“And the terms of it?”

“Oh, he’s supposed to have performed a miracle.

He made us unslip the halter, and fall down flat, and he’s supposed to be keeping us by him, by a sort of spell, so’s to give us something extra-special in the line of ghastly deaths at his own convenience.  That way, I was able to wait for news from Bholat—­see?”

“You could have captured no more important prisoner than that, sahib, let me tell you!  They believe him to be almost a god; so nearly one that the gods themselves obey his orders now and then!  It was he, and no other, that told the men of Jailpore that he would make them impervious to bullets.  If we have him, sahib, we have the key to Jailpore!”

“We, have certainly got him,” said Brown.  “You can see him, and you can smell him.  I’ll order one of the men to prick him with a bayonet, if you want to hear him, too!  I wouldn’t feel him, if I were you!”

“He must come, too, to Jailpore!”

“Of course he comes!”

“Then, sahib, let us move away from here to where there is water.  There let us rest until sundown, and then march, in the cool of the evening.  It will be better so.  And of a truth I must sleep, or else drop dead from weariness.”

“Does that message put you in command?” asked Brown, a trifle truculently.

“No, sahib!  But it orders you to listen to my advice whenever possible.”

“That means that you are under my orders?”

“That letter does not say so, sahib!”

“Very well, are you, or are you not?”

“We are supposed to act in concert, sahib.”

“It doesn’t say so in the letter!  Yes, or no?  Are you going to obey orders, or aren’t you?  In other words, are you coming with me, or do you stay behind?”

“I come with you, sahib!”

“Then you obey my orders!”

“But the letter says—­”

“That I’m to take your advice whenever possible!  I don’t need advice just at the moment, thanks!  I’ve got orders here to march, and I’m off at once!  You can please yourself whether you come with me or not, but if you come you come on my terms.”

“I go with you, sahib.”

“Under my orders?”

“Yes, sahib.”

“All right, Juggut Khan.  Here’s my hand on it.  Now, we’ll swoop down on that village, and take the fakir with us, with a halter round his neck for the sake of argument.  We’ll get two bullock-carts down there, and we’ll stick him in one of them, with Sidiki the interpreter tied to him.  Sidiki won’t like it, but he’s only a Beluchi anyway!  You get in the other, and get all the sleep you can.  You and I’ll take turns sleeping all the way to Jailpore, so’s to be fresh, both of us, and fit for anything by the time that we get there!”

“I am ready, sahib.”

“You two men who carried old Stinkijink before, pick him up again!” shouted Brown.  “Let him feel the bayonet if he makes a noise, but carry him gently as though you loved him.  The rest—­’Tshun!  Form two-deep—­on the center—­close order, march.  Ri’ dress.  Eyes front.  Ri’ turn.  By the left—­quick march.”