* * * * *
Ranjoor Singh stood aghast at sight of him, and the trooper saluted like an automaton, since nothing save obedience was any affair of his.
"Evening, Risaldar-Major!" smiled the general.
"Salaam, General sahib!"
"To save time, I will tell you that I know stage by stage how you got here."
Ranjoor Singh looked suspicious. For five-and-twenty years he had watched British justice work, and British justice gives both sides a hearing; he had not told his own version yet.
"I know that you have had word in another part of this house with a
German, who pretends to be a merchant but who is really a spy."
Ranjoor Singh looked even more suspicious. The charge was true, though, so he did not answer.
"Your being brought to this house was part of a plan—part of the same plan that leaves the German still at liberty. You are wanted to take further part in it."
"General sahib, am I an officer of the Raj or am I dreaming?"