"Who is she? Do you know her, Jenkins?" asked the Commissioner.
"No, sir; and yet I have seen her somewhere more than once," he answered.
"I will tell the sahibs my name when I have made known my business," she said, speaking in English, and she drew forth a paper. "I come for that," she continued, laying on the table before the Commissioner a large sheet, advertising the Government reward for the apprehension of Hari Rām.
"Well, have you come to inform upon the man?" said the Commissioner.
"If you take him, will you hang him?" she asked sullenly.
"He shall not be hanged."
"We certainly shall if we take him red-handed, unless we shoot him first; but we should prefer getting hold of him and sending him out of the country. A man like Hari Rām does not care when death overtakes him; the galleys are a worse punishment."
"But they come back from there," said the woman.
"Oh yes," answered the Commissioner with a smile. "Are you thinking of saving his life?"