“I wonder,” Barlow queried.

But Hodson, nodding his head said:  “Quite possible; and also quite probable that the dear avaricious Dewan would claim a share of the loot if it were of value, jewels especially.”  He addressed Ajeet, “I have nothing to do with this; I am not Sindhia.”

“True, Sahib Bahadur, but a decoity was made upon a merchant on the road and he and his men were killed, but also two English sowars were slain.”

“By heavens!” The cool, trained, bloodless machine, that was a British Resident at a court of intrigue, was startled out of his composure; his eyes flashed to those of Barlow.

But the Captain, knowing all this beforehand, had an advantage, and he showed no sign of trepidation.

Then the thin drawn face of the Resident was flattened out by control, and he commanded the decoit to talk on.

“I tried to save the two sepoys, and one was a sergeant, but I was stricken down with a wound and it was in the way of treachery.”

Ajeet laid a hand upon his wounded shoulder, saying, “When the two sepoys rode suddenly out of the night into our camp, where there in the moonlight lay the bodies of the merchant and his men, the Bagrees were afraid lest the two should make report.  They rushed upon the two riders, and it was then that I was wounded.  I would have been killed but for this protection,” and Ajeet rubbed affectionately the beautiful strong shirt-of-mail that enwrapped his torso.

“And observe, Sahib, the wound is from behind, which is a wound of treachery.  As I rushed to the two and cried to them to be gone, a ball from a short gun in the hands of some Bagree smote me upon the shoulder, and this,—­” he again touched the shirt-of-mail,—­“and my shoulder-blade turned it from my heart.  Even then Hunsa thought I was dead.  And he was in league with the Dewan to obtain for Nana Sahib a girl of my household, who is called the Gulab because she is as beautiful as the moon.”

At this statement Barlow knew why the man he had beaten with his pistol had tried to seize the Gulab.  It was startling.  The leg that had rested across a knee clamped noisily to the floor, and a smothered “Damn!” escaped from his lips.  What a devilish complicated thing it was.

Ajeet resumed:  “Hunsa rushed to where the Gulab was in hiding and helped the men who had been sent by Nana Sahib to steal her.  Then he came back to our camp saying that many men had beaten him, and that he had been forced to flee.”

At this vagary Barlow chuckled inwardly.

“What of the two soldiers?” Hodson asked; “why were they here in this land and at the camp of the Bagrees?”

“I know not, Sahib.”

“Were the bodies robbed by your men—­they would be—­did they find papers that would indicate the two were messengers?” and the Resident’s bloodless fingers that clasped a pen were trembling with the suppression of the awful interest he strove to hide, for he knew, as well as Barlow, what their mission was.