They waited in a dead silence, like beaten and dispirited men.

They were beginning to pay the price of their five weeks' siege.
The Brigadier looked at the group.
"What of Luffe ?" he asked.
"Dead, sir," replied Dewes.
"A great loss," said Brigadier Appleton solemnly.

But he was paying his tribute rather to the class to which Luffe belonged than to the man himself.

Luffe was a man of independent views, Brigadier Appleton a soldier clinging to tradition.

Moreover, there had been an encounter between the two in which Luffe had prevailed.
The Brigadier paid a ceremonious visit to the Khan on the following morning, and once more the Khan expounded his views as to the education of his son.