ceremony receiving a fee of five rupees.

As the two men turned back toward their camp Jemla chuckled: "Captain
Sahib, thou seest now the weapon of the Brahmin; his loot of silver
pieces was acquired with little effort and no strife; as to the
rice-balls the first jackal that catches their wind will have a filled
stomach. It is something to be thought of in the way of regard for a
long abiding in heaven that such foolish ones will not attain to it.
The setting up of false gods, carved images, I was once told by a
priest of thy faith, is sufficient to exclude such. It makes one's
_tulwar_ clatter in its scabbard to see such profanation in an approach
to God."

Then Jemla spoke of the matter that had engendered the troubled look
Barlow had observed: "The Captain Sahib has intimated that the
One"--and he tipped his head toward the girl--"would proceed to the
temple of Omkar to make offerings at the shrine?"

"Yes, she goes there."

"There will be a hundred thousand of these infidels at Mandhatta, and
when they see fifty Pindaris, _tulwar_ and spear and match-lock, there
will be unrest; perhaps there will be altercation--they will fear that
we ride in pillage."

"I was thinking of that," Barlow replied; "and it would be as well that
you turned your faces homeward."

"We have received an order from our Chief that our lives are at the
disposal of the Captain Sahib, and we will drive into the heart of a