Juggut Khan clattered in to Bholat, spurring
a horse that was so spent it could barely keep its feet. It fell
in a woeful heap outside the general's quarters, and Juggut Khan--
all but as weary as the horse--swung himself free, staggered past
the sentry at the door and rapped with his hilt on the tough teak
panel. They had to give him brandy and feed him before he could
summon strength enough to tell what he had seen and heard and done.
"And Brown stayed on at the crossroads?"
"Aye, General sahib! He stayed!"
The general sat back and drummed his heels together on the floor in
a way that his aides had come to recognize as meaning trouble.
"You say that all of the European officers in Jailpore have been killed?"
"I did not count. I did not even know them all by mine or sight.
I think, though, that all were killed. I heard men among the mutineers
declare that all had been accounted for, save only three women and
a child, and me. Those four I myself had hidden, and as for myself--
I too was accounted for, and not without credit to the Raj for whom
I fight!"
"I believe you, Juggut Khan! Did you have to cut your way out?"
The Rajput smiled.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64