This proceeding brought him face to face with two other searchers, who were groping under the adjoining trees, and Marian overheard the words that passed:
"Have you found them?" asked Ali Khan.
"They are not near the house; they must be in another part of the garden.
"I have looked under every tree," was the unblushing remark of Ali Khan, "but they are not there."
"It is strange; let us make another search."
"I will help you," said Ali Khan, in an indifferent voice, "but it is useless. You, Buddao, pass close to the house once more, while Ramchundra and I look to the rear."
This suggestion was adopted. One of the men was sent to join his comrades in another part of the grounds, quite remote from the fugitives, while Ali Khan, the friendly servant, became one of the two who set out to prowl through the very part of the garden where the fugitives were hiding.
Ali Khan having proved his wish to befriend the Europeans, it now became his delicate and difficult duty to prevent his companion from detecting the deception. He had a double motive for such a course, for if Ramchundra should find the fugitives, it would be such proof of the disloyalty of Ali Khan that the others would undoubtedly kill him.
The friendly native stopped a dozen steps away, turned his back upon the tree which sheltered the fugitives, and looked toward Ramchundra, who was searching among the shrubbery, and gradually drawing near the couple. Unless he was diverted, he would discover them within the next three minutes.
"We are losing time," said Ali. "I believe now what some of our people said."