"Thou hast seen him this day, Sherdil."
"Sayest thou? Where? I knew it not."
"Thou seest him now."
Sherdil stared.
"Dost thou not remember how thou didst thyself give me a moustache that day we went as traders to Mandan? Even so I got for myself the beard, in Karnal."
The men laughed, and chaffed Sherdil uproariously on his failure to recognize his prize pupil.
"Wah!" cried the new dafadar; "but those who said the man was a sahib——"
He stopped, checked by a look from Ahmed. Then they talked of the prospects of the siege, and the merits of the new general, Archdale Wilson, who had succeeded General Reed. In common with the rest of the little force on the Ridge, they were restive under the long delay in assaulting the rebel city.
"But we shall see something soon," said Sherdil. "Nikalsain is here."
"Who is Nikalsain?"