The man hesitated.
"It will be worth a hundred rupees to you."
Karim's eyes sparkled; a hundred rupees represented a fortune to a man of his class; but he still hesitated.
"Am I to be alone?" he asked at length.
"No," said Desmond; "we shall be with you."
"Hai! If the sahib"--the word slipped out unawares--"is to be there it is fixed. He is my father and mother: did he not save me from the river? I would serve him without reward."
"That is very well. All the same the reward shall be yours--to be paid to you if we succeed, to your family if we fail. For if we fail it will be our last day: they will certainly shoot us. There is time to draw back."
"If the sahib is to be there I am not afraid."
"Good. You can go aft. We shall tell you later what is to be done. And remember, on this boat I am no sahib. I am a khalasi from Gujarat."
"I shall remember--sahib."