"But—what?"
"It is not Ishmael Ameer."
"Not Ishma ... you say it is not Ish——"
The Consul-General stopped, and for a long moment he stared in silence into the blanched faces before him. Then he said sharply, "Who is it?"
The Commandant dropped his head and the Sirdar seemed unwilling to reply.
"Who is it, then?"
"It is ... it is a British officer."
"A British ... you say a British——"
"A Colonel."
The old man's lips moved as if he were repeating the word without uttering it.