He gave me good-morning quite in a friendly tone, and set to posting up the books as if he had never misbehaved in his days.

I was so busy with my thoughts that I, too, must have been gentler than usual, and the morning passed like a honeymoon, till I went across to dinner.
I was just sitting down when I remembered that I had left my watch in my waistcoat behind the counter, and started to go back for it.

But at the door I stopped short.

For two horsemen had drawn up before the store.
One was a native with what I took to be saddle-bags; the other was a small slim man with a sun helmet, who was slowly dismounting.
Something in the cut of his jib struck me as familiar.

I slipped into the empty schoolroom and stared hard.