“I’ll arrange it all, Sir John,” said he. “There will be little difficulty, for I have the very men we want. Kendal will do it admirably, and he can make up to the life. Where shall we be, though, if they both hold out?”
“Both?” Sir John’s eyes sparkled as he added: “You forget there will be a third—Pir Baksh. But of the ensigns one is evidently quite unscrupulous, and will no doubt give himself away.”
CHAPTER XXIV
Pir Baksh renders Tynan a Service
This conversation with the chief commissioner took place one morning in late September. In the afternoon of the same day, Ted Russell was ordered to attend upon Sir John Lawrence. The great man looked at the boy with a keen penetrating glance, which, though it seemed to pierce him through and through, yet brought with it an assurance of confidence and kindness.
Sir John seem pleased by the inspection.
“So you are the lad who blew up the arsenal?” he asked, a wonderfully pleasant smile lighting up the rugged face.
“It’s still in dispute, sir,” said Ted, smiling in spite of his trepidation.
“What do you suppose has caused Ensign Tynan to make this claim?”