"They had killed some of the servants when that poor fellow broke away to warn us. He was one of Mehrab Khan's tribesmen. But our people were alive, he says." "But we can't leave them, Mr Raynier." "That is not spoken with your usual sense. Are we going to walk straight into the jaws of the enemy and say, `Here we are'? No. I am responsible for your safety, Miss Clive, and you may be sure I shall do the uttermost in my power to secure it." Even while he had been speaking his mind had rapidly reviewed the situation, and it was one that filled him with the gravest misgiving and concern. He knew that a _jihad_, or fanatical rising, was being fomented among the tribes further along the border, but that the Gularzai could by any possibility take part in it he had reckoned as clean out of the question. He had trusted Mushim Khan thoroughly, had reckoned the Nawab as no more likely to take up arms against the Government than he himself. But that a bold outrage on a large scale could thus take place here right under the nose of the Nawab without the knowledge and therefore sanction of that potentate, he could not believe. What a fool he had been, and how utterly blind not to have seen some sign or warning of the dangerous unrest having spread. Well, this was no time for regrets, but for action--and to this end he would consult Mehrab Khan. But what then? Would the Baluchi be true to his salt? All these border tribes were akin. Ties of friendship, of gratitude, of honour, of self-interest even, all were swept aside when they made common cause together against the Feringhi and the infidel--and the acquaintance between himself and Mehrab Khan was of the shortest. But the latter, even at that moment, was giving some indication of what line he was going to take in the crisis. For the other Levy Sowar had been gradually edging away. These two Feringhis would soon be found and cut to pieces, _Sirkar_ or not, argued this man, and he had no intention of identifying himself with them any further, and thus sharing their fate; wherefore he resolved, while there was yet time, to effect his own escape. But Mehrab Khan, who knew the workings of his mind, was equally resolved that he should not. To this end Mehrab Khan dismounted, and levelling his rifle called upon him to stop. The result of this order was to cause the defaulter to ram his spurs into his horse's flanks, and start off along the hillside at a gallop. Now Mehrab Khan was an old and practised stalker of markhor and wild sheep, consequently now, when, without further warning, he pressed the trigger, the runaway toppled heavily from his saddle, and lay without a kick. "He would have betrayed us, _Huzoor_," said the Baluchi, laconically, as he slipped a fresh cartridge into his piece. "Now he will not."