Kirby, after a lot of thinking, wrote:
"Risaldar-Major Ranjoor Singh (D Squadron) assigned to special duty."
He handed the orders back to Brammle, and the major eyed the
addition with subdued amazement.
"What'll D Squadron say?" he asked.
"Remains to be seen" said Kirby.
Outside in the muggy blackness that shuts down on India in the
rains, Warrington walked alone, swinging a lantern and chuckling to
himself as he reflected what D Squadron would be likely to invent as
a reason for the smell that walked with him. For he meant to wake D
Squadron and learn things.
But all at once it occurred to him that he had left the babu's loin-cloth
on the inside front seat of the shay; and, because if that were seen
it would have given excuse for a thousand tales too many and too
imaginative, he hurried in search of it, taking a short cut to where
by that time the shay should be. On his way, close to his destination,
he stumbled over something soft that tripped him. He stooped, swung
the lantern forward, and picked up--the missing leather apron from
behind the shay.
The footpath on which he stood was about a yard wide; the shay could
not possibly have come along it. And it certainly had been behind the
shay when they left barracks. Moreover, close examination proved it
to be the identical apron beyond a shadow of a doubt.
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