"Only that it was natural when falling in with a party like ours that they should have asked many questions. Whence we came, and whither were we going? What merchandise we carried? Were we trading on our own account, or were we carrying goods for some trader? How was it that I had such a strong armed party with me? These are the questions honest men would ask, but they spoke only of their own doings and asked no word about ours. I have no doubt whatever that they know who I am and who you are, and that all they really wanted to learn was where we intended to stop. Now they are, I am certain, watching us, or probably one may have ridden off to carry the news and fetch their band, while the other remains to see that we do not move our camp."
"What are you going to do, Nand Chund?"
"I shall wait till Ruzam returns. If they should have ridden straight on we shall move at once; if they both remain on watch, and it seems that they are likely to do so till morning, I shall, when Ruzam returns, go off with four of the men, and making a circuit come down upon them from behind and despatch them. If one goes and the other remains on watch, Ruzam can be trusted to give a good account of him before he returns here."
"But it would be terrible to kill two men who have not actually harmed us," Percy said, shocked at this his first experience of the customs of the Punjaub.
"They have not done us much harm yet," Nand Chund said grimly; "but they are endeavouring to draw us into an ambush, which will cost us our lives and you your liberty, and perhaps our lord his fortress and his life. Therefore I shall have no more hesitation in killing them than I should in shooting a lurking tiger."
Three hours passed, and then Ruzam glided into the camp.
"What is your news, Ruzam?"
"They have just left," the man said; "I have been close to them all the time listening to their talk. They have been watching you from a spot half a mile away. They would have come up to hear what you were saying, but neither would stay behind alone, saying what was true enough, that we also might be watching them, and if they separated they might be taken singly. For the same reason neither would stay while the other rode forward. I could have shot one, but I could not have been sure of killing the second before he rode off, and so thought it better to be quiet. At last they concluded that you had really encamped for the night, and that they could safely ride off with the news. It was unfortunate that the moonlight was so bright, for it prevented my crawling up close enough to attack them before they could mount."
"Did you hear what roads are likely to be beset?"
"No, they did not enter into particulars; but they said that they would be sure to have you, as there would be parties on every road. It is the young sahib they are anxious to capture; and the orders were strict that he was to be taken unharmed, and that all the rest of us were to be killed or taken prisoners."