"
"A Patan!" Kassim roared. "Trust a woman and a snake but not a Patan."
He turned to the whiskered jamadar: "Quick, go you with men and bring
the Afghan." To another he said, "Command to enter from there"--his
hand swept the mob in front--"a dozen trusty _sowars_ and flood the
palace with them. Up, up; every room, every nook, every place of
hiding; under everything, and above everything, and through everything,
search. Not even let there be exemption of the seraglio--murder lurks
close to women at all times. Seize every servant that is within and
bind him; let none escape."
He swept a hand out toward the Pindaris in the street that were like a
pack of wolves: "Up the hill--surround the palace! and guard every
window and rat-run!"
The guard saluted, venturing: "Commander, none could have entered from
outside to do the foul deed."
"Liar! lazy sleeper!"--he smashed with his foot the _hookah_ that sat
on the marble floor, its long stem coiled like a snake--"While you
busied over such, and opium, one has slipped by."
He reached out a powerful hand and seized the shoulder of a Pindari and
jerked him to the step, commanding: "Stay here with this monkey of the
tall trees, and see that none pass.
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