“Why, sahib?” he asked: and Darya Khan came closer, too. King had tied the reins of the two horses and the one remaining mule together in a knot and was sitting on the pack.
“Why not?” he countered.
Solemn, almost motionless, squatted on their hunkers, they looked like two great vultures watching an animal die.
“What have they done that they should be sent away?” asked Ismail. “What have they done that they should be sent to the fort, where the arrficer will put them in irons?”
“Why should he put them in irons?” asked King.
“Why not? Here in the Khyber there is often a price on men's heads!”
“And not in Delhi?”
“In Delhi these were not known. There were no witnesses in Delhi. In the fort at Ali Masjid there will be a dozen ready to swear to them!”
“Then, why did they obey?” asked King.
“What is that on the sahib's wrist?”