Luchman held to a great degree the doctrine of Kismet or fatalism, which he had been taught in his early youth, and, believing that his hour for dying had been unalterably fixed by destiny, he was not concerned for himself. But the Christians had been differently taught, and he felt that somehow or other another law governed them.
But he could not have the slightest faith in the honor of Wana Affghar. Like the perfidious Nana Sahib (as was afterwards shown), he would deliberately violate the most solemn oath that a Mohammedan or Hindoo could take upon himself. Let him but once lay hold of the diamond, and he would turn loose his fiends upon the fugitives.
"How can I know that your chieftain will keep his word?" asked Luchman, as though impressed by the offer.
"The word of Wana Affghar has never been broken," was the overwhelming falsehood of Buktar Sing.
"Ram! Ram! japana Paraya mal apana!" (He repeats the name of the god Ram and then calls other people's property his own), said Luchman, uttering a common saying of his people. "I will not accept the offer without a guarantee that cannot be broken."
"Name such guarantee."
"He must accept my pledge; I am a Christian who thinks more of his promise than his life; he is a follower of Ram and will lie. I will agree that if he will withdraw his men and give the Feringhees a long start, and will not molest them nor allow any one else to do so, I will hand to him the diamond he covets."
This proposition gave a new phase to the negotiation, and Buktar Sing saw that he would have to consult his principal before accepting or rejecting the conditions.
Saying as much, he saluted and turned to rejoin his friends, the words and manner of Buktar Sing having disarmed all suspicion.
All through the interview, Dr. Avery and George Harkins stood with loaded guns and eyes fixed upon the two, both convinced that treachery was intended. Their close scrutiny led them to detect the ditch-like depression in the plain, which had escaped the notice of Luchman until then. Its location, as we have said, was shown by the fringe of green, where the over abundant moisture had kept the grass from drying up.