'And what befell the two younger brethren who were not in the service?' the Havildar-Major asked.
'Doubtless they too are dead, but since they were not in the Regiment their honour concerns themselves only. So far as we were touched, see how correctly we came out of the matter! I think the King should be told; for where could you match such a tale except among us Sikhs? Sri wah guru ji ki Khalsa! Sri wah guru ji ki futteh!' said the Regimental Chaplain.
'Would three rupees twelve annas pay for the used cartridges?' said the Havildar-Major.
'Attar Singh knew the just price. All Baynes Sahib's gear was in his charge. They expended one tin box of fifty cartouches, lacking two which were returned. As I said--as I say--the arrangement was made not with heat nor blasphemies as a Mussulman would have made it; not with cries nor caperings as an idolater would have made it; but conformably to the ritual and doctrine of the Sikhs. Hear you! "Though hundreds of amusements are offered to a child it cannot live without milk. If a man be divorced from his soul and his soul's desire he certainly will not stop to play upon the road, but he will make haste with his pilgrimage." That is written. I rejoice in my disciples.'
'True! True! Correct! Correct!' said the Subadar-Major. There was a long, easy silence. One heard a water-wheel creaking somewhere and the nearer sound of meal being ground in a quern.
'But he--' the Chaplain pointed a scornful chin at the Havildar-Major--'he has been so long in England that--'
'Let the lad alone,' said his uncle. 'He was but two months there, and he was chosen for good cause.'
Theoretically, all Sikhs are equal. Practically, there are differences, as none know better than well-born, land-owning folk, or long-descended chaplains from Amritsar.
'Hast thou heard anything in England to match my tale?' the Chaplain sneered.
'I saw more than I could understand, so I have locked up my stories in my own mouth,' the Havildar-Major replied meekly.