"What are they saying to our Nagas?" said Mackenzie. "Look at them!"
The faces of the carriers wore an expression of uneasiness, and they glanced at their employers with the sidelong stealth of men conscious of a fault.
"You had better ask about guiding us at once," said Jackson.
Forrester sent Sher Jang for the spokesman of the previous evening and the Naga who had interpreted. A bargain was soon struck. In return for a few trifling articles of the camp equipage, the villager agreed to guide the party in the direction of the waterfall. Part of the payment was handed over at once, and the customary preparations for marching were made. But, when Forrester gave the order to shoulder loads, to his astonishment the Nagas made no movement. They stood back with an air of sullen obstinacy, muttering under their breath.
"What does this mean?" Forrester asked Sher Jang.
"They say they will go no farther, sahib," the shikari replied.
"Nonsense! What's the matter with them?"
"They engaged for the job," Mackenzie added. "Tell them they'll lose their pay if they back out."
But the Nagas treated with equal indifference all that was said to them. When Sher Jang threatened them with the loss of their pay, one of them blurted out that they would carry the baggage back for nothing, rather than go farther northward.
"But why is it?" Forrester cried in exasperation. "What has upset them? What are they scared of?"