The lieutenant stepped forward taking Nagar’s ear in his right hand and calling aloud:
“Will you tell the truth now of Kitchlew’s plot against Government?”
Nagar looked at him without hatred. He tried to speak twice before the words came:
“I have already told the truth——”
“How many stripes have been given?” Langoyer asked.
“Twenty-six.”
“Finish the thirty, then take him to kotwali. A few days more will make him tell all right.”
The American remained. One—two—three—four.
The hands were unstrapped. The robe was cast about the shoulders. Nagar could stand. Dicky left the officers and followed his friend and the native policemen to the station, feeling like a pariah’s whelp.