'Two, sir; but they are both retired native officers, and as that would make all but five, military, the commissioner thought----' 'Then we want twenty more. Send a reminder to Shark Lane. And about the destruction of infected clothes?' 'There is only one thing for it, sir, as we agreed before,' replied the chief of the police. 'We must have an Englishman with each search party. It's absurd to expect constables on five rupees a month to keep their hands from picking and stealing. That fact must be faced. We do our best; but our department, which is the most difficult to deal with, is the worst paid.' 'That's a nasty story,' said Sir George suddenly. He had been glancing through another excerpt. 'Hm, the _Ear of the Wise_, editor Govinda Râm.' 'He has the best nose, anyhow, for unmitigated filth in India,' remarked the assistant-secretary; 'but of course one can't notice that sort of thing.' Here he shrugged his shoulders. The chief of the police, who was an old military man, squared his. 'There I totally disagree, as his Honour knows. That paper has a greater effect in Nushapore than all those high-falutin' prints put together; and that's all my business. I'd have him up, on every slander, in the criminal courts. You wouldn't allow that sort of thing about the masters to be circulated in a school? And the more we remember that our position in India is virtually that of a schoolmaster, or, if you like it better, trustee to a minority, the better it will be for that minority.' 'Bravo, Grey!' said Sir George, with a smile. 'You stick to your colours. And a good many of us agree; only the people at home won't have it. They can't grasp the situation; they would as soon believe it to be a grave political danger if the little street boys hung garlands round Guy Fawkes instead of burning him! Now, about the plague itself. Is it on us, doctor? 'Yes, sir,' replied a small man who had just been shown in. 'We have just inspected all the native charitable dispensaries. They have no proper records, of course, and they deny increased attendance. But they are almost out of drugs. Then there are three undoubted cases in the butchers' quarter. But the fishiest part of the city is all about the Garden Gate. Those tall old houses--there has been a lot of deaths.' 'Poor, high-class Mohammedans,' remarked the assistant-secretary significantly. 'Rather bad luck.' Sir George rose and put away his papers. 'Then we had better start. I think everything is settled. The great point is to keep--to keep normal as long as possible.' As he quitted the room the men left in it looked at each other. 'Right so far; but after----' said one. 'Telegraph home for orders; what else can you do nowadays?' 'Do! I'd show them, if I had a free hand. I'd settle this lot.' The chief of the police slapped his confidential file viciously as he pocketed it. 'I'd limit their circulation by a little wholesome bloodletting.'