From this drawer he lifted a scarlet despatch-box, and was just going to bring it to the table when Baram Singh silently appeared once more.

At once Ballantyne dropped the box on the floor, covering it as well as he could with his legs.
"What the devil do you want ?" he cried, speaking of course in Hindustani, and with a violence which seemed to be half made up of anger and half of fear.

Baram Singh replied that he had brought an ash-tray for the Sahib, and he placed it on the round table by Thresk's side.
"Well, get out and don't come back until you are called," cried Ballantyne roughly, and in evident relief as Baram Singh once more retired he took a long draught from a fresh tumbler of whisky-and-soda which stood on the flap of the bureau beside him.

He then stooped once more to lift the red despatch-box from the floor, but to Thresk's amazement in the very act of stooping he stopped.

He remained with his hands open to seize the box and his body bent over his knees, quite motionless.