A little later, in groups and scattered fours, and one by one, his heavy-breathing troopers followed, cursing the order that had sent them abroad with-out their horses, damning—­as none but a dismounted cavalryman can damn—­the earth’s unevenness, their swords, their luck, their priests, the night, their boots, and Jaimihr.  Forewarned, Alwa held on down the pitch-dark side street, into whose steep-sided chasm the moon’s rays would not reach for an hour or two to come, and once again he led his party in a sweeping, wide-swung circle, loose-reined and swifter than the silent night wind—­this time for Howrah’s palace.  There was his given word, plighted to Mahommed Gunga, to redeem.

CHAPTER XX

    Ha! my purse may be lean, but my ’scutcheon is clean,
    And I’m backed by a dozen true men;
    I’ve a sword to my name, and a wrist for the same;
    Can a king frown fear into me, then?

It is the privilege of emperors, and kings and princes, that—­however little real authority they have, or however much their power is undermined by men behind the throne—­they must be accorded dignity.  They must be, on the face of things, obeyed.

Inspection of the treasure finished and an hour-long mummery of rites performed, the thirty wound their way, chanting, in single file back again.  The bronze-enforced door, that was only first of half a hundred barriers between approach and the semi-sacred hoard, at last clanged shut and was locked with three locks, each of whose individual keys was in the keeping of a separate member of the three—­Maharajah, Prince, and priest.  The same keys fitted every door of the maze—­made passages, but no one door would open without all three.

Speaking like an omen from the deepest shadow, the sweeper called to Jaimihr.

“Sahib, thy palace burns!  Sahib, thy prisoner runs!  Haste, sahib!  Call thy men and hasten back!  Thy palace is in flames—­the Rangars come to—­”

As a raven, disturbed into night omen-croaking, he sent forth his news from utter blackness into nerve-strung tension.  No one member of the thirty but was on the alert for friction or sudden treachery; the were all eyes for each other, and the croaking fell on ears strained to the aching point.  He had time to repeat his warning before one of Jaimihr’s men stepped into the darkness where he hid and dragged him out.

“Sahib, a woman came but now and brought the news.  It was from the captain of the guard.  The Rangars came to take their man away.  They broke in.  They burn.  They loot.  They—­”