Page:Biggers and Ritchie - Inside the Lines.djvu/332

  drenched with light. Jaimihr Khan threw before the door of the safe the bundle of papers he was clutching when Jane discovered him and which he had gripped during the ensuing tense moments. Then he stepped swiftly to the general's door and unlocked it.

General Crandall, clad only in trousers and shirt, burst into the room. His eyes leaped from the Indian to where Jane was cowering behind his desk.

"What the devil is this?" he rasped. Jane opened her mouth to answer, but the Indian forestalled her:

"The sahibah, General—I found her here before your opened safe"

"Good God!" General Crandall's eyes blazed. He leaped to the safe, knelt and peered in. "A clever job, young woman!"

Jane, completely stunned by the Indian's swift strategy, could hardly speak. She held up a hand, appealing for a hearing. General Crandall eyed her with chilling scorn, then turned to his servant.

"You have done well, Jaimihr."

"It—it isn't true!" Jane stammered. The governor took a step toward her almost as if