"All have skedaddled to other places." "The Prince Shere Ali, too ?" asked Linforth.
The Babu laughed contemptuously at the title.
"Oho, the Prince! The Prince went away a week ago." Linforth turned in surprise.
"Are you sure ?" he asked.
The Babu told him the very day on which Shere Ali had gone from Ajmere.
It was on the day when the pitcher had fallen on the steps which led down to the well.

Linforth had been tricked by the smiling courtier like any schoolboy.
"Whither did the Prince go ?" The Babu shrugged his shoulders.
"How should I know?
They are not of my people, these poor ignorant hill-folk." He went on his way.

Linforth was left with the assurance that now, indeed, he had really failed.

He took the train that night back to Peshawur..