"Very well, sir; if you give me the written order I shall, of course, obey it, and, indeed, I acknowledge that your view of the matter seems to me unanswerable. The destruction of Lieutenant Edwardes' force would be a great misfortune, for it would immensely encourage the people here, and would enable them to make all their preparations for war undisturbed, as it would be a long while before the Lahore people could get together an army capable of capturing Mooltan.
"I see that I cannot be of use to you, and I agree with you. Moolraj will naturally protect you and treat you well, as he cannot wish to bring down the vengeance of the government of India upon him."
The two men were still waiting in Percy's room when he returned to it.
"Get the horses in readiness to mount at any moment," he said. "I have Mr. Agnew's orders that if the troops here join Moolraj, I am to ride at all speed to carry the news to Lieutenant Edwardes, who was ordered to advance from Dera-Futteh-Khan and to cross the ferry at Leia, where I shall probably find him. It is ninety miles away, but our horses will carry us there."
"It would be better to start to-night, sahib. We shall be hotly pursued if we go off in the daytime."
"I know that," Percy replied; "but it must be risked. Until it is certain that the troops here intend to join Moolraj I cannot go."
"Very well, sahib, whatever are your orders we shall obey them. If we get but a fair start there are not many horses in Mooltan that will be able to overtake us."
"That is so, Bhop Lal; and any that do come up with us we shall probably be able to give a good account of."
"We will watch by turns to-night, sahib; it is possible these rascals may intend to surrender the place to Moolraj before morning."
CHAPTER XV.