'Everything waits while a horse is concerned.' 'We shan't be more than twenty minutes,' said Kim's man.

'You can do the honours--keep 'em amused, and all that.' 'Tell one of the troopers to wait,' said the tall man, and they both passed into the dressing-room together as the landau rolled away.

Kim saw their heads bent over Mahbub Ali's message, and heard the voices--one low and deferential, the other sharp and decisive.
'It isn't a question of weeks.

It is a question of days--hours almost,' said the elder.

'I'd been expecting it for some time, but this'-- he tapped Mahbub Ali's paper--'clinches it.