Page:The Duke Decides (1904).djvu/267

 calmly—just to prevent a premature panic among the women. I’ll go and hunt up Azimoolah. If there has been any stir during the night he is sure to know of it.”

But as the General descended the terrace steps he was smitten with inward misgivings on that point. Had his faithful henchman detected anything unusual during the hours of darkness he would, long ere this, have been up to the house to report; besides which, if he had come across any lurking miscreants he would have seen to it that no harm befell the Duke. And here was the Duke missing. The hypothesis was that Azimoolah had either been eluded or had himself fallen a victim to foul play.

Influenced by this fear, the General quickened his pace, and as soon as he reached the wooded portion of the park uttered at frequent intervals his signal for the Pathan to appear. But glade after glade he traversed, scaring the rabbits with his cobra-like hiss, yet the lithe form of Azimoolah nowhere broke through the bushes. The General did not desist till he had thoroughly drawn the coverts, abandoning after a while his strange noises for a systematic scrutiny of the ground. He knew that