"Protector of the Poor!"
And to-day."
"Khodawund!"
"It is an order! Go!"
Again the salute, and Imam Din departed, with that same set of the back which he wore when he had taken an order from Strickland. I thought that it would be well to go too, but Strickland beckoned me from the verandah. When I came up he was perfectly white, and rocking to and fro in his chair, repeated "Good God!" half a dozen times.
"Do you know that he was going to chuck himself down the well - because I tapped him just now ~" he said helplessly.
"I ought to," I replied. "He has just dismissed his nurse - on his own authority, I suppose?"
"He told me just now that he wouldn't have her for a nurse any more. I never supposed he meant it for an instant. I suppose she'll have to go."
It is written elsewhere that Strickland was feared through the length and breadth of the Punjab by murderers, horse-thieves, and cattle-lifters.
Adam returned, halting outside the verandah, very white about the lips.