to the light.  It was in shikast Persian, and signed “Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isak.”  “Ram Lal,” he said, “has met me unexpectedly, and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of the eagle.  It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full.  Travel by Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by Simla.  For friendship’s sake, for love’s sake, come.  It is life and death.  Give the money to the Irishman.  Peace be with you.”

I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description.  Was I glad to rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her present condition?  I hardly knew.

“I think we had all better go back to Simla,” said John, when I explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.

“There will be none of us left soon,” said Ghyrkins quite quietly and mournfully.

I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going.  I gave Kildare the money in charge.

In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein.  I halted on the same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.

“Give him this from me.  God be with you!” She was gone in a moment, leaving a small package in my right hand.  I thrust it in my bosom and rode away.

“How she loves him,” I thought, wondering greatly.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XII.

It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken.  In order to reach the inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali’s liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.  He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible, and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too steep for four-footed beasts of burden.  I, on the other hand, must leave the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at least two hundred miles of country I did not know—­difficult certainly, and perhaps impracticable for riding.  The prospect was not a pleasant one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of Isaacs’ wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough himself.  I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.

I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway.  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.