So it was Shere Ali, after all, who was at the bottom of the trouble.

It was Shere Ali who had sent the present, and had sent it to one of the Mullahs.

Ralston looked back upon the little dinner party, whereby he had brought Hatch and Shere Ali together.

Had that party been too successful, he wondered?
Had it achieved more than he had wished to bring about?
He turned in doubt to the letter which he held.
"It seems," he read, "that there had been some trouble between this man and Shere Ali.

There is a story that Shere Ali set him to work for a day upon a bridge just below Kohara.