Part 6 (2/2)
Then there was more delay, while somebody was found who knew hi by the ti when a er arrived at the barracks to report the death of a Sikh trooper by imental number proved him to have been one of D Squadron's h, was then in quarters, the neas brought to him at once
”Killed where?” he demanded; so they told him
”Exactly when?”
It becah that there had been some truth after all in the babu's tale The verbal precis of the only witness, given froalloped away on horseback, threw no light at all on the case; so, because he could think of nothing better to do at the harri and drove down to the ue to identify the body
On the way back froue he looked in at the police station, but the babu had been gone some ten minutes when he arrived
The police could tell hi It was explained that the crowd directly after the reat to allow any but those nearest to see anything; and it was admitted that the crowd had been suddenly panic-stricken and had scattered before the police could secure witnesses So he drove aondering, and ordered the driver to follow the road taken by the , when the lighted street-lamps were yet too pale to show distinctly, that he passed the disused boarded shop and saw, on the side of the street opposite, the babu who had brought hie and stepped out On second thought he ordered the carriage away, for he was in plain clothes and not likely to attract notice; and he had a suspicion in his ate a little on his own account He walked straight to the babu, and that gentleman eyed him with obvious distrust
”Did you see my trooper murdered?” he demanded; for he had learned directness under Colonel Kirby, and applied it to every difficulty that confronted hilishman, and can parry it; but from another native it bewilders them, just as a left-handed swordsman is bewildered by another left-hander The babu blinked
”How much had you seen when you ran to warn me this afternoon?”
The babu looked pitiful His fat defenseless body was an absolute contrast to the Sikh's tallever sidewise; but the Sikh looked straight and spoke abruptly though with a note of kindness in his voice
”There is no need to fear me,” he said, since the babu would not answer ”Speak! How race, producing a voice fro, of course, the very last thing expected of him
”Grief chokes me!” he asserted
”Take care that I choke thee not, babuji! I have asked a question I am no lawyer to maneuver for my answer Did you see that trooper killed?”
The babu nodded; but his nod was not much more than tentative He could have denied it next ination
”Oh! Which ent the murderer?”
”Grief overwhelms me!” said the babu
”Grief for what?”
”For ood h he was in all his dealings, Ranjoor Singh had not forgotten how the Old East thinks He recognized the preliain, and searched his mind to recall how much money he had with him; to have searched his pocket would have been too puerile
”What of the here, observing movements of him whom I suspected to be murderer, a person unknown-possibly a Sikh-perhaps not-removed money surreptitiously from my person”