“Your opinion, then, was that he had been forced to rebel?”
“I thought it might be so, Colonel Sahib; in fact, once after the firing had been hot, Bisesar Singh whispered to me that the heart of Pir Baksh was not in the affair. When I asked him why, he replied that the subadar had covered him with his musket, and then winked at him and fired high. Yet sometimes he appeared to lead the dogs; but perhaps that was to divert suspicion, perhaps he had to feign to be as faithless as themselves whenever they were watching him.”
“That is probable enough,” Sir Arthur whispered to his colleagues. “Under the circumstances I can quite understand a man doing that.”
“Yes, so can I,” the colonel agreed. “Ted and Ambar Singh might easily have been mistaken, and have misjudged him.”
When Leigh had finished recording the evidence, Major Munro asked Tynan to retire for a few moments. He then questioned Dwarika Rai as to who laid the powder train.
“Russell Sahib, I think,” was the reply.
“Did you notice Tynan Sahib enter the magazine?”
“Yes, sahib, before they battered the door in. He was away some time, and I wondered why.”
The major turned to his colleagues and observed in English:
“Tynan’s tale is true so far;” and the others nodded assent.