“What were you out there looking for?”
King smiled back at him blandly.
“I think there are railway thieves on the train,” he announced without any effort at relevance. He might not have heard the question.
“What makes you think so?”
“Observation, sir.”
“Oh! Then if you've seen thieves, why didn't you have 'em arrested? You were precious free with that authority of yours on Peshawur platform!”
“Perhaps you'd care to take the responsibility, sir? Let me point out one of them.”
Full of grudging curiosity Hyde came to stand by him, and King stepped back just as the train began to move.
“That man, sir--over there--no, beyond him--there!”
Hyde thrust head and shoulders through the window, and a well-dressed native with one foot on the running-board at the back end of the train took a long steady stare at him before jumping in and slamming the door of a third-class carriage.