“What are you doing here?”
“Thy servant was too old to go when the budmashes came, and all the others fled away.”
“Where are the budmashes now?”
“Thy servant knoweth not. They all rode off with the great guns directly it began to grow dark to-night.”
“Put up your sword, Gil,” said Brace. “The poor old fellow is frightened out of his wits.”
Then, turning to the old Hindu—
“Is there no one left in the village?”
“No, sahib. They have all fled but me.”
Brace was silent for a few minutes, and then he said sharply—
“Look here, old man, you can walk?”