Noon
` You just missed cutting off his head . _ I _ saw you when we went into the mess . Sleep , old man . ' Noon brought two squadrons of Beshaklis and a knot of furious brother officers demanding the court-martial of Tommy Dodd for ` spoiling the picnic , ' and a gallop across country to the canal-works where Ferris , Curbar , and Hugonin were haranguing the terror-stricken coolies on the enormity of abandoning good work and high pay , merely because half a dozen of their fellows had been cut down . The sight of a troop of the Beshaklis restored wavering confidence , and the police-hunted section of the Khusru Kheyl had the joy of watching the canal-bank humming with life as usual , while such of their men as had taken refuge in the watercourses and ravines were being driven out by the troopers . By sundown began the remorseless patrol of the Border by police and trooper , most like the cow-boys ' eternal ride round restless cattle . ` Now , ' said Khoda Dad Khan to his fellows , pointing out a line of twinkling fires below , ` ye may see how far the old order changes .