But the Nawab interposed with moderate speech.  “It is,” said he, “a wise man who knows the omens of the future, and is thereby guided.”

“The services of a skilful necromancer are greatly needed at the present,” whispered a courtier.

Many of the company were now standing, scanning with anxious gaze the distant horizon.  They looked far a-field, but high overhead the robber looked down on them.  There was the falcon mid-way between earth and sky.  Now it began to sink.  Swiftly it fell, and a cry escaped the lips of the few who observed it.  The bird’s keeper was off with the expedition, but as it reached the earth, a very few yards from the Rajah’s circle, a dozen men were instantly upon it.  Foremost was Atma Singh, his hand it was that grasped it.  It was tired, and stood on his left wrist with anything but the air of a convicted thief, as with head bent sideways it inspected the throng.  Atma strode forward to the Rajah, and a dismayed cry arose that the Sapphire was lost indeed.  The bird no longer held it.  Atma took no heed, but advancing made obeisance before Golab Singh, and extended to him his captive.

“Your clemency, Maharajah,” he said, “for the truant.”

“Had he brought back the Sapphire he might have gained mercy,” said the Rajah, with more anger, Bertram thought, than he had ever seen him display.  “Take away the knave out of my sight, and despatch a horseman at once to the Palace with command that four hundred men forthwith search all this plain, with every tree on it and every stream that crosses it, until they find the jewel.”

Lal Singh since his angry outburst had stood aside, his narrow face contracted, and had not ceased to watch Atma from the moment when he seized the falcon.  His cunning eyes followed the young Sikh as he bowed before the Ruler of Kashmir, and now gliding forward he cringed before Golab Singh, as he hissed in a voice nearly inarticulate with triumph and hate, “Maharajah, the plain is wide; before entering on so extensive an undertaking, order someone more trusty than Atma Singh to recover the stone by searching the leal descendant of the holy Nanuk!  I, though less lofty of sentiment and aspiration, am filled with horror and grief, because I have perceived him to take the Sapphire from the bird the moment it touched ground.”

The effect of this charge can hardly be described:  indignation on the part of some, among whom were Atma’s British friends, at what they felt assured must be a groundless accusation; suspicion and anger on the part of others.  “Let him immediately be seized and searched,” commanded the Rajah.

The first part of his command was already obeyed, and almost before a protest could be uttered, Atma’s arms were bound behind him and Golab Singh’s servants proceeded zealously to search his person.  In silence and with lips compressed, Bertram and his brother officers looked on whilst he submitted to this indignity, no syllable escaping him from the moment when he fixed his accusing gaze on his foe.  But when a tiny onyx-box of curious workmanship was produced from the folds of his girdle, and laid before the Rajah of Kashmir, he did not repeat the look, although on its appearance Lal uttered an exulting exclamation.