer,' he moaned, 'and they put me in this. But they said, "We are going on, we camp in new ground every day," and I believed them--I believed them.' 'Perhaps you _are_ going on,' said Hoosanee soothingly. 'This country is strange to me. But tell me, if you can, why you think that Missy Grace is here.' 'Have you ever seen Miss Sahib's writing?' said Tikaram. 'My master knows it well. If you have found anything, show it to me,' cried Hoosanee eagerly. Tikaram was too weak to move. 'My right hand,' he murmured. 'Open it!'