hills!"

They all looked at the long string of red-turbaned riders who were
winding out of the ravine, and there fell such a hush that the buzzing
of the flies sounded quite loud upon their ears. Colonel Cochrane had
lit a match, and he stood with it in one hand and the unlit cigarette in
the other until the flame licked round his fingers. Belmont whistled.
The dragoman stood staring with his mouth half-open, and a curious slaty
tint in his full, red lips. The others looked from one to the other
with an uneasy sense that there was something wrong. It was the Colonel
who broke the silence.

"By George, Belmont, I believe the hundred-to-one chance has come off!"
said he.




CHAPTER IV.


"What's the meaning of this, Mansoor?" cried Belmont harshly. "Who are
these people, and why are you standing staring as if you had lost your
senses?"

The dragoman made an effort to compose himself, and licked his dry lips
before he answered.

"I do not know who they are," said he in a quavering voice.