"To Stamboul," said he. "Bulgaria is in. The road to Stamboul is
open."

"Sahib," said I, "I know you are true to the raj. I know the
surrender in Flanders was the only course possible for one to whom
the regiment had been entrusted. I know this business of taking the
German side is all pretense. Are we on the way to Stamboul?"

"Aye," said he.

"What are we to do at Stamboul?" I asked him.

"If you know all you say you know," said he, "why let the future
trouble you?"

"But---" said I.

"Nay," said he, "there can be no 'but.' There is false and true. The
one has no part in the other. What say the men?"

"They are true to the raj," said I.

"All of them?" he asked.

"Nay, sahib," said I. "Not quite all of them, but almost all."

He nodded. "We shall discover before long which are false and which
are true," said he, and then he left me.

So I told the men that we were truly on our way to Stamboul, and