We who had carried coal could shovel mud, and as time went on we grumbled less.
But time hung heavy, and curiosity regarding Ranjoor Singh led from one conjecture to another.

At last Gooja Singh asked Captain Fellowes, and he said that Ranjoor Singh had stayed behind to expose a German plot--that having done so, he had hurried after us.

That explanation ought to have satisfied every one, and I think it did for a time.

But who could hide from such a man as Ranjoor Singh that the squadron's faith in him was gone?
That knowledge made him savage.

How should we know that he had been forbidden to tell us what had kept him?
When he set aside his pride and made us overtures, there was no response; so his heart hardened in him.
Secrecy is good.