The man who held me seemed to know my
thoughts; for, even as I braced myself to it, he whispered,
'Don't make a noise. The fort is safe enough. There are no
rebel dogs on this side of the river.' There was the ring of
truth in what he said, and I knew that if I raised my voice I was
a dead man. I could read it in the fellow's brown eyes. I
waited, therefore, in silence, to see what it was that they
wanted from me.
"'Listen to me, Sahib,' said the taller and fiercer of the pair,
the one whom they called Abdullah Khan. 'You must either be with
us now or you must be silenced forever. The thing is too great a
one for us to hesitate. Either you are heart and soul with us on
your oath on the cross of the Christians, or your body this night
shall be thrown into the ditch and we shall pass over to our
brothers in the rebel army. There is no middle way. Which is it
to be, death or life? We can only give you three minutes to
decide, for the time is passing, and all must be done before the
rounds come again.'
"'How can I decide?' said I. 'You have not told me what you want
of me. But I tell you now that if it is anything against the
safety of the fort I will have no truck with it, so you can drive
home your knife and welcome.
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