Chapter XXVI: A Couple of Shots

Buktar Sing, the messenger of Wana Affghar, of Puneput, calmly awaited the approach of Luchman, who advanced with a certain dignity that seemed to mark all his movements.

At the moment of joining the messenger, Luchman made a discovery which caused him some uneasiness, and which he wondered he had not made before.

Less than twenty yards distant was a depression in the ground, running at right angles to the course he took in leaving the temple. Since they must have crossed it in their flight to the ruins, it would seem that he ought to have noticed it. That he failed to do so was probably due to the haste with which he and his companions fled to the refuge.

Water had probably flowed through it quite recently, for it contained grass of a green color, while that around it was burnt brown and dry. In short it was just the place for a foe to hide himself during the interview about to take place.

Luchman was the first to speak.

"What tidings do you bring that Wana Affghar asks me to leave my friends that they may not hear it?"

Buktar Sing answered,

"Wana tells me to urge you to surrender, since it is the only thing that will save the lives of yourself and the Feringhees with you."

"Why is that?"

"You see the large numbers we have; we can kill you all whenever Wana gives the word."

"Why does he hesitate?"

"Wana Affghar is merciful, and he will not do so until you refuse the offer I bring you."

"If I surrender, what then?"

"Wana asks as a condition that you shall yield to him a diamond that you have stolen."

"And if I do, what then?"

"He will spare your lives, and give you safe escort to Kurnal, whither you are traveling from Delhi."

Could Luchman of a certainty have known that this offer was honest and would be carried out, he would have accepted it. The Star of India was a treasure almost beyond price, and would have been an extravagant ransom for a king or emperor, but it was not so valuable as one's own life.

Luchman held to a great degree the doctrine of Kismet or fatalism, which he had been taught in his early youth, and, believing that his hour for dying had been unalterably fixed by destiny, he was not concerned for himself. But the Christians had been differently taught, and he felt that somehow or other another law governed them.

But he could not have the slightest faith in the honor of Wana Affghar. Like the perfidious Nana Sahib (as was afterwards shown), he would deliberately violate the most solemn oath that a Mohammedan or Hindoo could take upon himself. Let him but once lay hold of the diamond, and he would turn loose his fiends upon the fugitives.

"How can I know that your chieftain will keep his word?" asked Luchman, as though impressed by the offer.

"The word of Wana Affghar has never been broken," was the overwhelming falsehood of Buktar Sing.

"Ram! Ram! japana Paraya mal apana!" (He repeats the name of the god Ram and then calls other people's property his own), said Luchman, uttering a common saying of his people. "I will not accept the offer without a guarantee that cannot be broken."

"Name such guarantee."

"He must accept my pledge; I am a Christian who thinks more of his promise than his life; he is a follower of Ram and will lie. I will agree that if he will withdraw his men and give the Feringhees a long start, and will not molest them nor allow any one else to do so, I will hand to him the diamond he covets."

This proposition gave a new phase to the negotiation, and Buktar Sing saw that he would have to consult his principal before accepting or rejecting the conditions.

Saying as much, he saluted and turned to rejoin his friends, the words and manner of Buktar Sing having disarmed all suspicion.

All through the interview, Dr. Avery and George Harkins stood with loaded guns and eyes fixed upon the two, both convinced that treachery was intended. Their close scrutiny led them to detect the ditch-like depression in the plain, which had escaped the notice of Luchman until then. Its location, as we have said, was shown by the fringe of green, where the over abundant moisture had kept the grass from drying up.

The discovery confirmed the belief that foul play would be seen.

"The interview is ended," said Harkins, at the moment their guide saluted Buktar Sing and turned his face away.

"Yes--and do you see that?"

The dark line of grass was agitated just beyond Luchman as he approached the temple. The stirring of the grass was of a nature to show that it was caused by some person. The sentinels brought their guns to their shoulders.

At the moment of doing so, two hideous looking heads rose in sight, followed by the shoulders and bodies of the Ghoojurs, who stole as noiselessly as phantoms out upon the level plain and hurried after the guide.

"I'll take the one nearest Luchman," whispered Harkins, "and you the other; don't miss."

Although the murderers made no noise, yet Luchman, looking toward his friends, saw them raise weapons, and he knew what it meant.

Like a flash he whirled about, and, whipping out his long knife, confronted the two assassins.

One of them held a similar weapon and the other a long pistol, the second being closer than his companion to Luchman. They stopped, but only for a moment. The Ghoojur with the firearm raised it, while the other began a cautious circling to one side, with the purpose of getting behind Luchman.

At this junction Dr. Avery and Harkins let fly. The distance was short; the rifles were well aimed.

Further particulars are not required.