“Not yet. Be for turning some of them out.”
“Of course.”
“Very spirited and nice; but it means losing men, and the beggars come back again. We used to do a lot of that sort of thing, but of late the policy has been to do nothing unless they attacked, and then to give them all we knew. Pays best.”
“I don’t know,” said Roberts as they were descending fast; “it can’t make any impression upon the enemy.”
“Shows them that the English have come to stay,” interposed Bracy.
“Yes, perhaps; but they may read it that we are afraid of them on seeing us keep behind walls.”
A minute or two later the news was borne to headquarters, where the two Colonels were in eager conference, and upon hearing it Colonel Graves leaped up and turned to his senior as if expecting immediate orders for action; but his colleague’s face wrinkled a little more, and he said quietly:
“Then that visit was a mere ruse to put us off our guard and give them an opportunity for meeting the fresh odds with which they have to contend.”
“Of course it was,” said Colonel Graves firmly.
“Well, there is nothing to be alarmed about; they will do nothing till they have waited to see whether we accept the offer of admitting as friends a couple of hundred Ghazees within the gates.—Thank you, gentlemen, for your information. There is no cause for alarm.”