Talbot Mundy was an early 20th century English writer who often wrote under the pseudonym Walter Galt. At age 19 he left London to travel to India and parts of the Near and Far East. Most of Mundy's novels are set in India under British Occupation in which the loyal British officers encounter ancient Indian mysticism. This historical novel based on an actual event of World War One. One hundred Indian troops of the British Army have arrived at Kabul, Afghanistan, after a four months' march from Constantinople. The men were captured in Flanders by the Germans and were sent to Turkey in the hope that, being Mohammedans, they might join the Turks. But they remained loyal to Great Britain and finally escaped, heading for Afghanistan. The underlying theme of the story is the nature of leadership, as Ranjoor Singh struggles to control his semi-rebellious force under conditions of great difficulty.