"Ahmed, where is she?" cried Bruce, who was as mystified as the captain.
Smiling, Ahmed raised one of the broad teak boards, and the golden head
of Kathlyn appeared.
"Ahmed," said Bruce, delighted, "hereafter you shall be chief of this
expedition. Now, what next?"
"Secure files and return for my master."
"Wait," interposed Kathlyn, emerging. "I have a plan. It will be
useless to return to-night. He will be too well guarded. Are you
brave, Pundita?"
"I would die for the Mem-sahib."
"And I, too," added Ramabai.
Ahmed and Bruce gazed at each other.
"What is your plan, Mem-sahib?" asked Ahmed, replacing the board and
helping Kathlyn out of the cage, the door of which he closed quickly,
as the leopard was evincing a temper at all this nocturnal disturbance.
"It is a trap for Umballa."
"He is as wise as the cobra and as suspicious as the jackal," said
Ahmed doubtfully.
"Reason forbids that we return to-night. Umballa will wait, knowing
me. Listen. Pundita, you shall return to the city. Two men will
accompany you to the gate. You will enter alone in the early morning."
Pundita drew close to her husband.
"You will seek Umballa and play traitor. You will pretend to betray
me."
"No, no, Mem-sahib!"
"Listen. You will demand to see him alone. You will say that you are
jealous of me. You will tell him that you are ready to lead him to my
hiding-place."
"No, Miss Kathlyn; that will not do at all," declared Bruce
emphatically.
To this Ahmed agreed with a slow shake of the head.
"Let me finish," said Kathlyn. "You will tell him, Pundita, that he
must come alone. He will promise, but by some sign or other he will
signify to his men to follow. Well, the guard may follow. Once
Umballa steps inside the bungalow we will seize and bind him. His life
will depend upon his writing a note to the council to liberate my
father. If he refuses, the leopard."
"The leopard?"
"Yes; why not? A leopard was the basic cause of all this misery and
treachery. Let us give Umballa a taste of it. Am I cruel? Well, yes;
all that was gentle and tender in me seems either to have vanished or
hardened. He has put terror into my heart; let me put it into his."
"It is all impractical," demurred Bruce.
"He will never follow Pundita," said Ahmed.
"Then shall we all sit down and wait?" Kathlyn asked bitterly. "At
least let me try. He will not harm Pundita, since it is I he wants."
"She is right," averred Pundita. "A woman can do more at this moment
than a hundred men. I will go, Mem-sahib; and, more, I will bring him
back."
"But if he should hold you as a hostage?" suggested the harried Ahmed.
"What then?"