"I'd pay your men off altogether, if I were you."
"They're a good gang."
"No doubt. We've all admired your ability to make men work. But there'll be a new maharajah in a day or two, and, strictly between you and me, as one friend to another, there'll be a very slight chance indeed of your getting a contract from the incoming man to carry on your mining in the hills. I'd like to save you trouble and expense."
"Real good of you."
"Er—found anything down there?" Samson nodded over his shoulder toward the tunnel mouth.
"Not yet."
"Any signs of anything?"
"Not yet."
Samson looked relieved.
"By the way. You mentioned the other day something about evidence relating to the murder of Mukhum Dass."