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Two things prevented him from making his escape. Five of Alwa's men, returning from pursuing fugitives, cut off his flight in one direction, and the extra weight on his horse prevented him from getting clear by means of speed alone as he might have done otherwise, for Cunningham's mare was growing tired. Jaimihr rode for two minutes with the frenzy of a savage before he saw the futility of it.
In India men never tell the truth to chance-met strangers or to their enemies; the truth is a valuable thing, to be shared cautiously among friends. "If Mahommed Gunga is at Alwa's," reasoned Jaimihr, "then he is much too close at hand to take any chances with. I must keep this man close confined."
All three men looked in each other's eyes and a bond was sealed between them that nothing less than death could sever. "Thank you," said Cunningham quite quietly. There is little time. Jaimihr must escape tonight!" "Sahib, did I understand aright?" Alwa's jaw had actually dropped. He looked as though he had been struck. Mahommed Gunga slammed his sabre ferule on the stone floor.
And then she heard the cell door close again gently. Now she could see Jaimihr, for he stood with his back against the door, and his head was between her and the little six-inch grating that was all the ventilation or light a prisoner in that place was allowed. "So you lied to me, even when I brought you water?" she answered. She was not afraid. She had nerve enough left to pity him. "Yes.
They trust each other wonderfully with an almost childlike confidence in a household such as Jaimihr's! Ho! I am king! All lesser fry Must cringe, and crawl, and cry to me, And none have any rights but I, Except the right to lie to me. JAIMIHR was not the only man who would have dearly liked to know of the whereabouts of Mahommed Gunga.
So in Howrah the Maharajah's brother, Jaimihr, with a large following and organization of his own, began to use the secret system of which he by right formed an integral part and to set wheels working within the wheels which in course of time should spew him up on the ledge which his brother now occupied.
I have been told that there are jewels there which would bring a Rajah's ransom, and gold enough to offset the taxes of the whole of India for a year or two. I've no doubt the stories are exaggerated, but the treasure is real enough, and big enough to make the throne worth fighting for. Jaimihr counts on being able to break the power of the priests and broach the treasure."
Jaimihr had by this time, perhaps, as many as nine thousand, for no one knew but Jaimihr and the priests how many in the district waited to espouse his cause. The odds seemed about as stupendous as any that a man of his word had ever been called upon to take. A moment more, and without consulting any one, he bade one of his men dismount. "Put that hag on thy horse!" he commanded.
"It is true, then, that Howrah has designs on the missionary's daughter? Alwa is to keep her prisoner until the great blow is struck, and Howrah dare take possession of her?" "That is not my business," answered Ali Partab, with the air of a man who knew all of the secret details but would not admit it. Jaimihr began to think that he had lit at random on the answer to the riddle.
They had moved at a walk through winding, dark palace-alleys, led by a palace attendant, and debouched through a narrow door that gave barely horse-room into the road where Jaimihr had once killed a Maharati trader who molested Rosemary McClean.
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