I must bring them. I need a horse."
"And while you are gone?"
"My half-brother, sahib--he is here for no other purpose--he will
answer to me for her safety!"
"All right, Mahommed Khan, and thank you! Take my second charger,
if you care to; he is a little saddle-sore, but your light weight--"
"Sahib--listen! Between here and Siroeh, where my eldest-born and
his three sons live, lie seven leagues. And on from there to Lungra,
where the others live, are three more leagues. I need a horse
this night!"
"What need of thirteen men, Mahommed? You are sufficient by yourself,
unless a rebellion breaks out. If it did, why, you and thirteen
others would be swamped as surely as you alone!"
"Thy father and I, sahib, rode through the guns at Dera thirteen strong!
Alone, I am an old man--not without honor, but of little use; with
twelve young blades behind me, though, these Hindu rabble--"
"Do you really mean, Mahommed Khan, that you think Hanadra here
will rise?"
"The moment you are gone, sahib!"
"Then, that settles it! The memsahib rides with me!"
"Nay, listen, sahib! Of a truth, thou art a hot-head as thy father
was before thee! Thus will it be better.
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