"Ah! here comes Ibrahim."
"I caught him just outside the trees, Sahib. He will strangle no more
travellers."
"Well, what had we better do?" asked Surajah.
"I should say we had better make off, as fast as we can. Of course, if
we were really traders, able to prove who we are, we should go back to
the town and report the affair; but as we can't do that, we had better
be moving on at once, before any other party of travellers comes up.
That was why, when we had killed several of them, I was anxious that
none should get away, for they might have gone and accused us of
slaughtering their companions."
"That would be too unlikely a story to be believed. No one would
credit that three men would attack twelve."
"But there would be no one to prove that there were only three. The
fellows would naturally swear that there were a score of us, and that,
after murdering their companions, the rest made off with the booty.
"Ibrahim, load the pack animals, at once. We will saddle the horses.
"I think, Surajah, we had better leave everything just as it is. It is
now getting on for the afternoon. It is likely enough that no other
travellers will enter the grove today. By tomorrow, at the latest,
someone will come in, and will of course go and report at once, in
Bangalore, what he has found; and they will send out here to examine
into it.
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