“Better die here,” he answered her, “than on the road!  No, memsahib.  With thirteen blades behind me, I could reach Jundhra, or at least make a bold attempt; but single-handed, and with you to guard, the feat is impossible.  This dog of a Hindu here knows of some hiding-place.  Let him speak!”

His hand went to his sword again, arid his eyes flashed.

“Listen, heavenborn!  I am no torturer of priests by trade!  It is not my life that I would save!”

“I know that, Mahommed Khan!  I respect your motive.  It’s the method that I can’t tolerate.”

The Risaldar drew his arm away from her and began to pace the room.  The High Priest instantly began to speak to Ruth, whispering to her hurriedly in Hindustanee, but she was too little acquainted with the language to understand him.

“And I,” said the Risaldar’s half-brother suddenly, “am I of no further use?”

“I had forgotten thee!” exclaimed the Risaldar.

They spoke together quickly in their own language, drawing aside and muttering to each other.  It was plain that the half-brother was making some suggestion and that the Risaldar was questioning him and cross-examining him about his plan, but neither Ruth nor the High Priest could understand a word that either of them said.  At the end of two minutes or more, the Risaldar gave an order of some kind and the half-brother grunted and left the room without another word, closing the door noiselessly behind him.  The Risaldar locked it again from the inside and drew the bolt.

“We have made another plan, heavenborn!” he announced mysteriously.

“Then—­then—­you won’t hurt this priest?”

“Not yet,” said the Risaldar.  “He may be useful!”

“Won’t you unbind him, then?  Look!  His wrists and ankles are all swollen.”

“Let the dog swell!” he grunted.

But Ruth stuck to her point and made him loosen the bonds a little.

“A man lives and learns!” swore the Risaldar.  “Such as he were cast into dungeons in my day, to feed on their own bellies until they had had enough of life!”

“The times have changed!” said Ruth.

The Risaldar looked out through the window toward the red glow on the sky-line.

“Ha!  Changed, have they!” he muttered.  “I saw one such burning, once before!”

VI.

The most wonderful thing in history, pointing with the surest finger to the trail of destiny, has been the fact that in every tremendous crisis there have been leaders on the spot to meet it.  It is not so wonderful that there should be such men, for the world keeps growing better, and it is more than likely that the men who have left their footprints in the sands of time would compare to their own disadvantage with their compeers of today.  The wonderful thing is that the right men have been in the right place at the right time.  Scipio met Hannibal; Philip