“As you please,” she said, rather perplexed. “But you’ll not mind my telling Major Ambrose—in confidence——” as she surprised a look of something like alarm. “Sure you must see he’ll wish to thank you for coming to my help,” with a touch of hauteur. What was the man so mysterious about?
“As you please, ma’am. But you’ll remember I ain’t an Englishman here—just one of these people.” He had wrung most of the water out of her skirt by this time, and brushed off some of the mud—clumsily, but with evident goodwill. “You did better for me once,” as he looked disparagingly at his handiwork.
“The time I cot your horse for you when you were in the boghole? Ah no, nonsense! I didn’t even try to brush the mud off you, because you were all mud, every bit of you, were you not? But would you look at us, talking over old times like this, and leaving poor Shab-ud-din to lie and groan!”
“Let me see to him, ma’am. It’s no job for you.”
“That it is, when he came by his fall trying to help me. What d’ye think now? his collar-bone. I’d say it was, and maybe an arm as well—and how in the wide world will we get him home?”
“If you’ll be good enough to leave it to me, ma’am—believe me, you must. It’s for my own sake——” shamefacedly. “It won’t do for my men to catch me talking privately with you. If you’ll mount and follow me, they shall bring the poor chap in.”
“Follow you?” her eyebrows went up slightly.
“If you don’t mind, ma’am. That’s the way here, you know, and as I was saying, I’m one of ’em now.”
With what she felt was exemplary meekness, Eveleen allowed the syce to mount her, and waited while her old acquaintance rode to meet the wild horsemen who formed his escort. They were returning in triumph, bringing with them several of the fugitive assailants, who bore every appearance of having been roughly handled. It occurred to her suddenly that to deliver over Khemi villagers to a band of Arabits was probably equivalent to sentencing them to death, and she called after Carthew—
“What was it made the villagers so angry? What were they after?”