"How! from what you've heard?" exclaimed Sir Colvin.
"No," said the soldier slowly; "from what I haven't heard. There's no talk in the hills; and when a Sari man's dumb, he's either got something to say, or something not to say it."
"Hang it all!" cried Chantry. "I wonder if there's anything that you wouldn't think a bad sign?"
Aire shrugged his shoulders.
"Well! the die's cast," he said; "and we've got to see the thing through. The only question left is one of escort. We want to look imposing but not belligerent. What do you think?"
"The smaller the better," said Terrington drily.
"Why?"
"You can't take enough to make it safe for you," explained the other; "but you can take enough to make it unsafe for us."
"For you?" Sir Colvin asked.
"Suppose you don't come back?" was Terrington's reply.