"No, Sahib, because it is Bootea's fault. It can't be. It is
permitted to Bootea to love the Sahib, but at the shrine Omkar will
take that sin and all the other sins away when she makes sacrifice--"

"What sacrifice, Gulab?"

"Such as we make to the gods, Sahib."

Then something curious happened. The girl broke, she clung to Barlow
convulsively; sobs choked her.

He clasped her tight and laid his cheek against hers soothingly, and
said, "Gulab, what is it? Don't go to the Shrine of Omkar. Come with
me to your people at Chunda, and if you do not want to remain with them
I will have it arranged, through the Resident, that the British will
reward you with protection. You have done the British Raj a great
service."

"No, Sahib." The girl drew herself erect, so that her eyes gazed into
Barlow's, They were luminous with an intensity of resolve. "Let Bootea
speak what is in her heart, and be not offended; it is necessary.
There is, at the end of the journey the place that is called _jahannam_
(hell) for Bootea. The Nana Sahib waits like a tiger crouched by a
pool at night for the coming of a stag to drink."

"The Resident will protect you against the Mahratta," Barlow declared.

"Bootea could do that," and in her small hand there gleamed in the
moonlight the sheen of her dagger blade. She thrust it back into her