Of that I feel sure; she would not come and purr otherwise." Still it was silent comfort and there was so much going on; so much that even the "miserable women" could not hear, though they were free to come and go.

But one day when Down was purring on Bija's lap in the straw thatch which was all the three had for lodging, a passer-by paused to say: [Illustration: _And one day the door did open....

"My son--my little son."_] "That is the cat I used to see with the little King.

Have you ought to do with him, sister ?" "I _am_ his sister," replied Bija haughtily, whereat the sentry, for it was he, laughed; but for all that he paused to tell the two women what he knew; though that was not much.

It could not be long, however, he said, before news of one sort or another came to them; for King Humayon was, so they said, within a day's march of Kabul, and any time they might hear the guns begin.