Moreover, each had his reputation—that of General Michael dating from the Mutiny; the other, a younger and a cleaner record.
It is considered the proper thing to talk in England of the unvoiced millions of India. No greater mistake could be made. These millions have a voice, but it does not reach to us because they do not raise it. They talk with it among themselves.
They had talked of General Michael for thirty years, and all that there was in him had been discussed to its very dregs. Thus their impenetrable faces hardened when he passed, their shadowy secretive eyes looked beyond him with a vacancy which was not the vacancy of dulness.
CHAPTER X. A LAST THROW
Get place and wealth; if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place.
Daylight broke next morning in a snow-storm, and a thin sprinkling lay over all the hills, clothing them in spotless white.
General Michael was among the first astir, seeing in person to all the details of the retreat. The men looked in vain towards the tent where their late youthful leader had been wont to sit, nibbling the end of his golden pocket-penholder, wrestling manfully in the throes of literary composition.
When at last the order was given to strike tents the faces of the rank and file fell like the face of one man.