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She looked him over, first with abstraction, then with a puzzled gathering of her brows, for he was far from her thoughts the last person she would have expected to meet in that place, and very effectually disguised in dust and dirt besides, "The tire came off the wheel just as we got here, late yesterday evening, and in trying, or pretending to try, to fit it on again, that block-head of a tonga-wallah hammered the rim with a rock as big as his head and naturally smashed it to kindling-wood.
Amber considered that he had given Ram Nath no commission of any sort, and bent an attentive ear to the communication which the tonga-wallah insisted upon making to him. Ram Nath had returned, he asserted, solely for the purpose of informing Amber in accordance with his desires. "The telegraph-office for which you enquired, sahib, stands just within the Gateway of the Elephants," he announced.
Miss Farrell came by the same train, but Salig Singh was in too great a hurry to get home to pay any attention to her, and I, knowing you'd be along, arranged that tonga accident with Ram Nath. He bribed his brother tonga-wallah to bring it about." "Thank you," said Amber from his heart. Labertouche impatiently waved the interruption aside.
He's one of our best men a native, but loyal to the core, and wrapped up in his work. He'd contrived to get a billet as tonga-wallah to the Kuttarpur bunia who has the dak-service contract. I myself had arranged to have the telegraph-babu here transferred, and myself appointed in his place. So I was able to attach myself to the 'tail' of the Maharana without exciting comment.
It's hardly been a pleasant experience; that incompetent tonga-wallah behaved precisely as though he had deliberately made up his mind to delay me.... And the tonga's nearly ready; I must lock my kit-bag."
At the thought Amber's eyes darkened and hardened and he swore bitterly beneath his breath. If that were so, he vowed, the tonga-wallah would pay dearly for the indiscretion. He set his wits to contrive a way to satisfy his doubts.
"Where," she continued, with an imperative stamp of a daintily-shod foot, "is that wretched tonga-wallah?" "Sahiba," protested Ram Nath, with a great show of deference, "how should I know? Belike he is in Badshah Junction, whither ha returned very late last night, being travel-worn and weary, and where I left him, being sent with this excellent tonga to take his place." "You were?
Even the voice of the city seemed moderate, subdued. In silence the massive gates studded with sharp-toothed elephant-spikes swung open. With a grunt, Ram Nath cracked his whiplash and the tonga sped into the city. Amber bent forward. "What's the name of that gate, Ram Nath if you happen to know?" "That," said the tonga-wallah in a level voice, "is known as the Gateway of Swords, sahib."
Amber leaned forward, watching the driver's face. "Your name, tonga-wallah?" he enquired. "Ram Nath, sahib." The man spoke without moving his head, attending diligently to the management of his ponies. "And this other passenger, who awaits us at the dak-bungalow, Ram Nath is he, perchance, one known both to you and to me?" Ram Nath flicked the flagging ponies.
"Where is that tonga-wallah who deserted me here last night?" the woman was demanding of Ram Nath, too preoccupied with her resentment to have eyes for the other traveller, who at sight of her had stopped and removed his pith helmet and now stood staring as if he had come from a land in which there were no women.
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