“And he's left me, with this handful, in the lurch?”
“Nay, sahib! As I understood the orders, he has left you with a very honorable mission to fulfil!”
Brown stared hard at the half-sheet of notepaper again. Reading was not his longest suit by any means, and at that he infinitely preferred to wrestle with printed characters.
“Have you read it, Juggut Khan?” he asked.
“Nay, sahib. I can speak English, but not read it.”
“Then we're near to being in the same boat, we two!” said Brown with a grin. “I'll have another try! It looks like a good-by message to me—here's the word 'good-by' written at the end above his signature.”
“There were other matters, sahib. There was an order. I can not read, but I know what is in the message.”
“Well?”
“You, and your twelve—”
“Nine!” corrected Brown.