I might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy _tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter and salaaming low.
"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without sparing.

The _dak_ is laid to the fire-carriages." The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the operation.

It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received it.

Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dak_, or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours.

Once prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each way, with constant change of cattle.