Why, then, does he trouble now ?" "Couldn't say.

I don't know Alwa." "I am thinking, sahib, that the cloud has burst at last! A blood-red cloud! Alwa is neither scare-monger nor robber; when he sends out armed men to inspect strangers on the sky-line, there is war! Sahib, I grow young again! Had people listened to me--had they called me anything but fool when I warned them--thou and I would have been cooped up now in Agra, or in Delhi, or Lucknow, or Peshawur! Now we are free of the plains of Rajputana--within a ride of fifty of my blood-relations, and they each within reach of others! Ho! I can hear the thunder of a squadron at my back again! I am young, sahib--young! My old joints loosen! Allah send the cloud has burst at last--I bring to two thousand Rangars a new Cunnigan-bahadur! Thy father's son shall learn what Cunnigan-bahadur taught!" He lapsed into silence, watching the advancing horsemen, who swooped down on them in an ever-closing fan formation.

His tired horse sensed the thrill that tingled through its rider's veins, and pranced again, curving his neck and straining at the bit until Mahommed Gunga steadied him.

The five behind--even the mule-drivers too--detected excitement in the air, and the little column closed in on its leaders.

All eyes watched the neck-and-neck approach of Alwa's men, until Cunningham at last could see their turbans and make out that they were Rangars, not Hindoos.