Race, aged six and three-quarters, and said briefly and emphatically
'_Jao_!' The pony had crossed the river-bed.

The men laughed, and laughter from natives was the one thing Wee
Willie Winkie could not tolerate. He asked them what they wanted and
why they did not depart. Other men with most evil faces and
crooked-stocked guns crept out of the shadows of the hills, till,
soon, Wee Willie Winkie was face to face with an audience some twenty
strong. Miss Allardyce screamed.

'Who are you?' said one of the men.

'I am the Colonel Sahib's son, and my order is that you go at once.
You black men are frightening the Miss Sahib.

One of you must run into cantonments and take the news that the Miss
Sahib has hurt herself, and that the Colonel's son is here with her.'

'Put our feet into the trap?' was the laughing reply.

'Hear this boy's speech!'

'Say that I sent you--I, the Colonel's son. They will give you
money.'

'What is the use of this talk? Take up the child and the girl, and we
can at least ask for the ransom. Ours are the villages on the
heights,' said a voice in the background.

These _were_ the Bad Men--worse than Goblins--and it needed all Wee