"Oh, rats!" cried Jackson, impatiently. "If the Government won't undertake it, d'you suppose they'll let a lot of amateurs go careering about? They'd expect to have to send a Field Force to bring us off. It's absurd."
"Don't blow my head off. I've another proposition. I'm not particular about my leave. Let the three of us see what we can do."
"D'you mean it, Mac?" cried Forrester.
"Ay!"
CHAPTER III
THE REFUGEES
The credit of the arrangements made during the next two days must be divided between Mackenzie and Sher Jang. The former showed a capacity for organisation which his friends had not suspected.
"Just ye listen to me," he said, when they were discussing the proposal he had sprung upon them. "If I tell ye nothing, ye'll no have to tell fibs, d'ye ken? The least wee bit suspicion, and our leave will be stopped. All ye need to know is that before we start for our holiday in earnest we're going on a private hunting expedition, which will be perfectly true. Sher Jang and I between us will make things ready."
"That's the longest speech I've ever heard from your lips, Mac," said Forrester with a laugh.
"Maybe," Mackenzie replied.