It takes a real commander to draw that kind of answer from a tired-out
column, but it is a kind of answer, too, that makes commanders! It
is not mere talk, on either side. It means that by some sixth sense
a strong man and his men have discovered something that is good in
each other.
XI.
"You've made good time, friend Juggut Khan!" said Brown, advancing
to meet him where the men and the fakir and the interpreter would
not be able to Overhear.
"Sahib, I killed one horse--the horse you looted for me--and I brought
away two from Bholat. One of them carried me more than fifty miles,
and then I changed to this one, leaving the other on the road. I
have orders for you, sahib."
"Hand 'em over then," said Brown. "Orders first, and talk afterward,
when there's time!"
The Rajput drew out a sealed envelope, and passed it to him. Brown
tore it open, and read the message, scowling at the half-sheet of
paper as though it were a death-sentence.
"Where's the general?"
"With his column-twenty or thirty miles away to the northward by now!"
"And he's left me, with this handful, in the lurch?"
"Nay, sahib! As I understood the orders, he has left you with a
very honorable mission to fulfil!"
Brown stared hard at the half-sheet of notepaper again.
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