"I don't know. But the messages of a Raj are not for the ears of men to whom they have not been sent."
Barlow had an intuition that the girl's words were not prompted by idle curiosity. He was possessed of a sudden gloomy impression that she knew something of the two men who rode. And it was strange that they had not been seen upon either of the roads. The officer spoke of them frankly, and not as a man hiding something.
Suddenly he took a firm resolve, perhaps a dangerous one; not dangerous though if his men had really gone through.
"Gulab," he said,—and with his hand he turned her face up by the chin till their eyes were close together,—"if the two bore a message for me, and it was stolen, I would be like that one you loved was lost."
The beautiful face swung from his palm and he could hear her gasping.
"You know something?" he said, and he caressed the smooth black tresses.
"I did not see them, Sahib."
They rode in silence for half a mile and then she said, "Perhaps,
Sahib, Bootea can help you—if the message is lost."
"And you will, girl?"
"I will, Sahib; even if I die for doing it, I will."