"I came much quicker than the budmashes," put in Ramzan Khan. "Some of them were on foot, and the horsemen were trotting slowly to allow the runners to keep up with them, thinking that they could not fail to overtake the bullocks."
"What, then, do ye intend to do?" asked Govind Singh. A trooper to whom he had been whispering dismounted, and, leaving the dusty road, stole forward under cover of the trees and undergrowth.
"Allah knows," replied Yusuf Khan. "Perchance, having picked up our trail, they will ride on in their haste towards Agra without taking further notice of the tracks we leave in the dust. If so, we may hide until the danger is past. If, however, they notice that we have doubled back, all will soon be over unless ye choose to help us. When we fired we thought ye were the very sons of Shitan themselves, who had worked round and cut us off."
"Ah!" said Hira Singh reprovingly, "that was not a soldierly thing to do, to fire before making sure."
"But," said the stranger, "did we not see you charging upon us with spears and swords?"
"He is right," said Ted, with a laugh at Hira Singh's expense. "Why, ressaidar, didst thou not wish to slay them all without stopping to make sure?"
Rishan Chand, a Dogra, stepped forward with a suggestion.
"Let the women descend from the carts," said he, "and place some of us inside, and let the bullocks retrace their steps. The troopers and you, sahib, keep out of sight, but near enough to aid. Then when the budmashes come, the zamindar (farmer or yeoman) and his sons, and the drivers, can pretend to run away and leave the women at the mercy of the rebels. Then shall we surprise them when they peer in through the curtains, and before they can escape ye should be upon them."
"The Dogra has sense," said Hira Singh. "Let it be so, sahib."
"If the zamindar approve, it shall be done. What sayest thou, Yusuf Khan?"
"It is good; all except that we should run away, I and my sons. We do not run from jackals."
"Nay, but they will suspect otherwise," Ted explained. "And if ye resist they will fire at you and at the carts, and all will be spoiled. Ye must consent to play the coward."
"Sahib, it is for me to obey you," said the zamindar.
The three refugees walked their horses to the side of the conveyances, from behind whose curtains veiled faces were already peeping in anxious bewilderment; and presently an elderly dame and three younger ones descended and were led by the elder son--a married man--into the shelter of the bushes. Sikhs and Dogras began to peer inside the vehicles, and two of the former jumped in. But Govind Singh was too quick for them.