And the meeting between him and Mirak was so pretty that the sentry had not the heart to insist on poor doggie going down again.

And this, in its way, was a good thing, for it was the beginning of a sort of friendship between the young Prince and this particular Afghan sentry.

Sometimes, after he had been relieved, he would come up to the little captive's room for a bit, and listen to Roy's stories, or tell a few in his turn; for he had wandered about, over half India, giving the use of his sword to any one who would pay him well for it.
"Lo! I have not heard that tale since I was in Rajputana!" he said one day after Roy had been singing an old-world legend of fighting days.

"It was an old Brahman of Suryamer told it me of the Sun-Heroes." Roy's face flushed up in a second.

"Suryamer is mine!" he said proudly; "I am of the Sun-Heroes!" Then he started to his feet, pale as ashes.