Two or three
times she had bade the driver stop his creeping pace, and looking out
from beneath the curtain had questioned a man or woman. At last, as
they were stopped by a wall of people watching the antics of some
strolling players upon a platform, Bootea spoke to a stout woman who
was pressed against the opening into the cart by the mob.
"_Lucker khan Bhaina, Bowree_," the Gulab said in a low voice, and the
woman's eyes took on a startled look for it was a decoit password, and
the Bowrees were a clan of decoits akin to the Bagrees. From the woman
Bootea learned where she could find a good resting place with the
family of a shop-keeper. There was no doubt about it, the Bowree woman
assured her, for the _tonga_ would impress him, and he was one who
profited from the loot of decoits.
The Gulab was given a place to sleep in the shopkeeper's house that
extended back from his little shop. The driver was ordered to return
in the morning to the Pindari camp. Barlow was for keeping the
_tonga_, hoping that perhaps Bootea would change her mind and go on to
Chunda, but the girl was firm in her determination to end it all at
Mandhatta.
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