"But there is bad news for her to-day.

The captain _sahib_ has gone." "Gone!" Stella echoed the word uncomprehendingly, as one who speaks an unknown language.
Peter's look fell before the wide questioning of hers.

He replied almost under his breath: "_Mem-sahib_, it was in the still hour of the night.
The captain _sahib_ slept on the mountain, and in his sleep he fell--and was taken away by the stream." "Taken away!" Again, numbly, Stella repeated his words.

She felt suddenly very weak and sick.
Peter stretched a hand towards the inscrutable stranger.

"This man, _mem-sahib_," he said with reverence, "he is a holy man, and while praying upon the mountain top, he saw the _sahib_, sunk in a deep sleep, fall forward over the rock as if a hand had touched him.